Steaks in the New Pan

Just this Sunday, I had a friend over.  I decided steak would be a good idea.  I went to tastespotting.com and found a recipe for Sweet & Spicy Grilled Steak with Tomato Relish. Guess what the picture had in it, other than steak??   Give up?? Good, I'll tell ya...a 12" Square Grill pan, it was the Le Creuset version, but it was my pan! Yay!  I was making this recipe.  Like I said in the previous post, I finally learned how to properly season cast iron, so the grill pan was back in great shape so that's what I would use, other than the fact that it was raining cats, dogs and a few elephants so the grill was out of the question.

I went to the store, got the stuff and headed home.  My friend was there when I arrived, so I unpacked and started making the steaks.

Heated up the pan, put in the grape-seed oil (it has a higher smoke point than olive or vegetable oils and I didn't want a smoke bomb, disguised as cooking, going off in the house in front a guest).  The pan was beginning to smoke a bit, which is normal, I plopped in the steaks and immediately heard that wonderful sizzle sound.  Chills went up and down my spine like lightning bolts.

Six and a half minutes later, the true test came, I flipped the first steak.  Sure enough, it slid right off the rails, just like it was supposed to.  OMIGOSH!  It was awesome! I realize that's exactly what it's supposed to do, however, I had spent more cleaning that damn pan than actually cooking in it.  I was now actually cooking on apiece of professional grade equipment.  I darn near cried.  the second steak flipped flawlessly.  My guest remarked about the beautiful sear lines.  I was so happy about the meat flipping correctly that I hadn't even noticed.  HOLY CRAP!  Those sear lines were perfect!  Nice and dark brown and perfectly straight and even.  It was a sight!  I should have taken a picture but I didn't have the camera.  The steaks came off without a hitch.  The center was a little underdone, but still great none the less.

So all in all, I had a huge first success with the my new Staub Sapphire Blue 12" Grill Pan.

Update: last night I cooked bacon on it for the first time.  I have to say that bacon with sear lines is a bit weird at first but absolutely scrumptious.