Steak Marinade

I'm usually a "steak purist." I don't know if that's a real term but my definition is a person who lets steak be steak; just a little salt and pepper and that's it. But a few years ago, a friend threw a dinner party and grilled some marinated steak (among other things) and it was delicious. Since then, every once in a while, I'll be in the mood for a marinated steak, specifically, my friend's special marinade. And what happens when I get a food craving? I must sate it.

Ingredients [makes a few tablespoons of marinade, enough for 1 big manly steak]:
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce (adjust to your liking)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
+ steak

Start by mixing all of the marinade ingredients together.

I found this lovely rib-eye in the freezer that was begging to be eaten so I left it in the bag and set it in the fridge overnight to defrost. The next day I poured the marinade directly into the bag and let the steak marinate another 24 hours. A whole day of marinating is excessive; 4 hours is probably plenty of time but if you don't have 4 hours, you can let it marinade at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour - depending on how squeamish you are about bacterial growth.

When you're ready to cook the steak, let it sit at room temperature for at least 10 minutes (unless you were marinating it at room temperature already). This way, you're not slamming an ice cold slab of meat onto a hot skillet. In that scenario, I imagine the poor piece of meat immediately seizing and getting tough and chewy and the pan losing all its heat and starting to shiver. Then the meat turns grey instead of brown because the pan wasn't hot enough and then I cry myself to sleep over a waste of a steak.

So, I take my steak that's been sitting at room temperature for 10 minutes, I heat up a cast iron skillet with a little butter, and I place it gently so as not to splatter hot butter on my own face. Three to four minutes on each side for medium-rare (for a steak this thick at least) and that's it.

If you're not drooling over this photo there's something wrong with you... or you're a vegetarian, in which case, I'm sorry you had to see this. Bits of parsley, bits of garlic, lots of yum.