Yes, I KNOW there aren’t any fries – a baked potato with some of that nice brown butter was too tempting to pass up – but I can’t think of anything else to call this classic French (or Belgian) bistro dish.
Here is proof positive that you don’t need a bunch o’ fancy marinades or rubs to make 
an incredibly tasty steak – just some butter, a good, hot pan, and some salt, and pepper.
OH,
and a decent steak or two. We picked up our rib eyes at the market on sale for Valentine’s Day; so they were nice cuts, but nothing super extravagant.
INGREDIENTS
•2 rib eye steaks
•Butter
•Water
•Salt and pepper
SEE? I told you it was going to be easy!
In a large, heavy skillet over high heat, melt three tablespoons of butter until hot, but not smoking. Add the steaks and cook quickly – about one minute per side – just to sear. Season liberally with salt and pepper, reduce the flame to medium, and continue cooking – turning every two minutes or so – for another six to eight minutes for medium – these were rather thin steaks, a thicker cut would’ve probably been rare at this point – 
fine for us, maybe not so fine for some of our friends, so judge by your own steak and preferences.
Remove the steaks to a warm plate to rest (I tucked ours on a plate over the vent burner on the back of the stove).
With the heat still on medium, deglazed the pan with 1 tablespoon of water and swirl in two more tablespoons of butter (I know – but it is SO good – and how often do you have a steak?). Drizzle these pan juices over the steaks (and your baked potato, if you’ve planned ahead – why use all that tasty, TASTY butter on the steaks when you can spread the love around?) and serve quickly.
Add a nice salad and some of my favorite seasoned carrots as a munchy, and you have a meal worthy of our favorite old French place in town – for considerably less money.
AND – if you were feeling the need to embellish – a bit of nice red wine in place of the water (you could always just tip a bit of that Malbec in from your glass) couldn’t hurt to deglaze the pan, and I might not say no to a chopped shallot or two.
Just a thought.