Pepper Crusted New York Steak with Horseradish Mashed Potatoes, Oven-baked Tomatoes and a Creamy Blue Cheese Sauce

Summary: Congratulations to Barry for winning 1st Place in the Barona Casino Culinary Challenge. He took first place with his absolutely wonderful Pepper Crusted New York Steak recipe. So in honor of Barry’s accomplishment today we have a wonderful Pepper Crusted New York Steak with Horseradish Mashed Potatoes, Oven-baked Tomatoes and an awesome Creamy Blue Cheese Sauce. Ingredients: 4 8-10oz New York Steaks Horseradish Mashed Potatoes: 4 yukon gold potatoes 1/4 cup grated fresh horseradish or to taste 1 cup heavy cream 1 cup un-salted butter Tomatoes: 8 large roma tomatoes extra virgin olive oil Blue Cheese Sauce: 11/2 cups heavy cream 1/2 cup white wine 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese shallot fine dice 1 garlic clove minced Directions: Tomatoes: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Remove the stems from the tomatoes and cut in half, lengthwise. Place on a cooling rack over a cooking sheet, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place in oven and cook for about an hour. Remove and serve warm. Horseradish Mashed Potatoes: Peal potatoes and place in large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook till tender. In another pot add cream and butter bring to a simmer and add horseradish; add more or less depending on how spicy you want your potatoes. When the potatoes are done strain and return to the same pot, place over low heat and add the cream and butter mixture. Mix well with a whisk and season with salt and pepper and serve warm. Blue Cheese Sauce: In a medium sauce pot add cream, wine, shallots and garlic. Bring to a low boil. Whisk constantly to prevent burning, when the cream starts to thicken add the blue cheese. Melt the cheese in the sauce and cook till thick and creamy. Season with salt and pepper and serve warm over the meat. New York Steak: Season steak with a touch of salt and with a pepper mill grind coarse black pepper onto both sides of the steak. There should be a nice layer of pepper covering the steak. Place a large saute pan over high heat with enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. When the pan is very hot place the meat in the pan, cook one to two minutes on each side. You should get a nice dark crust on both sides of the steak. Cook to desired doneness and serve warm.