This is a quick weeknight dinner and I chose each of the components of this meal for their ease and quick prep time.  Tonight, I thought I’d show you the steps of how to make this meal from start to finish in under an hour.   

First,  preheat the grill and rub the filets with a little sliced garlic, rosemary and oil and allow them to sit at room temperature while you prepare the rest of the meal and the grill heats up.  

Next, prepare the quinoa:  saute 1 small onion in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until it begins to turn golden (about 5 minutes).  Add chicken broth (or, in my case tonight, 2 1/2 cups water and 2 chicken bouillon cubes).  Add in 2 cups quinoa, cover and simmer on low heat for 20 minutes.  Turn off heat and let quinoa remain in covered pot until dinner is served.

While the quinoa is cooking, make the oyster mushrooms:  peel the “petals”off the thick center trunk of the mushrooms and discard the tough (and dirty) trunk.  Pull apart the petals into small pieces.  In a broad  skillet, brown 3 sliced cloves of garlic in 6 tbls olive oil.  Add in the mushrooms and brown on high heat for about 5 minutes.  Add in a handful of mint leaves and salt and pepper to taste.  Set aside.  Don’t bother washing the skillet–simply remove it from the heat and set aside.

By this time, the grill is hot and the steaks are ready to grill.  Simply remove the garlic and salt them generously on both sides.  Place on grill for 6 minutes per side or until the internal temperature is around 135 degrees.  Allow them to rest for 5 minutes, then serve.

While the steaks are grilling, cook the asparagus:  no peeling or blanching tonight (they’re all pretty skinny spears, anyway).  Just bend the spears, snap them in half (where they want to break) and wash them in a bowl of cold water.  In the same skillet in which you cooked the mushrooms, on high heat, add in 2 tablespoons olive oil, the zest of half a lemon, and  4 tablespoons water.  It will boil in a minute–add in the asparagus,  cover and saute on high heat for about 3  minutes, lifting the lid and stirring from time to time.  Uncover and allow the water to evaporate.  Taste and add salt and black pepper.  They are done when stalks are crisp-tender (about 5 minutes total).

Remove the quinoa from the pot and sprinkle in a generous handful of parmiggiano cheese.  A very elegant dinner in less than an hour.