Make steak night at home even better with a little surf and turf! Dress up your dinner plate with this cajun steak and shrimp! Juicy medium rare steak topped with garlic shrimp and a creamy cajun sauce is just what the doctor ordered.
Steak night is always my favorite! It feels so indulgent and a little bit opulent to cut into perfectly juicy steak for dinner. And not having to dress up to go to a fancy steakhouse is always a plus! But sometimes a simple steak, as perfectly executed as it might be, doesn’t do the trick. So why not go the extra mile to make a simple cream sauce and shrimp to drape on top!?
How to Cook The Perfect Steak
My fiance loves when I make steak for dinner. It’s a pretty rare occurrence, because, well….its expensive! But every now and then, we splurge and pick up some really good New York strips or a ribeye. And I always cook it the exact same way! Pan sear and then oven bake.
Baked steak, that sounds weird! But it’s not! The technique is simple (I probably saw it on Food Network years ago), and I use it no matter what cut of steak I buy.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Meanwhile, heat a cast iron skillet (a non-stick skillet just doesn’t develop that crust you are looking for!) over medium high heat with an oil that has a high smoking point (I use olive oil).
- Season the steak LIBERALLY! Don’t be scared, beef can handle it! Now sear the steak on both sides for 2-3 minutes each.
- Once you have flipped the steak to the second side, add butter and aromatics to the pan (like garlic or rosemary). Use a spoon to ladle that melted, flavored butter over the top of the steak. This basting technique helps impart a lot of extra flavor onto the steak while keeping it hot.
- Now, toss the whole pan in the oven! Allow the steak to cook for 7-8 minutes (depending on the thickness of the cut and the internal temp you want. 130-135° for medium rare, 140° for medium.
- REST!! Let that steak rest for two reasons. One, you want all of the juices to redistribute, otherwise they will flood out when you slice it and your steak will dry out. Two, the residual heat from cooking will bring the steak up just a few more degrees to the perfect doneness.
And within minutes, you have a perfectly juicy medium steak with a delicious crust.
Simple Cajun Cream Sauce
Now that you have the tips for a fool-proof steak, it’s time to get saucy. The simple cream sauce that tops this ribeye is so quick to whip up!
Start by heating up butter and minced garlic in a pan. Toss in your shrimp and season with cajun seasoning (I always have a bottle of Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning on standby!). Cook the shrimp 1-2 minutes per side until pink.
Remove the shrimp from the pan (don’t overcook them!), and add more butter and garlic. Pour in 1 cup of heavy cream and allow it to come to a simmer. Once it begins to thicken, add in parmesan cheese and the juice of about 1/3 of a lemon.
Whisk and continue to simmer. Once the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, toss the shrimp back in and finish with some fresh chopped parsley. Finish with a little more cajun seasoning if desired. And that’s it!
Now you are ready to serve! Serve your ribeye whole (a real show-stopper), or slice it and fan it out on a plate. Then spoon a few heaping tablespoons of shrimp and that luscious sauce right on top.
Steak night instantly goes from a 10 to a 15 when you serve cajun steak and shrimp on the dinner table! Pair it with some garlic mashed potatoes and steamed veggies, and you won’t even miss the steakhouse…..or the bill!
Cajun Steak and Shrimp
Ingredients
Steak
- 2 bone in ribeye about 1lb each
- 1 tbsp cajun seasoning
- olive oil for searing the steak
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 clove garlic minced
Shrimp and Cream Sauce
- ½ lb large shrimp peeled and deveined
- ½ tbsp cajun seasoning
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ⅓ cup grated or shaved parmesan
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp chopped parsley
- salt and pepper
Instructions
Steak
- Preheat the oven to 400°
- Heat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat with olive oil until oil begins to smoke.
- Liberally season both sides of each ribeye with cajun seasoning. Place the ribeyes in the skillet and sear on one side for 2-3 minutes.
- Flip steaks over. Add butter and minced garlic to the pan. Let the second side of the steak sear for another 2-3 minutes. While it is searing, use a spoon to repeatedly scoop the melted butter/garlic over the tops of the steak to baste.
- Place the cast iron skillet in the over for 8 minutes or until the steaks reaches 130-135° for medium rare, 140° for medium.
- Remove from the oven and place the steaks on a cutting board to rest for at least 5-7 minutes.
Shrimp and Cream Sauce
- While the steak is resting, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tbsp of butter and 1 clove of garlic. When butter has melted, add in shrimp and season liberally with cajun seasoning. Cook shrimp 1-2 minutes per side.
- Remove shrimp from pan. Add in the remaining minced clove of garlic and 2 tbsp of butter. Once melted, pour in heavy cream. Bring to a simmer. Once the cream is simmering, add in parmesan, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste.
- Allow the cream sauce to simmer for an additional 2-3 minutes until it has thickened. Add shrimp back to pan and sprinkle in the parsley.
- To serve, plate a ribeye and spoon a few shrimp overtop, spooning over additional cream sauce.
- Alternatively, slice the ribeye on the cutting board and spoon shrimp and sauce over fanned out slices.
