Dinner Ideas With Pan Fried Steak

Serve your steak with plenty of vegetables for flavor and health benefits.

A steak dinner is traditional and filling, but to keep it healthy, serve it with whole grains and plenty of brightly colored vegetables. Practice portion control and choose a lean cut of steak, such as top sirloin or round steak, which both have less than 6 grams of fat per 3 ounce serving. Fill at least half of your dinner plate with vegetables and fruit and go easy on the starchy vegetables, such as potatoes. Fresh herbs and pan sauces add flavor and color as garnishes without adding a lot of fat. Does this Spark an idea?

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Vegetables
- For a weeknight dinner or when you're in a hurry, a stir-fry of mixed vegetables is an easy and healthy accompaniment to pan-fried steak. After you cook your steak, tent it with foil to keep it warm and cook vegetables, such as carrots, snow peas and peppers, in the same pan. Season with a splash of sesame oil and low-sodium soy sauce and garnish both the vegetables and meat with toasted sesame seeds. A bed of wilted spinach or chard is an attractive presentation for slices of steak. For an elegant dinner, saute mushrooms and leeks and roll up inside thin steaks to create pinwheels.
Fruit
- Broiled or baked fruit is a sweet pairing for a savory dinner and is simple to cook while your steak is frying. Bake whole apples or broil peach halves with a sprinkling of cinnamon to serve with your dinner. A fruit salsa is a refreshing and healthy alternative to steak sauce. Combine mango or pineapple with red onions, lime juice and cilantro for a simple topping for steak and whole grains.
Grains
- Use whole grains in place of starchy vegetables for the health benefits found in the fiber content. Toss cooked whole-wheat pasta with halved cherry tomatoes, chopped fresh herbs, olive oil and parmesan cheese for a side dish, or serve your steak on a nest of whole-wheat spaghetti noodles mixed with spinach and drizzle with a pan sauce. Fluffy mounds of couscous or quinoa also make a good bed for presenting a sizzling steak.
Sauces and Garnishes
- Making a pan sauce to drizzle over your finished dish is easy when you pan fry steak. For a simple sauce, remove your cooked steak from the pan and add red wine and broth to the pan. Cook until most of the liquid is evaporated and add a tablespoon of butter to thicken the sauce. For a more complex flavor, cook onions, shallots or mushrooms in the pan before adding the liquid. Chopped scallions, fresh herbs, balsamic vinegar and crumbles of strong cheese, such as blue cheese or goat cheese, are flavorful garnishes for steaks.