Roasted Southwestern Steak and Baby Potatoes

This roasted southwestern steak and baby potatoes is an easy steak recipe with a surprising flavor twist. It breaks from the heavy casseroles you would normally give to someone in need of meal with a fresher take on comfort food. Rubbed with a blend of spices, this roasted southwestern steak is a delicious treat.

This fourth installment of my grief meal series comes from a friend of mine from high school, who took our maternity pictures. She asked if she could make us a meal and said she wanted to make us something different than a casserole or crock pot meal. She had her fourth baby last year and mentioned after he was born she was sick of casseroles and crock pot food. She wanted something fresher, something that stepped it up a notch.

I totally understood what she was talking about. We had some freezer meals prepared, which were all casseroles of course. Aside from those, we had lots of pasta dishes given to us. We hadn’t eaten a meal like steak in forever.

When my friend texted to tell me what she was making for us, she described her steak as “ballin.” But she still worried about cooking for us since I am a foodie. But honestly, it was this meal she made for us that made me remember that food for me is much more than something you eat to stay alive. It’s love and a chance to be creative. It’s enjoyment.

And there is so much to enjoy about this steak. The blend of spices is so flavorful. You have smoky cumin and paprika, a little bit of heat from chili powder, and a mellow spice from all the garlic. Plus you have the totally unexpected flavor of cinnamon. I would never have expected it and couldn’t tell you that there was cinnamon in the spice rub the first time I ate this steak. It becomes a background of sweet and subtly spicy and adds so much depth to the steak.

A plate of spices and garlic with a side of olive oil on a light background — The spice mix for Roasted Southwestern Steak and Baby Potatoes

Also, the potatoes here: totally optional. If you don’t like roasted baby potatoes, go with mashed potatoes. This garlic parmesan twice baked potato casserole would be a fabulous side dish. I will say though, potatoes of any variety go so well with this steak. The steak and seasoning rub will create all these flavorful juices that are just amazing on the potatoes. Of course, if you’re not a potato person you could always sop up the juice with a good piece of crusty bread and it would be fab.

Making the Roasted Southwestern Steak and Baby Potatoes

Spices and olive oil on a light background — The consistency of the olive oil and spice mixture should be thick like paste

The spice rub should be very thick, almost a paste like consistency.
Adjust the cook time to suit your taste and also the size of your meat. For a more done steak, add time. For a more rare steak, subtract time.
Make sure to rub both sides of the steak with the spice rub.
Don’t skip marinading the steak. The marinading time both tenderizes the meat and allows the flavors of the spices to infuse in the beef. This means you can get a very tender piece of steak from a cut that might tend to be tougher.

Roasted Southwestern Steak and Baby Potatoes

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