Grilled Steak 'n Fixens
It's grilling season - but isn't it always? Last weekend I tried a different way to smoke ribs on the grill and it was good, but I won't be posting that here just yet. Besides, my wife thinks I need to try soaking the ribs in bourbon (just not the good stuff) before I grill them again. I hope they won't blow up!
Tonight, I had 30 minutes and some steaks that were ready and waiting. Dinner prep went something like this:
A few weeks ago I brought home some nice, thick T-bones that were on sale for $5.99 a pound (which is still a big ticket when each steak is 2-3 pounds). Before freezing them, I took them out of the store packaging and prepped them.
Invest in a box of Freezer Paper (wax on one side, paper on the other). Tear off enough big sheets to each wrap two steaks. Lay the steaks out onto the paper so when you season them, your clean-up should be little to none.
I sprinkle some Worcestershire on each, using my (washed) fingers to reach every inch of both sides.
Sprinkle on a seasoning of your choice. Like with my hamburgers, I use McCormick Grill Mates Hamburger seasoning because there is no MSG, and with salt, pepper, chili pepper, onion, red bell peppers, sugar, garlic and "natural flavors" (probably like the debris that blows or sticks onto the ingredients from field to factory), it has good flavor without anything I don't already like (without knowing about it).
Then, I sprinkle McCormick Meat Tenderizer (unseasoned) on each side. (I think McCormick should give me freebies for mentioning their products here, except for my comment about their natural flavorings). Again, nothing too threatening in this ingredient list.
Wrap the steaks up in the paper. Drop them into a plastic zip bag (remember to label one or the other so you know what you're looking at in a few weeks), squeeze out all the air, then seal and freeze.
3-5 days before you want to grill, move the package into the refrigerator. As the steaks thaw, the marinading begins. By the time you unwrap these dogies (as in get along little...) they are ready to rock!
Let them sit out on the counter to warm a bit (and far enough back from the edge to keep your dog from being able to reach them) while you prep your coals.
Set aside the grill lid and open the bottom vents of your grill all the way.
I hate to waste much, so if I have unburned coals from my last grilling, I scoop them up and put them into the charcoal chimney (dude, you really need one of these if you're using charcoal). Squirt them with some lighter fluid then add more fresh charcoal on top of these, with another few squirts. Once they are lit, walk away.
For steaks, I use direct, medium heat so once the coals are ready, I will spread them beneath the areas where the steaks will sizzle.
Back in the house, I need to find vegetables (because my wife always says meat alone isn't enough). Ugh! Me Thinks It IS! But hey, it's all about her, right?
Wash your hands then wash everything from the peppers on down! Think about how many hands have touched this stuff! EWE!
There are some bell peppers (the Farmers Market had purple and sort of beige along with red and yellow peppers - weird but tasty) so I chop 1/3 of each of these off then cut these into bigger chunks.
There is an eggplant (which I really don't understand or appreciate much but cooking it makes me appear sophisticated), so I cube a couple of inches off of this purple thing.
I find some onion which I slice half of into thin rings.
Portabella mushrooms! SCORE! Check...no fuzz! DOUBLE SCORE! They're still good! Okay, the snobs say to never wash your mushrooms. They say you have to buy a mushroom brush and brush the peat moss that they grow in, off. Yeah, right! I just don't like the flavor or texture of peat moss all that much so I wash them without getting them too wet (if that's possible). Just place them on a towel to dry off before you cook them.
Better go check on the coals.
Are they all hot and turning gray? (Insert your own inappropriate senior citizen joke here). If so, spread the coals where you want them, put your grill on top then put the lid of the grill on.
Open the vents all the way because oxygen feeds fire and we want this to get hot, fast. What this is doing is A) cleaning your grill leftovers from your last cookout and; B) pre-heating your grill so the meat will sear when it is placed on top, creating those beautiful grill lines.
Back in the house, we find strawberries and blueberries so rinse those and set them aside to dry. (You'll get bonus points for serving vegetables AND fruit!).
Now, we need to decide what seasoning we want on the veggies. I was leaning towards olive oil and a thick, dark, balsamic vinegar but I found a bottle of a mild Curry spice in the cabinet. Curried veggies and steak...hmmm...that'll work!
Back to the grill! Toss in a few hickory or cherry wood chips to create a little smoke but because we haven't soaked them (like you should if you are smoking something like ribs for hours), place them at the edges of the grill, away from the steaks because they will burn. We can keep them at a smoldering stage by dampening down the available oxygen, but we'll get to that next.
Put those steaks on so they are a couple of inches above the coals. Adjust both the bottom AND top grill vents so they are 3/4 CLOSED or more. This will slow the coals, minimize or stop flare-ups, trap the wood smoke and drive it into the meat, and avoids making steaks that are soot covered on the outside while still mooing on the inside.
Back in the kitchen, place your stainless steel pan on the burner at about 6 (from 0 - 10). Once you can feel the heat coming off the pan, add olive oil then the curry. I would guess (if I had measured) that I sprinkled 1 tablespoon of curry all over the simmering olive oil. Let that sing a minute, then add the onions and peppers. After a few minutes, toss in everything else, give it a good stir then cover. Reduce the heat to a slow simmer at about a setting of 2.
Take a quick peak at the grill without opening it. If you don't see and hear flames but can see a nice wood smoke coming out of your mostly closed vents, you are golden! If there are signs of burning, lift the lid. If you need to reposition your steaks do so but then replace the cover and close your upper and lower vents more.
After 10 minutes, open the grill and turn your steaks over. Replace the cover and go away for 10 more minutes.
Ta Da! Pull everything off the heat, put your berries in the center of the table and DUDE! YOUR'E A GORMET GRILLER!
No comments:
Post a Comment