Spicy Rubbed Steak & Wine Throwdown

Hey Mike! Look at your New York Strips on the grill! This is Bobby Flay's Spice-Rubbed steaks from his book Bobby Flay cooks American (page 138). I started with a trip to Tag'z Five Star Meats, where Mike Taglio runs the best butcher shop anywhere. 

We talked about how we love all kinds of food from the grill. He grew up in the north. I grew up in the south. We talked about how much fun it is to grill from other cultures. Its "home fries" in the north and its "grits" in the south - but its all great stuff. We agreed that if Bobby Flay ever actually came to town, we would make our first stop at Tag'z! Then Mike picked out these great steaks. The spice rub was made with ancho chili powder, paprika, ground black pepper, dry mustard, coriander, dried and crushed oregano, ground cumin and kosher salt. I brushed the steaks with olive oil and then, using the back of a spoon, I rubbed in the spices. The oil (Olive or Canola) should go right on the food, not the grill grates themselves. With the grill blazing, I put the steaks on with the spice side down. The sizzle and the sear is heard instantly. With the steaks grilling on one side, I added oil and more spice rub to the side facing up and then let the grill do its work. When I turned the steaks, I also tossed on some Asparagus that also had Olive Oil, pepper and salt added. Now take a look at that spice-rub crust on those steaks! That is what you want to see. I turned the heat down and closed the lid so the grill would cook the streaks through and char the Asparagus. No extra sauces or glazes or mops are needed on this steak. Excellent steak with the right spices is all you need. If you need a sauce to make it great, then something is wrong. The steak should be great standing alone - this one really reached that standard. 

What to drink? It was a Wine Throwdown! We brought together some wines that we had been given and decided to do a cost and taste comparison. 

The two wines in the throwdown were Cabernets. The first was Darby & Joan, an Australian and the second was Robert Mondavi's Solaire from Paso Robles, California. The third wine was a Marquis Phillips Merlot that was in the fridge - so we brought it out. All these were inexpensive wines, but the Darby & Joan was very inexpensive at about $8. The Solaire was about $17. 

In the photo the Solaire are the closest two glasses, the Darby are the two in the middle, the Phillips are the two glasses that are farthest away. I guess in this case, you really do get what you pay for. Dorothy and I each independently rated each wine for color, aroma and taste. Comparing notes we decided that the Darby was thin in color and taste. The aroma was "chemical." The Solaire, on the other hand, was deep and dark but translucent and clear ruby in color. The aroma also had a somewhat alcohol-chemical smell, but I also got raisins and Dorothy got honey and dried fruit. She always can tell you what the label says about smell and taste before reading it. The taste was somewhat acidic but also peppery-spicy and dry - the opposite of sweet. Hands down the Solaire was the winner, but they were all okay. That being said, none were quite as good as some of my favorite Cabs. We drank the Solaire with dinner and its spicy kick went along well with the spice-rub steaks. The Darby will be used soon when red wine is called for in a recipe. 

What was on? What else - Billy Joel's classic Scenes from an Italian Restaurant. 

A bottle of white, a bottle of red,
Perhaps a bottle of rosé instead.
We'll get a table near the street
In our old familiar place
You and I - face to face.

Wine tastings are popular at restaurants and bars these days, and we really like to attend them - but its just as much fun to stage your own Wine Throwdown at home. We will do it again with White Wines as soon as it gets a little warmer. In the meantime, grill up some steaks, get some Red Wines and ask yourself, "Are you ready for a Throwdown?"

Paul

Grilled Potato Salad

On page 84 of Bobby Flay’s Boy Gets Grill you will find a side dish that has the power to stand alone - its Grilled Potato Salad with Scallions and Blue Cheese Vinaigrette. This turned out to be terrific. I first partially cooked about a dozen new red potatoes after cutting them in halves and thirds. In a plastic bowl I stirred together red wine vinegar, finely chopped shallots, Dijon mustard, honey, olive oil and about half a cup of crumbled Blue Cheese. I say about a half a cup. I don’t know for sure, because I don’t really measure anything – I just go with what seems right and I add more of things I know I like (more honey in this case). I smashed some of the larger Blue Cheese chucks against the side of the bowl to get it a little smoother.

I have a grill skillet that has small holes all across the bottom and sides - you saw it in a photo a few blogs back. This allows the contents to get some direct heat, but keeps smaller items from getting away like they would if placed right on the grill grates. I tossed the red potatoes, un-peeled, into the hole-covered grill skillet and let them finish cooking and browning. I flipped the potatoes in the skillet a time or two to get all sides some direct heat, but none got away.

Once the potatoes were done on the inside and a little crispy on the outside, I put them all in the bowl and poured on the Blue Cheese – Olive Oil – Honey Mustard – Red Wine sauce and mixed it all up – topped with chopped scallions. It was definitely not your standard Mayo or Mustard saturated Potato Salad – it was much better.

Like I said, a grilled potato salad that stands alone with any meal!

Paul

Horseradish

From Bobby Flay’s Grill It! (Page 27) this is Grilled Rib Eye Steak with Horseradish sauce. The sauce is a combination of Horseradish, sour cream and chives. When it came to food, my father once called me a “Young-Foogie” (not an Old-Foogie) because I didn’t try a lot of different things. I guess horseradish was one of those things. I didn’t need to try horseradish, because I knew before trying it that I would not like it. Guess what – I don’t like horseradish – I was right all along. But in this sauce the bite of the horseradish is tempered by the sour cream. I really don’t like sour cream, that much by itself either – but together on a Rib Eye it really is a great blend of flavors. I made the sauce first and put it in the fridge for about an hour while I got everything else ready. The Rib Eye was grilled the Booby Flay way – canola oil on both sides with a generous dusting of Kosher salt and ground pepper. The salt, but especially the pepper together with flame, forms a crust on the outside of the steak – perfect. When the steaks came off the grill, I let them rest first, then dobbed on the sauce. I added some fresh thyme and this became a steak meal that could have been served in the finest steakhouses nationwide. When you grill with Bobby Flay you gotta have an open mind to new ingredients and especially new spices. I am now a Horseradish user.

What was on? Jackson Browne. It had been awhile since I had listened to The Pretender. It’s a great song and great album about hard work and struggle but about never giving up. It’s a look at life’s tough journey.


“Caught between the longing for love
And the struggle for the legal tender”


I think singer-song writers tell the best stories. Maybe I think that because I am from Nashville, but no matter where you are from you must agree that Jackson Browne is one of the best singer-song writers of any genre and in any time.


“And when the morning light comes streaming in
I’ll get up and do it again. Amen”


Grill it again – Amen

Maple Chicken

From Grill It! (page 73) this is Bobby Flay's Grilled Chicken breast with Tangerine-Maple-Black pepper glaze. I first put a sauté on some chopped red onions. They smell great when sizzling up in canola oil in the skillet over the grill. Once the onions were tender, I added in Orange Zest and Orange Juice and sprigs of Thyme. All that came to a boil and then simmered until it reduced and thickened. I let that cool but not for very long, because I stirred in Maple Syrup. This formed the glaze that I brushed on the chicken in the last few minutes. This turned out to have a hot-tangy taste that terrific. 

Wisdom of the Grill. Some grillers make a tragic mistake of putting on barbeque sauces and glazes on the meat too early. These sauces and glazes have sugar in them and sugar will burn quickly. If you put the sauce or glaze on too soon, it will just make a charred-burned mess. You want some caramelization and some crispyness to the sauce or glaze – but you don’t want it blackened. Use a grill brush and get your timing down.

What was on? The Oscars. I think Sandra Bullock is great, by I think her winning was an upset and probably somewhat of a reach. We usually try to see all the films nominated for best picture, but this year there were just too many of them - ten. Last year when their were only five, the biggest selling movie, the Dark Knight was not nominated - it was #6 and therefore didn't make the cut. That sent the Dark Knight's large audience to watching other shows on Oscar night, so this year they didn't make that same "mistake" and they brought in every film that had sold any tickets at all. It was watered down. That being said, we need to go see The Hurt Locker.

The grill is nominated and wins every year!

Paul

Grilled Antipasto

Beautiful! This is Grilled Antipasto with Gorgonzola Vinaigrette from page 32 of Grilling for Life. I started the Bobby Flay's version of Antipasto, but Dorothy interceded. This is Bobby's Antipasto with Dorothy's Grandmother's influence. The red and yellow bell peppers are right off the grill, but we added a few ingredients. From the top are the peppers, Parmesan, Tomatoes, Provolone, smoked ham, Hot Coppicola, Genoa Salami, with black olives and Buffalo Mozzarella in the center. We were out on the town, so this Antipasto plate was perfect for late-night snacking when we got home. 

The extra ingredients that came from Dorothy's grandmother came directly from her memory. Much of the American culinary heritage has been passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. It would probably be a good idea for you to write down the recipes and memories that have been passes down to you from your family. It is part of your family tree and part of who you are. Prepare a "family tree" menu this week!

Paul    

T-Bone

 

Non-serious grillers need to step aside for this Grilled T-Bone Steak with Garlic-Chili Oil. This is from Grilling for Life by Bobby Flay, page 162 and it one of the best grilling recipes in any of Bobby's books. Try this and you will soon be considered a serious griller yourself, if you are not already! The oil-glaze was just Olive Oil, fresh thyme, red pepper flakes, roasted garlic, kosher salt and ground back peppercorns. I just stirred all that together and set it aside while the T-Bones hit the grill. I also sliced up some red and yellow bell peppers, covered them with some olive oil spray and ground in some salt and pepper. I put the bell peppers in my open grill skillet. You can see that the skillet is covered with small holes that allows the heat and the occasional flame up into the skillet. I kept tossing the skillet to move the peppers around over the heat and you can see the result - nicely charred roasted peppers. The T-Bones went to the grill with only a brushing of olive oil and a dusting of kosher salt and ground pepper. As always, we turn the streak only once. This is the Eleventh Commandment - thou shalt not turn a steak more than one time on the grill. The 12th Commandment is - never pierce a sausage with a fork while on the grill - but that lesson is for another day. The steaks hit the grill grates on the side that has the greatest amount of salt and pepper. This will insure that a crispy steak crust will develop. When the steaks turned, I added a brushing of the Garlic-Chili oil and let those flavors smoke right in. From the photo you can see the thyme and red pepper flakes grilled into the meat. That pepper crust and that oil-glaze made this one of the best steaks to ever come off my grill. I placed one of the T-Bones into the skillet with the peppers for the photo, but that is also what it looked like on the plate - plate perfection!

Wisdom of the Grill. The T-Bone is really two steaks in one, so this is the steak you want when you really want a big steak. The "T" shaped bone separates the two steaks of a T-Bone. On one side, the larger side, is a New York Strip. Many times a New York Strip or a Strip Steak is all the steak you need and it stands alone. The other side of the T, the smaller side, is the Tenderloin. The difference between a T-Bone and a Porterhouse is the size of the Tenderloin section. Just like grillers have their own specialties and techniques, there are variations in the definition between T-Bone and Porterhouse. A steak house may call a steak a Porterhouse, because it implies that it is larger than a T-Bone, when in fact what they serve is a T-Bone. Since the definition is somewhat unclear, I looked it up. The US Department of Agriculture's Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications states that the tenderloin must be at least 1.25 inches (32 mm) thick at its widest to be classified a porterhouse. Similarly, the USDA says that the tenderloin must be at least ½ inch (13 mm) thick for the steak to be classified a T-bone. I don't use a tape measure in my grilling, so by any name, use the Bobby Flay grilling methods and the Garlic-Chili oil from this recipe and all you will need to call it is - good!

Paul

Buffalo Mozzarella

From Bobby Flay’s Book Boy Gets Grill (page 58) this is Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella with Red and Yellow Tomatoes and Basil Vinaigrette. I mixed together the vinaigrette with fresh basil leaves, olive oil, white wine vinegar, kosher salt and ground pepper. To get the basil leaves chopped and blended, I used the processor to make a great, green-yellow sauce that I then set aside a few hours. When the right time came, I sliced both the red and yellow tomatoes. Yellow tomatoes are relatively new to me, but I really like them. They just have a different, sweeter taste and I think I like them better than red tomatoes alone.

But the star of this show was the Mozzarella. Bobby warns us to use only the best, freshest Mozzarella possible or “leave it out!” I have been guilty of buying those shrink-wrapped white cheese globs before, but the difference between that and the real think is dramatic. The only flavor difference that is more dramatic that this, that I can think of, would be the difference between a chunk of pineapple from a can of fruit cocktail and a slice of pineapple cut right from the fruit whiling standing in the field where the pineapple grew. I grew up eating fruit cocktail from a can, so I never knew what pineapple was supposed to taste like until one day I had a slice while standing in a field on Oahu. Mozzarella is almost the same way. And this is not just Mozzarella. Mozzarella is sort of a generic name for Italian white cheese. No, this is Buffalo Mozzarella or Mozzarella di Bufala, made from domesticated water Buffalo milk. It is worth driving across town to get the real thing – which is what I did in this case.
After the tomatoes and Buffalo Mozzarella were placed together, I drizzled on the basil/olive oil/white wine vinegar sauce. This was a meal in itself! It was light, probably healthy, and quick to prepare. Give it a try yourself – but don’t you the shrink-wrap glob! Paul