Rib Eye Steaks with Red Wine Butter

Yet another variation on my favorite dish: Grilled Rib Eye Steaks with a butter sauce.  In this instance, a flavored red wine reduction is blended with some creamy sweet butter to create a sophisticated and full-flavored sauce that marries perfectly with the steak.  And, as an added bonus, if you’re drinking the wine that you used to make the red wine butter, there’s an incredible synergy between everything.  I thought this was an amazing dish.  Here’s the recipe:

Rib Eye Steaks with Red Wine Butter, based on this recipe

4 Rib Eye steaks, about 12-16 ounces each, at room temperature

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Kosher Salt

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

1 1/4 cups red wine, pinot noir is a nice choice

2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

1 bay leaf

8 black peppercorns

11 T unsalted butter (1 stick plus 3 T)

Place the wine, garlic, bay leaf, and peppercorns in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.  Continue to boil until the mixture reduces to 2 T.  Strain the mixture into a small bowl and let cool.  When cool, add the butter and a bit of salt and pepper.  Taste and adjust any seasonings. 

Lightly cover steaks with olive oil and season aggressively with the salt and pepper.  Then cook using your favorite method.  I suggest pan-searing or grilling.  (Check out the recipe index of this blog for examples.)  Let the meat rest for about five minutes after it’s done cooking and then serve, dividing the butter evenly amongst the steaks.

A few notes:  1)  The original recipe asks the cook to shape the butter into a log after it was mixed with the red wine reduction.  The butter is then refrigerated to “firm it up.”  I don’t really disagree with this but I think it adds an unnecessary step to the recipe.  Sure, a nice slice of butter is very attractive but it’s going to be cold on top of the steak.  Which means less melting, which means I think it is quite as good as it could be.  I’m fine with a little bit of “ugliness” for room temperature butter.  It just integrates so much better with the steak.  2)  In recipes like this, ingredients really matter, so use top-shelf stuff whenever possible. 

Here’ a picture of the recipe with Home Fries.

 

Enjoy!

Grilled Vegetables with Simple Mustard Vinaigrette

This is a quick and easy way to dress up your grilled vegetables.  The vinaigrette adds some moisture to the vegetables (which is surprisingly welcome) with a nice dose of acidity from the lemon juice.  It’s really quite pleasant.  A picture can be found here.  And here’s the recipe:

Grilled Vegetables with Simple Mustard Vinaigrette, from this recipe at Epicurious

6 medium yellow squash and/or green zucchini (3 pounds)

Kosher salt and pepper

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons coarse-grain mustard

1/4 teaspoon sugar

Prepare a grill.  Wash vegetables, cut off the stem end, and halve lengthwise.  Toss with 2 T of olive oil and some Kosher salt and pepper. 

Mix together the lemon juice, mustard, and sugar.  Whisk in the remaining 2 T of olive oil. 

Grill vegetables until tender, turning occasionally.  Serve immediately, passing the vinaigrette on the side. 

Enjoy!

Katelyn’s Fresh Corn Salad

This is one of those elemental recipes that seem to capture the essence of not just an ingredient but the season of the year.  Corn fresh of the cob, of course, is a summer time only treat and is synonymous with enjoying the bounties of gardens everywhere.  This recipe takes the sublime sweetness of the corn and marries it with a bit of onion and a bit of vinegar, accentuating all of them in the process. 

Katelyn’s Fresh Corn Salad

6 ears of corn, shucked and washed

1/2 red onion, fairly finely diced

2 T julienne fresh basil

2-3 T good quality extra virgin olive oil

2-3 T cider vinegar

Kosher salt and pepper to taste

Using a sharp knife, remove the kernels from the cobs.  Place into boiling salted water for 1 minute and then drain.  Immediately put the corn into ice water to halt the cooking process.  When cooled all the way through, drain the corn again, shaking the colander to get rid of any excess moisture.  If needed, blot dry with paper towels.

Place corn in a bowl and add the onions and basil.  Mix in 2 T each of cider vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.  Season with a bit of Kosher salt and pepper.  Taste and adjust the seasonings.  Add the remaining cider vinegar and olive oil if needed.  Serve.

Here’s a picture of it (along with a bulgur tomato salad and Grilled Vegetables with Simple Mustard Vinaigrette):

Thanks to Katelyn for bringing this wonderful recipe to me.  It’s just a little bit of everything-sweet, hot, fruity, and acidic.  It’s a perfect summer time side dish.  Enjoy!

Scenes from a Bike Ride

Here’s a few pictures from a bike ride I had yesterday.  The weather was perfect and the ride was too.  North Fargo actually has a bit of bike trail that winds through some pretty woody areas along with being close to the river.  It was very nice.  This is the river:

But, things were a bit wet from all the rain we had this week so we were a bit dirty.

And we also went on the yellow brick road at Trollwood Park.

 

Drinks at Teaberry

Teaberry is a brand new establishment in downtown Fargo that offers Boba teas.  These drinks are mixtures of tea, flavorings, milk, and little chunks (or balls if you like) of tapioca starch that sit on the bottom of the cup.  A very large straw is then used to suck up the chunks of tapioca along with the tasty drink surrounding it.  Teaberry also serves some cocktail-like tea beverages (non-alcoholic) and a few sandwiches. 

It is a very zen-like inside.  The owner told us that all of the construction had been done by his wife, his business partner, and himself.  I was impressed.  Everything inside was clean and soothing with just the right amount of decoration to keep things interesting.  Here’s a picture:

There are a number of flavorings that you can choose for your Boba tea.  If memory serves, green tea, strawberry, taro, green apple, passion fruit, and raspberry are on the menu (along with many others that I cannot remember).  We inquired as to what the owner’s favorite Boba tea was and he said it was a combination of green apple and passion fruit.  Katelyn ordered that one and I chose the taro (another recommendation).  Both of the drinks were wonderful.  The green apple and passion fruit was pretty sweet but with a bit of tartness from the green apple and the presence of the neutral flavored tapioca chunks, it really worked.  The taro was less sweet and had sort of an earthy feel to it, which probably shouldn’t be surprising since it is the root (or corm to be more precise) that is primarily used as a foodstuff.  It thought it elegant in this drink as it added just the right bit of sophistication.  And they were both great on a bike ride on a summer’s day.  Here’s what the drinks looked like:

The second picture is of me using a straw (which I generally eschew with vigor) to drink the Boba tea in Island Park in Fargo.  The wide straw is absolutely necessary because the tapioca chunks would plug up any normal-sized straw.

We also had one other drink.  It was a white gourd cold tea “cocktail.”  (It can be seen in the picture above.)  It may have been the most refreshing thing I have ever tasted.  Sure, I was very thirsty from the bike ride I was on but this drink was amazing.  Just a hint of sweetness was matched with orange and what seemed like green tea (I could very well be wrong here).  And then, on top of all of those flavors, was the white gourd which was, much like the taro, a bit earthy and understatedly full-flavored.  We both loved it. 

Teaberry is found in downtown Fargo in the space where Salad Express used to be.  The address is 119 Broadway, Fargo, ND 58103.  I hope that everyone will go out and support a great little business like this that serves wonderful stuff.