Coffee and Steaks---a delicious dinner combination
The other day I picked up a couple of
nice rib eye steaks.
As I thought about it, I decided I
didn't want to do the same old sea salt and ground pepper on it this
time. Over the last few years I'd seen several shows and recipes that
made a coffee-based rub for meats. That intrigued me, so I looked to
see what I had. I started with a few scoops of Costa Rican coffee
beans in the coffee grinder. I ground it pretty fine, more like an
espresso grind. In my handy little mixing bowl I put the coffee, some
paprika, some ancho chili, a few shakes of chipotle, sea salt, black
and white pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.
I let it sit for a bit while the steaks
warmed up from the fridge and then coated them generously with the
rub. I let the steaks sit and mingle flavors with the rub while I
started the next part of the meal.
I had a bag of small Yukon gold
potatoes that I thought would go perfect with the steaks. Since I was
grilling them, I prepared the potatoes for the grill too. First, I
quartered the potatoes and placed them on a big sheet of foil. Then I
added some olive oil, a few grinds of pepper, some sea salt and a
healthy dose of ground cumin. I folded and sealed the package and it
was ready to go.
I got the gas grill nice and hot on a
few burners and placed the potatoes on them. I turned the package a
few times just to try to keep from burning the potatoes. After 20
minutes or so, I lit an end burner, put it to low and moved the
potatoes over it.
The steaks went on the hot burners and
I was cooking.
In the meantime, I made a simple
salad--------baby lettuce mix, grape tomatoes, sugar snap peas and
scallions, etc.
After 4 minutes I rotated the steaks 90
degrees to try and get that nice diamond pattern. Another four
minutes and I flipped them over and followed the same procedure on
the other side. I kept the lid up------didn't want any flareups to
ruin these!
After a bit I turned the heat down to
finish cooking them. Even in the dimly lit dark outside, you could
see they had a nice crust and a good pattern on them.
A couple of presses with my finger for doneness and they came off to rest.
Now ---the ultimate test. Upon first
taste, I was shocked. I had expected it to be a really overpowering
rub. It was not. Instead, the steaks had just a subtle heat from the
chiles and the coffee taste was slight, complementing the meat well.
I probably could have used another spoonful of coffee to make it more
assertive, but the balance was nice and I was very happy with the
meat.
A successful exercise and a delicious
meal. With a glass of Curran Sangiovese 2005, it made a delicious
meal. I'm a firm believer in a coffee rub on steaks now!