Argentinian-Style Rib-Eye Steak with Chimichurri Marinade

Hi everyone, Sarah here:

Whatever you're doing, I want you to stop, and make this steak.  It will change your life.

So a couple of weeks ago, I was at Trader Joe's, and they had rib-eye steaks on sale.  Becca and I don't eat steak very often because it's so expensive, and even when we do, they are usually very small and cheaper cuts.  But look at the prices on these babies:

Less than $6 each?  It would have been wrong not to buy them.  I love steak.  So I would like to thank Trader Joe's for sponsoring this wonderful meal.  And Argentina for coming up with the concept of chimichurri.  And Bobby Flay, for creating this recipe.

Rib-Eye Steak with Chimichurri Marinade


Smash and peel several cloves of garlic - about 6-8 depending of their size.

Pulse in the food processor for a few seconds until finely minced.

Next grab a couple of jalapeno peppers.  Cut off the tops and then cut off each of the sides in four slices. Throw away the middle section and seeds (sorry, forgot to take a picture of this step).

Chop the jalapeno pepper strips in the food processor along with the garlic.

Next, grab a large handful of fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley.

Cut the leaves off of the stems by running a sharp knife backwards down the stem, in the direction of the leaves.  I would take a picture of this, but it's difficult to use one hand to take a photo of the other hand cutting something with a sharp knife.  It doesn't work very well at all.

Now get some fresh cilantro and cut off a large bunch.

Take the stems off of that in a similar manner as with the parsley.

Next, grab some fresh oregano.

I've found from experience that it's actually easier to run your fingers down the stem and pull the leaves off by hand than use a knife with oregano.  Not sure why, but it definitely works better.

Throw all of the herbs in the food processor with the garlic and jalapeno peppers.

And pulse until they are finely chopped.

Add in one tablespoon of kosher salt.

And one tablespoon of ancho chili powder (or regular chili powder if you don't have ancho chili powder).

Add in half a cup of red wine vinegar (the recipe actually calls for white wine vinegar, but that is apparently the only type of vinegar I don't have.  So I used red wine vinegar, and it worked just fine).

And last but not least, add in 3/4 cup of olive oil.

Puree the ingredients in the food processor until smooth.  At this point, you may want to take a taste of it as well.  It is delicious.  I want to put it on everything.

Next, grab your steaks.

Submerge and coat them in the marinade.  Please note that when I die, I would also like to be buried in this marinade.

Oh, and add in three bay leaves.  I forgot this step.

Cover and place in the refrigerator.  Marinate 1 to 4 hours.

When it's almost time to make the steak, prepare the sauce.  The recipe that I have serves eight, so I just reduced the quantities by a lot and made it up as I went along.

Start with some dijon mustard.  The recipe calls for 2 cups.  I used about half a cup.

Add in about a quarter cup of whole grain mustard.

And half a tablespoon of ancho chile powder.

And about a tablespoon of warm water.

Mix together and set aside.

Now, set up the grill, or brush a grill pan with canola oil and preheat it over high heat.

Take the steaks out of the marinade and let the excess marinade drip off.  Season with salt and pepper.

Place the steaks in the grill pan and cook for about 4-5 minutes.

Flip the steak over and cook on the other side for another 4-5 minutes, or until medium-rare.

While the steaks are cooking, here's a recipe for some really easy but delicious oven-roasted asparagus:

Grab a bunch of asparagus.

Snap the ends off and place on a baking sheet.

Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Turn to coat.

Roast in a 400 degree oven for about 5-10 minutes, or until cooked.

Enjoy!

Now, back to the steaks.  After cooking 4-5 minutes on each side, the steaks should be a nice medium-rare.  Remove to a plate.

Serve with the mustard sauce, asparagus and baked potatoes.  Yum.  It was so good, I seriously ate the entire thing.  And most of the baked potato.  And all of my asparagus.  It was delicious.

This here, my friends, is why I could never be a vegetarian.

Enjoy!

Rib-Eye Steak with Chimichurri Marinade and Dried Chili-Mustard Sauce
Courtesy of Bobby Flay
Serves 8

Chimichurri Marinade
6-8 cloves of garlic
2 jalapeno peppers
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
1/4 cup oregano, finely chopped
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon ancho chile powder
1/2 cup white wine vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
3/4 cup olive oil
3 bay leaves

Place all ingredients in food processer and process until smooth.

Steaks
8 rib-eye steaks, 8 to 10 ounces each
Chimichurri Marinade
Salt and pepper to taste
Mustard sauce (to serve, recipe follows)

Place the steaks in a large shallow baking dish or bowl, cover with the marinade and turn to coat.  Refrigerate, covered for 1 to 4 hours.  Preheat grill or grill pan to high.  Remove steaks from the marinade, shaking off any excess, and season with salt and pepper, discard remaining marinade.  Grill until golden brown on one side, 4 to 5 minutes.  Turn over and continue cooking 4 to 5 minutes for medium rare.

Dried Chile-Mustard Sauce:
2 cups Dijon mustard
1/4 cup whole grain mustard
3 tablespoons ancho chile powder
3 tablespoons warm water

Place all ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.

Serve steaks with mustard sauce, asparagus and baked potato.

Sirloin Steak with Portobello Mushroom Pan Sauce

Oh blog, I have been neglecting you!  So here's my list of excuses for why neither Becca nor I have posted in almost a month:

1) I went to Switzerland for 6 days.  Wasn't doing much cooking there.  Wasn't really doing much eating there either because I was running around so much and bottles of water cost $7 in Zurich.  It's freakishly expensive, seriously.

2) I returned from Switzerland and became extremely busy at work because we had a board meeting and two conferences to prepare for in a two week time period.  Becca was also extremely busy at work because of an upcoming board meeting and some technology merger thing in her office which meant that she had to work from 8 am - 11 pm for an entire weekend in addition to her work during the week.

3) I then became extremely ill from the flu and could do nothing but sleep for most of a week.  I can't remember the last time I was that exhausted.

4) After recovering from the flu, I remembered that I was taking the GRE in less than 2 weeks.  My day-to-day life then became the following: 6:30 am - Get up, get ready for work.  7:30 am - Leave for work, study math and vocabulary on the metro.  8:30 am - Arrive at work, and do work for 9 or so hours.  6:00 pm - Leave work, study math and vocabulary on the metro.  7:00 pm - Throw something together for dinner.  8:00 pm - Study math and vocabulary.  Midnight - Sleep.

Yesterday, September 23rd was the big day.  I finally took the GRE.  It's all over.  Hallelujah.  I won't know for sure how I did until I get my scores in November, but I think it went well.  And now that it's over, I can finally reclaim some sort of normalcy in my life.  And normalcy in my life means, back to cooking.  Finally.  No more eating takeout food, scrambled eggs, pasta with jarred pasta sauce, and leftover pasta for dinner.  I'm so excited to cook real food again!

I actually have cooked a few legitimate meals over the past few weeks and taken photos of them for blog entries but I haven't had time to put them up.  I'll do that soon I promise.

Anyways, I came home from the GRE yesterday, made a celebratory steak dinner, and opened one of my "nice"  bottles of wine.  Given my salary, "nice" means that the bottle of wine cost more than $15.  Even anything more than about $10 is a bit of a splurge for me.  This bottle cost about $20ish.  It was delicious.

So...I'm gonna quit rambling now and start with the recipe.

Sirloin Steak with Portobello Mushroom Pan Sauce


Melt a tablespoon of butter in a pan.

Next, grab a couple of steaks.  I used sirloin tip steaks because they were on sale at Whole Foods.  You could probably use whatever you have on hand.  Note: get some better steaks than what I ended up with.  Mine were a little tough.  Probably why they were on sale.  One day I will make enough money to buy really nice, delicious steaks.  That day is not today.

Anyways, sear your steaks in the butter.  Mine were thin so they only took a few minutes.

While the steaks are cooking, chop up some portobello mushrooms.  You could also use Cremini mushrooms, or I suppose regular button mushrooms but I really prefer Cremini/Portobello mushrooms because they have more flavor and better texture, in my opinion.

Once the steaks are cooked to your desired level of done-ness, remove them to a plate.

Put the mushrooms into the pan with the steak drippings along with a couple more tablespoons of butter and saute them until they are soft.

Once the mushrooms are almost done cooking, add in 2-3 cloves of minced garlic and cook until it is golden brown.

Then add in 1/3 cup of red wine.  Yes, the bottle of wine pictured below is half gone already.  I basically started drinking from the moment I returned home from the GRE testing center.  Please don't mind the mess in my kitchen.  I haven't had time to clean either.  That's on my to-do list for today.

Then add about 1/4 cup of beef broth to the pan with the wine.

Scrape up all the drippings from the bottom of the pan and mix them into the sauce.

Next add in about 1 tablespoon of dijon mustard.  Whisk it together with the rest of the sauce.

Bring the sauce to a boil and then let it reduce a bit.  Then add in about a quarter cup of heavy cream.  (This is a celebration dinner, after all.)

Whisk it all together and then add the cooked steaks back into the pan to reheat a bit, along with all the juices on the plate.

Serve the steaks with a baked potato, and spoon the sauce over both.  And of course, also finish off the bottle of wine.

Enjoy everybody :-)  Chicken & Chorizo Paella and North Carolina-style Barbecue Pulled Pork will be up soon.

Sarah

Sirloin Steak with Portobello Mushroom Pan Sauce


2 sirloin tip steaks
3 tablespoons of butter
1 cup chopped portobello mushroom caps
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup beef broth
1 tbsp. dijon mustard
1/4 cup heavy cream

Melt one tablespoon of butter in a skillet and sear steaks until cooked to desired level.  Remove steaks to a plate.

Add the portobello mushrooms to the pan with the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and saute until they are soft.  When the mushrooms are almost cooked, add in the garlic and saute until golden brown.

Add in red wine and beef broth and use a wooden spoon to scrape up all the drippings in the bottom of the pan.  Then whisk in 1 tbsp dijon mustard.  Bring the sauce to a boil and allow it to reduce a bit.

Whisk in 1/4 cup heavy cream and simmer for another minute or so.  Add in the steaks to reheat a bit if needed, and serve.  Serving suggestion: Serve with baked potatoes, and spoon sauce over both.