Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Grilled Ribeyes with Gorgonzola Sauce

Happy Independence Day!


I hope you have all had a safe and fun 4th of July so far.   We have spent the day grilling, watching the Olympic trials, and blowing stuff up.  We normally do mortars and Roman candles on the Fourth, you know, rockets' red glare kind of stuff.  But the grass is so dry and we have a high potential for fire, we stuck with "non-flying explosives" this year.  

We grilled "red, white, and blue" steaks.   The steaks were red (med rare) and the sauce was white with blue cheese.  Normally, I don't use a sauce with steaks but these were the ribeyes that don't have the spinalis dorsi attached so I wanted to up the flavor quotient.  This sauce does that with creamy texture and sharp flavors.   Gorgonzola cheese has a pungent taste that just rocks with beef.  

The side dishes were a Caesar salad and Bush's Grillin' Beans Steakhouse Recipe.  The salad is a typical partner for steaks and the Steakhouse Grillin' Beans made sense because they are slowly simmered in a delicious steak sauce.  


Grilled Ribeyes with Gorgonzola Sauce
source:  www.nibblemethis.com
serves:  4

Ingredients
  • 4 ribeye steaks
  • salt & pepper to taste
For the Gorgonzola Sauce
  • 2 Tbsp butter
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely diced
  • 2 Tbsp All purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 2 oz Gorgonzola cheese*
  • 1/4 cup shredded pecorino-Romano cheese*
  • 1 tsp finely chopped parsley
  • 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
  • 3/4 tsp black pepper, coarse ground
Instructions
  1. Temper your steaks.  Either leave them at room temperature for 1 hour or better yet, put them in a vacuum sealed bag and put them in 105f* degree water for 1 hour.
  2. Make the sauce.  Saute garlic in butter over medium heat until it starts to turn golden and smell fragrant, about one minute.  Add the flour and whisk constantly until it becomes a blonde roux, about 3-4 minutes.  Whisk in the cream and simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes.  Fold in the cheeses, parsley, salt and pepper.  Keep warm.
  3. Preheat a charcoal grill to 500f (high).  Don't skip this part.  PREHEAT.  
  4. Grill the steaks.  Season with salt and pepper.  Grill 4 minutes per side or until the steaks reach an internal temp of 125-130f for medium rare.  
  5. Rest the steaks for 10 minutes.  Don't skip this part either.  Seriously.  Quit looking at that steak!  Just wait.  
  6. Serve the steaks.   Crumble some extra Gorgonzola cheese on the steaks and pour some of the sauce over each.  
Notes
  • Gorgonzola cheese - Most grocery stores carry this in the deli or specialty cheese area these days.  If yours does not, you can substitute another type of blue cheese. 
  • Pecorino-Romano cheese - If your store doesn't carry it, you can use any other hard cheese like Parmesan or Manchego.
  • Hot-tubbing - tempering your steaks in warm water is called "hot-tubbing".  The idea is that you get the entire steak up to an even temperature before throwing it on the grill for a quick sear.  This results in a more evenly cooked steak.  If you do this, check your internal temps early and often while grilling because it can take a few minutes off of your cook times.  
Steaks hot-tubbing.

Mise en place for the sauce.
Fire + Hot Coals = Tasty
  
I spilled a little too much sauce on this one but it tasted so good it didn't matter.


Okay, maybe more like Pink, White, and Blue.  

It's hard to beat the bold taste of Grillin' Beans to liven up your grilled dishes.

Hmmm....what are these two up to?

Why is Brett running backwards and counting down?

Ka-boom!

Time to head down to the fireworks.  How have your Fourth of July festivities been and what was on your grill?

[Standard Disclaimer] I received compensation for this post from Bush Beans but my opinions of the Grillin' Beans is my own.