Tomahawk Ribeye Steak with Spinach and Goat Cheese Orzo

FTC Standard Disclosure: This post is sponsored by the Certified Angus Beef® Brand in conjunction with a social media campaign through Sunday Supper LLC.  All opinions are my own.

I was excited as a kid at Christmas when my Food City  (Morrell Road) started selling Certified Angus Beef® Brand tomahawk ribeye steaks this past Summer.  

Tomahawk ribeyes are those fancy steaks with a brontosaurus-sized Fred Flintstone bone sticking out of them.  They usually show up on the menu as a "steak for two" because they are often 40-50 ounces each.  They also typically sport a price tag of over $100 at a steakhouse. But I bought this 3+ pound tomahawk for under $40 at Food City.

What is a tomahawk steak and how does it relate to a regular ribeye?  

• It's the same meat, just presented differently. 
• If you cut the rib bone down to where the steak meat ends, it would be a "bone-in" ribeye.  
• If you "french" that bone so it is exposed, it's a cowboy ribeye steak.  
• Cut the bone off altogether and it's the classic ribeye steak.  
• Typically, the cowboy and tomahawks are much thicker than your typical ribeye steak.

Because they are so thick, tomahawk steaks are a prime candidate for either a sear/roast, sous-vide, or reverse sear methods.  I chose to use the reverse sear method on a kamado grill.  Shocker, right?

Tomahawk Ribeye Steak with Spinach Orzo

Ingredients

• 40-50 ounce Certified Angus Beef® Brand tomahawk ribeye
• 1/4 cup NMT Beef Rub v.2 or other beef seasoning
• 2 teaspoons peanut, avocado, or other type of high temperature cooking oil

For the Spinach and Goat Cheese Orzo

• 1 cup orzo, cooked according to package directions
• 1 cup baby spinach, triple rinsed
• 1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
• 1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese
• 1 1/2 teaspoons NMT Beef Rub v.2 or other all-purpose seasoning
• 2 tablespoons beef tallow or high temperature cooking oil

For the Three-Chile Compound Butter

• 5-6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/8 teaspoon dried ancho or guajillo chile
• 1/8 teaspoon dried red bell pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon dried poblano chile
• 1/4 teaspoon dried shallot or onion
• salt to taste, about 1/2 teaspoon

Instructions

1. Prepare the Steak.  Pat the steak dry and lightly apply a coat of high temperature cooking oil.  Season all over with beef rub.  Place on a resting rack and pan then rest at room temperature for at least 1 full hour.  You can go ahead and dry brine in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours before resting at room temperature.
2. Preheat the grill.  Light the grill, set up for indirect heat, and preheat it to 250°f.  We used a kamado grill set up with a full Kick Ash Basket of natural lump charcoal.  I lit it in 3 spots and placed an adjustable rig with a stone for the heat deflector.  As the temperature hits over 200°f, start cutting back on the lower and upper vents to "coast" up to a stable 250°f.
3. Slow roast the steak.  Place the steak on the grill, close the lid and slow roast the steak.  Monitor the internal temperature with a remote probe thermometer and cook until the steak reaches an internal temp of 123°f.  This should take right at 75-90 minutes depending on the size of your steak.
4. Make the butter.  Mix together the butter, chiles, shallot/onion, and salt.  Set aside.
5. Rest the Steak.  This part is essential to the reverse sear technique.  Place the steak on a resting rack/pan and let it rest.  The internal temperature will continue to rise another 5 to 7°f as part of the "carryover cooking".  Keep an eye on this.  When the internal temp finishes rising and started to fall, it is time to sear your steak.  
6. Make the Orzo.  Change the grill to direct heat.  Place a medium sized wok on the grill and preheat.  Add the tallow/oil and saute or stir-fry the onions until tender, about 5-8 minutes.  Toss in the cooked orzo, goat cheese, and beef rub until combined.  Remove from heat and fold in the raw spinach.  The residual heat will be enough to cook the spinach through.  Taste for seasoning and add salt/pepper as needed.
7. Sear the Steak.  Open the grill vents to bring up the cooking temperature to over 500°f.  If using a skillet or griddle, place it in the grill long enough to get hot (5 minutes or so).  Sear the steak on both sides just long enough to get color and crust developed, about 1 minute per side.
8. Serve.  As soon as the steak comes off, top it with some of the compound butter.  Tomahawk steaks are generally meant to be shared.  The best way to serve is to run a knife along the bone to remove the steak and then slice it into half-inch thick pieces.

Notes/Substitutions

• NMT Beef Rub v.2 - We think that our beef rub rocks but I understand getting dried shallot isn't the easiest thing.  Another good recipe that you can make is Certified Angus Beef® Brand's Signature Seasoning.
• Dried chiles - We usually have a variety of chiles on hand.  Ones that you might have in your spice pantry are ancho chile, red pepper flakes, or ground chipotle.

The tomahawk ribeye steak is so thick that it enters into "prime rib" territory, it's basically a 1-bone roast.

My set up was a large kamado grill, an adjustable rig with an oblong heat deflector. You could also use a standard plate setter and grill grate set up.  For a kettle style grill (Weber, etc.), bank your coals to the side and grill over the empty space. For a gas grill, use one burner to keep the heat at 250f and then grill the steak over one of the burners that aren't on.

Resting the steak on a resting rack keeps from trapping the heat against a flat surface and steaming that side of the beef, causing juices to run out.  Also, note that this remote probe records the max and min temperatures in the upper left corner.  This feature makes it easy to know 1) what temperature the food maxed out at during the rest period (130f in this case) and 2) that the internal temperature has started to fall.

Tossing the orzo.  You can also make this on the stove top, I just hate to waste a perfectly good fire while the steak is resting.

You can sear directly on the grill's grates but I like searing on a flat surface like a griddle or skillet.  Here I'm just using the back side of a set of GrillGrates.  The full contact with the surface of the meat creates a delicious crust.

 

Chef Adam Perry Lang likes to use a "board dressing" on his cutting boards.  It is a mix of oil, herbs, garlic, and seasonings on the board on which he will be slicing. I didn't have a board dressing but I did have a compound butter.....and compound butter is basically oil and seasonings.....sooooo instant board dressing!

The steak resting with the compound butter on top.

 

Served platter style.

What did we do with that big leftover tomahawk bone?

Go ahead.....YOU take it from him. 
[Note:  Cooked bones generally aren't good for dogs as they will splinter.  We let him have them long enough just to chew the meat off.]