July 28 – August 3, 2024

Sunday:                   Grilled Coffee-Rubbed Steaks, Caprese Salad, Fig and Prosciutto Bruschetta

Monday:                  Leftover Steak Sandwich with Corn Salad

Tuesday:                  Corn Basil Pasta with Mushrooms

Wednesday:          Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup

Thursday:                Cape Cod Chopped Salad

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Above:   Fig and Prosciutto Bruschettas

Friday:                     Rick’s Retirement Party

Saturday:                The Hartwood

There’s More than One Way to Cook a Steak

I have long been a proponent of reverse-searing steak [cooking at a low temperature in the oven and then finishing over high heat on a grill].  But I know my limitations.  So, when the great Ina Garten tells me* that her favorite method is not mine, well, I listen.  She is, as many people have discovered, one of best cooks and most reliable cookbook writers in America.**

*Well, strictly speaking she wrotes this in a cookbook meant to be read by millions of people – but I think we all know she was probably thinking of me.

**This is, of course, open to debate, but my list would include Ina, Jacques Pepin, Alex Guarnaschelli, Michael Symon, Geoffrey Zakarian, Kardea Brown, and Michael Chiarello.  I will add Guy Fieri, Jet Tila, Bobby Flay and Eric Rippert, who are obviously great, but don’t write cookbooks.  Thomas Keller is in a separate category – writing cookbooks too complex for most of us and using techniques that we’re not going to learn.  I’m leaving out dozens of other, perhaps even greater chefs, but hey, I only know what I know.  The fellow who prepared the shrimp wonton appetizer dipping sauce and cooked those swordfish medallions and incredible green beans when Bill and Gail and Beez and I had dinner at The Hartwood last Saturday, might be up there.

After that not-very-enlightening footnote, let’s get back to Ina and steaks.  Ina has perfected a rub that will have you selling your collection of steak sauces and eating beef more often than is good for you.  (Except for Gail, who does not eat things with faces, but who is not at all pushy about it.)  The key ingredient of this rub is coffee – just the regular grind you keep on your counter.  Add a little brown sugar, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and granulated garlic and you have a magic ingredient that will produce a wonderfully savory piece of meat.  You will have to follow Ina’s instruction on how to cook this steak, but that’s easy, because here’s the whole process:

GRILLED NEW YORK STRIP STEAKS

(adapted from Ina Garten)

Timing:         3 – 24 hours, depending on how long you marinate the steak

Ingredients:                                    Serves 6 or more

3 1½-inch-thick) New York strip steaks. 

NOTE:  Whole Foods strip steaks are this thick and you can get butchers, even at large grocery stores to cut steaks to this thickness.  If you cook thinner steaks, you’re on your own timewise, but you won’t want to use the cooking times below.

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

2 teaspoons light brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground coffee (regular or decaf)

1 teaspoon granulated garlic

1 teaspoon chipotle chile powder (you can use a substitute)

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 ½ tablespoon good olive oil

Prep:

In a bowl, combine 2 tablespoons salt, 1 tablespoon black pepper, the brown sugar, coffee, garlic, chipotle powder, and red pepper flakes.  Pat the steaks dry, place in a baking dish, and rub them all over with olive oil, then on both sides with the spice mix, using it all.  Cover the dish and refrigerate for at least 2 hours for all the flavors to get into the meat.

Cook:

Fill a chimney with charcoal and light.  When the charcoal is ready, fill one side or section of a grill with the charcoal, leaving one side or most of the grill empty.

Cook the steaks on the hot side of the grill for ‘exactly’ 2 minutes on one side, then ‘exactly’ 2 more minutes on the other side.  [The ‘exactly’ comes from Ina – my own cooking tends to get a little inexact and fuzzy at the edges.]

Now move the steaks to the cold side of the grill, close the lid – make sure the vents are open – and cook for about 10 minutes or until the steak registers between 115 and 120 degrees for medium rare.  Transfer to a plate, cover tightly with aluminum foil and rest for 15 minutes, then remove the foil to stop the cooking.

Serve:

Slice the steaks, sprinkle with sea salt and serve.