It was a beautiful day for grilling in the East Bay. My hubby fired up the grill after he got home from work. I spent my afternoon prepping the steaks and pasta.
On the plate: grilled steaks rubbed with chipotle powder, lime butter melting on top. Plus, pasta shells with chickpeas, mozzarella and arugula.
Poor dog hoped for some leftovers….or for us to screw-up. She’s always getting in the way. We suspect she’s trying to make us trip and drop food. Sneaking Daisy!
Our restaurant/chef wunderkind buddy Bethany introduced us to the miracle of butter on steaks a couple of years ago. For our Christmas dinner, she craved a medium-rare, super tender steak. Inside our kitchen, she mashed herbs into stick of butter. After advice from Facebook friends and Google, she figured out the perfect oven temperature to slowly bake the steak. She rolled the meat around the herb butter ball. An hour later, we let the steak rest…. then we sliced into this uber-tender, richly-flavored meat. Melt-in-your mouth good.
Yesterday, I prepped the steaks using Blake Royer’s recipe on Serious Eats.
The lime butter was sweet, tangy and earthy. I think that’s from the garlic. We added it to the steaks after my hubby took them off the grill. The butter melted into the steaks as they rested. When I finally cut into the steak, I got an incredibly tender, richly-flavored slice of meat. It reminded me of that melt-in-your mouth moment from Christmas. This time, it was packed with the spicy kick from the Chipotle powder and the tangy zing from the lime butter.
I also followed Nick Kindelsperger’s recipe on Serious Eats for the pasta dish.
The bitter arugula leaves plus the chickpeas and mozzarella chunks tossed in balsamic vinegar complimented the spicy and tangy tones from the steak.
We paired dinner with a 2006 Peju Cabernet Sauvignon.