Fire It Up - Andrew Schloss [41]
Remove the beef to a large carving board, cover loosely with foil, and let rest for 20 minutes. Run your knife parallel to the ribs and separate the big rib-eye section of meat from the rib bones. Cut between the ribs to serve the individual ribs. Slice the roast into thick or thin slices and serve along with the beans.
KNOW-HOW: SOAKING DRIED BEANS
Hydrating beans before cooking reduces cooking time and removes some hard-to-digest carbohydrates, which can cause flatulence. To hydrate them, soak the beans for about 10 hours or overnight in enough water to cover the beans by 3 inches. Drain the soaking water, rinse the beans, and proceed with the recipe. To shorten the soaking time, put the beans and water in a saucepan, bring to a boil, and boil for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, cover, and let the beans stand in the water for 1 hour. Drain the soaking water, rinse the beans, and proceed with the recipe.
RIB ROAST/RIB
Toasted Cumin Rib Steaks with Chorizo Salsa
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
When taken from prime-grade beef and left whole, the rib roast is known as prime rib. Cut it into steaks, and you’ve got rib steaks, each including a large rounded “eye” muscle and a few smaller muscles surrounding it. Bone-in rib-eye steaks are called “cowboy steaks” and boneless ones may be called “shell steaks” or entrecôte, French for “between the ribs,” meaning the steak was cut from between ribs 9 to 11 on the steer. Rib steaks are among steak lovers’ favorite cuts for their balance of taste and tenderness. They pack a hefty flavor, so we simply add a spice rub of toasted cumin, coriander, and paprika. A little chipotle chile in the rub ties the flavors with the chorizo salsa served on the side.
INGREDIENTS:
Chorizo Salsa:
6 ounces fresh Mexican chorizo, removed from the casing
2 ripe medium tomatoes, cored, seeded, and finely chopped
2 large jalapeño chile peppers, seeded and finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
¼ cup finely chopped red onion
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Juice of 1 lime
Coarse salt
4 boneless beef rib-eye steaks (8 to 10 ounces each), about 1 inch thick (see Know-How, below)
½ cup Toasted Cumin Rub
DIRECTIONS:
For the salsa: Crumble the chorizo into a medium skillet and cook over medium heat until browned, about 5 minutes, breaking up the meat with a spoon. Add the tomatoes, chiles, garlic, onion, cilantro, and lime juice; season with salt; and cook until the vegetables just begin to soften, 2 to 3 minutes. Cool to room temperature while you prepare the steaks.
Pat the steaks dry, and then sprinkle with the rub. Let stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
Light a grill for bilevel medium-high/medium-low heat, about 425/325°F.
Brush the grill grate and coat with oil. Grill the steaks directly over medium-high heat until nicely grill-marked, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Reduce the heat to medium-low on a gas grill or move the steaks to the medium-low heat area on a charcoal or wood grill. Cover and grill for another 3 to 4 minutes per side for medium-rare to medium-done (135 to 145°F). Transfer to a platter and let rest for 5 minutes. Serve with the salsa.
KNOW-HOW: BONING A RIB ROAST FOR SEASONING
Slip a thin blade boning knife between the meat and the bone at the narrow end of a rib roast. Keeping the side of the knife against bone, cut the roast off the rib bones, stopping just before you reach the widest end.
T-BONE/SHORT LOIN
Gin and Juniper T-Bone with Green Olive Tapenade
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
A spice rub and a sauce are enough to make grilled T-bone taste great. But in this recipe, the rub is a head-spinning mixture of crushed juniper berries, almonds, green peppercorns, thyme, coriander, lemon zest, and cloves. And the sauce is rich with green olives, pine nuts, and extra-virgin olive oil, with a few briny capers for a sharp counterpoint to the rub’s exhilarating aromas. The whole effect was so deliriously good the first time we made this dish that the next time we deepened the forest flavors