OK, its now clear to me that grass-fed steak (or at least the grass-fed steak that the good folks at Kinderhook Farm produce) seriously kicks mass-produced grain-fed beef's ass. This meal was incredibly simple, and truly phenomenal. I started with a Kinderhook rib steak, at about 1.2 lbs and roughly 1.5 inches thick:

I put a few splashes of olive oil on both sides (about 1 tsp total), and rubbed it in with 1 tsp sea salt and 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper on both sides and all edges:

I then got the gas grill (in Brooklyn again) smokin' hot... i'm talking 500+ degrees here, and grilled over the hottest part of the fire for 6 minutes per side. Here it is after the first 6 minutes:

Here it is on the other side after the second 6 minutes:

I generally had the lid closed, except when i could hear dramatic flareups happening and I'd open to blow out the flames or move to a less oil-soaked area. So maybe of the total 12 minutes over the hot fire, i had the cover down for 9. I bring this up because i think if i left it closed the entire time it would have been both overcooked, and charred to resemble an Adidas Samba. 

I took it off the grill after a total of 12 minutes, and let it sit for another 10. I then cut it from the bone, and sliced into strips:

That's it. I didn't include a tin of liquid on the grill to keep it moist. I didn't sear it over high heat and move to a cooler spot for the second half of cooking. I didn't marinate it. I didn't add any seasoning aside from S&P and some oil. And i swear its the best steak i've ever eaten. Crisp exterior. Juicy interior. Incredibly flavorful. Don't even get me started on nibbling on the left over bone. Holy crap! Really good stuff. 

We served the sliced steak on top of a simple salad of mixed greens, sliced cherry tomatoes, and steamed green beans with a basic mustard-vinaigrette (recipe below). Here's the final plate:  

I'm usually a total sucker for the complex recipe with layers of flavors... and I'm not saying I'll stop liking that, but this steak was dead simple, and i couldn't have been happier with it. 

For the Mustard Vinaigrette just whisk together:

• 1 Tb dijon mustard
• 1 Tb "grainy" mustard
• 2 Tb white wine vinegar
• 2 Tb olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste

(download)

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Arugula_Egg_Bacon_and_Blue_Che.zip (271 KB)

Man, this was a deliciously simple lunch: Poached egg, canadian bacon, blue cheese, over arugula with a mustard/red wine vinegar/olive oil dressing.

By the way, Neuskie's Canadian bacon is really teriffic. Best I've ever had.

I was making a Cobb salad on Saturday, and planned to grill some chicken breasts. But I also had to make bacon, and the thought of having to clean a pan of grease was making me want to go get a slice of pizza instead. Then it occured to me that I should grill it. Awesome. I made a small tray out of foil:

And tossed it on the weber kettle for about 10 minutes over indirect heat, and then a final 5 minutes over the hot coals:

And then i had relevation number two: I dipped the fully cooked chicken breasts in the bacon fat for their last 2 minutes on the grill. Good stuff! This was all for this meal: 

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grilling-bacon-means-no-cleanup-ChJBDrCnfvysmxyCmbmi.zip (5.45 MB)

And it served true... no cleanup of the bacon pan! I even used the leftover foil as the cover for the leftover chicken and bacon. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle... Rebacon.

Lori and I have been making this Cobb salad from a Sara Foster book and it kills every single time.

Often times we just get a prepared rotisserie chicken and cut it up (which is a trick everyone should do for any quick salad meal), but when motivated we make another recipe from Sara's book for herb roasted grilled chicken breasts which start with a simple marinade:

The marinade is simply coating the chicken breats in white wine, olive oil, shallots, garlic, some fresh herbs (we had thyme on hand), and lemon slices on top. Lori did this during the morning, so when i got home we're ready to start. It steeps in this for 4-6 hours.

Then I grilled over a medium fire for about 15 minutes turning and arranging for thickness / heat adjustments. This is what they look like after coming off the grill:

Yum. Lori had prepared some hard boiled eggs earlier in the day, and picked up cucumber, tomato, avocado, and bacon. I cooked up the bacon, and chopped everything up:

So then we take a base of arugala and rommaine and mix it with a dressing of red wine vinegar, dijon, olive oil, scallion (recipe calls for chives, but I love scallions in here), and salt/pepper to taste. Then I plate the dressed greens and lay down strips of all the toppings:

We also sprinkle over the final arrangement with blue cheese for me (rogue creamery's crater lake, OMG), and feta for Lori. 

This is such a fabulous meal. Go get Sara's Fresh Every Day cookbook for details, or just make it up with the info above. There is nothing super critical in measurements here... All kinda common sense volumes.

One final note, we pulled this dinner off on a Thursday night and it totally takes teamwork. There is nothing that complicated, but marinating the chicken, cooking the eggs, making the dressing, and getting all the fresh groceries during the day makes a huge difference. Then at dinner time you just grill the chicken, cut everything up, and plate. Go team!