Grilled Steak with Roasted Garlic & Thyme Butter

This was quite possibly the best steak I’ve had. It was unbelievably good, and everyone wanted the recipe at the Creative Retreat.

Grilled Steak with Roasted Garlic + Thyme Butter
serves 8

1 head garlic
1 t olive oil
1 T chopped fresh thyme
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
8 six-ounce steaks (your choice of cut)
salt and pepper

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Slice off the top 1/4 inch of the head of garlic just so that you can see the cloves exposed. Place on a piece of aluminum foil and drizzle with olive oil. Wrap foil around garlic and place in the oven to roast until it is soft – approximately 20-25 minutes. Roasted garlic is sweet and savory, not as sharp or spicy as raw garlic. It gives a nice rich flavor to the marinade.

Meanwhile, heat the grill to medium high and take the steaks out of the fridge to get to room temperature. When the garlic is done, take out of oven, let cool 5 minutes, then squeeze out the cloves into a small bowl. Add butter, thyme, salt and pepper to the mixture. (You can also put the butter in the microwave for 5-10 seconds if you want a runny marinade. Just be cafeful if the steaks are cold – it will solidify the butter when you put it on the steaks.) Mix until fully combined, then spread over each of the steaks. Cook steaks until desired doneness.

Gourmet Club: April 12, 2008

After the brilliant success of our first Gourmet Club meeting back in January, I immediately went home and started scavenging the internet for braised short rib recipes – because it doesn’t get much better than that. And man oh man….it doesn’t.

Nicole and I were serving the main course this time, which also meant we would be hosting it at my house. I first thought an Asian inspired short rib recipe would be exactly what I was looking for. Until I found this recipe: Brasato al Barolo (Braised Short Ribs with Pumpkin Orzo and Horseradish Gremolata). YUM.

Then I thought…wait a second, this is from Mario Batali’s restaurant Babbo cookbook…hmmm…why does that sound familiar? Then it dawned on me! I finished a book at the end of November titled “Heat” – which is now one of my favorite books – about Bill Buford working for Mario Batali and traveling through Italy. Well, this dish is mentioned in great detail. I looked it up, laughed at the descriptions (it’s violently vulgar), and said “sign me up! this is the dish!”

I read some more about the region this dish comes from – Emilia Romagna in northern Italy and discovered this from wikipedia:

The city of Bologna is famous for its superb cuisine. Perhaps less well known is the fact that it lies at the heart of Emilia Romagna, a region celebrated both in Italy and abroad for the range and quality of its culinary delights. From the Adriatic coast of Ravenna and Forlì to the inland plains and river vallleys of Parma, Piacenza, and Modena, Emila Romagna is richly blessed with prime produce and ingenious cooks.

We preordered short ribs (not flank style but the cut with one bone per rib) and picked them up early that Saturday along with all the other ingredients, then went back to my place to get everything prepped. Have you ever grated fresh horseradish? It is STRONG. And it’s fleshy and weird – it kind of creeped me out a bit.

Either way, the dish was hands down the best dish I’ve ever made. It was simple enough to do again, although somewhat time intensive as it requires a long time in the oven. Although the recipe says to braise at 375 for 2 hours, the next time I would braise at 350 for 3 hours.

The table setting had an Italian theme with reds, greens, and yellows.

Here is the menu:

First Course
Antipasto platter of assorted meats, cheeses, olives, and breads
Paired with: Tommasi Poggio al Tufo Rompicollo, Maremma Tuscana, 2004

Second Course
Tagliatelle with Mussels, Clams and Pesto
Paired with: Tamellini Soave, 2005 (excellent wine)

Third Course
Braised Short Ribs with Pumpkin Orzo and Horseradish Gremolata
Paired with: Josetta Saffirio Barolo, 2002
*A special note about the wine: there is this fellow who suggests wine at the place I love to go (Hennepin Lake Liquors in Uptown – their selection and prices are unbeatable) who, in the past, has had a very low success rate at suggesting wines for me. My strategy for Sat? Avoid him AT ALL COSTS. Well…that unfortunately didn’t happen as another worker pointed me directly to him and there was no one else in the store. F*****ck. He ended up suggesting this wine and it was excellent. Thank god. It was $40/bottle and we bought 2. Josetta Saffirio learned how to make wine from her mom and dad, who are both professors of winemaking in Italy. This is her second or third vintage and only makes 3,000 cases a year.

Fourth Course
Various Cheeses: Taleggio served with honeycomb, Pecorino ginepro served with balsamic reduction and olive oil, Sottocenere al Tartufo, Blu del Moncenisio with fig pear spread, Valsesia Toma with fig pear spread, La Tur with honeycomb
Paired with: Ruvei Barbera d’Alba, 2005

Fifth Course
Panna Cotta with fresh strawberries and blackberries
Paired with: Felsina vin Santo Chianti Classico, 1999

recipes after the jump