Chimichurri Sauce to Gild Snake River Farms Porterhouse (And A Food Gal Giveaway)
Snake River Farms porterhouse steak gets glam with homemade chimichurri sauce.
This steak is more than a meal. It’s two meals and two tastes in one.
This 2-pound porterhouse, from Snake River Farms, the Idaho-based specialty meat purveyor, is easily hefty enough to feed two people.
One one side of the bone is a super tender filet mignon; on the other side is a more toothsome New York strip.
I had a chance to try this massive steak ($43) sourced from Double R Ranch in Washington State. It’s aged 28 days to concentrate its flavor. And it cooks up quite juicy.
How do I best like to enjoy steak?
I love it grilled to impart lovely smokiness and cooked to medium-rare. I’m not a fan of over-powering sauces because I want the natural flavor of the meat to shine through. However, with heavily marbled beef, I do like a sauce with a bit of brightness and acidity to counteract all that richness. That’s why I turn to chimichurri, the Argentinian staple that’s such a cinch to make.
This recipe for “Chimichurri Sauce” is from the October 2002 issue of Bon Appetit magazine via Epicurious.com. The food processor makes quick work of parsley, cilantro, garlic, red wine vinegar, olive oil and a pinch of spices to create a vibrant green sauce. The only change I made was to add some fresh chopped oregano, because it is abundant in my backyard at this time of year.
This deeply herbal sauce with its twang of vinegar is the perfect foil for a big honking piece of beef. If you have leftover sauce, it’s also wonderful drizzled on Italian or chicken sausages, grilled shrimp or roasted chicken.
My husband, aka Meat Boy, was in heaven cutting into this flavorful, monster-sized steak adorned with a sauce he just couldn’t get enough of.
Which reminds me of my other favorite way to enjoy steak: With my husband, because I can never finish an entire steak on my own. But I know he will gladly eat anything that remains. And that’s just what husbands are for, right?
CONTEST: One lucky Food Gal reader will win two free Porterhouse steaks (a value of $43 each) from Snake River Farms.
Entries, open only to those in the continental United States, will be accepted through midnight PST Aug. 15. Winner will be announced Aug. 17.
How to win?
You’ve already read how I like to enjoy my steak. Tell me how you most like to indulge in yours — and why. Best answer wins.
Chimichurri Sauce
(Makes about 1 cup)
1 cup (packed) fresh Italian parsley
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup (packed) fresh cilantro
2 garlic cloves, peeled
3/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano (optional)
Puree all ingredients in a food processor. Transfer to a bowl. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. cover and let stand at room temperature.)
Adapted from a recipe in the October 2002 issue of Bon Appetit
I like my steak grilled medium rare with a twice baked potato and a good glass of Cab to top it off. Best if enjoyed with good friends and fun.
My standard way is seasoned with Montreal steak seasoning then grilled on the Weber to get nice grill marks and served medium rare.
Lately though we’ve been seasoning with a Cajun blackening rub and pan-searing them on the cast iron skillet with butter, garlic and thyme a la Gordon Ramsey. Lots of flavor!
I love getting a prime grade rib eye that’s thick and searing it on a cast iron pan and cooked to medium rare. The best way to enjoy a steak is with friends and family with a nice glass of red wine.
a great steak…my tummy rumbles and mouth waters at the thought. Marinated in my dad’s hibachi sauce, a delicious blend of soy, ginger, togarashi pepper, brown sugar, and honey. It adds a perfect umame to a grilled steak cooked perfectly medium rare. A side of home grown green beans, and of course rice!
I’d share it with my dad, a special meal for an amazing man who is a grill master that I am always learning from
After brushing on a medley of olive oil and melted unsalted butter, I make a rich, tasty rub…………Montreal Steak Seasoning, a dash of Espresso Powder, a tablespoon of dark brown sugar, and then massage it gently over the meat covering it completely. After letting it sit at room temperature for 45 minutes, I then put it on a preheated hot grill and finish the process by cooking it until perfectly done. I prefer mine rare. De-Lish.
Years ago we went to Maui and toured a sugar plantation. Naturally I had to buy some raw sugar to bring home. My husband just shook his head at the 10 pound bag I bought and put into my carry on! On the sugar package was a great marinade using some of the sugar along with soy sauce, ginger, garlic and other savory goodness. That steak recipe brings back great memories of a wonderful trip to Hawaii.
We like to indulge in Wagyu or grass-fed tenderloin from a local ranch…usually we sear it to medium rare with a balsamic reduction, season it with a bit of garlic, salt. If we feel like indulging maybe add a bit of bacon fat to emulsify the balsamic reduction. 😀
I have this salted coffee beef rub that I buy from Harley Farms Goat farm. I rub some of that on both sides and grill it rare. With some grilled asparagus and a baked potato and a nice cold beer!
Porterhouse steak is one of my favorites. When it’s a good cut like this, all you have to do is to broil it, to medium well. Add a bit of black pepper, and it’s scrumptious. Pair it with some mashed potatoes “Faye style” (our friend Faye, lemon pepper added to mashed potatoes and fried in a pan, helped by whipping the end result, yum), a simple salad with only a small squeeze of fresh organic lemon from our garden and a simple fruit. For beverage: distilled water with a small squeeze of our fresh organic lemon from the garden. In other words, the steak is the star. Oh yum, I can already taste it.
JPM
I am always looking for new ways to cook steak. This is one of my most recent favorites:
Bacon Wrapped Steak Strips with Mushrooms & Onions
You cut a sirloin steak into 4″ strips and brown steaks in a heavy ovenproof skillet. Remove from pan to cool. Meanwhile, saute mushrooms and onions in the same pan (remove and set aside). Then you wrap a slice of bacon around each steak strip and roast in the same pan. When the steak is done, top with the sauteed mushrooms and onions. I serve these with steak fries.
I don’t eat steak very often, but when I do, I eat it with gusto! It is best enjoyed on the patio on a late summer afternoon, with a side of tomatoes.
I like broiling steak…I set my broiler on High setting…make sure it’s good & hot…sear one side for a couple of minutes…flip over to other…I place a large pat of butter seasoned with a bit of tarragon & a smidgen of fresh, finely-chopped garlic on each side…i sort of smear it all about once melted. Put meat back under broiler for 6-10 minutes – depending on size. I prefer ’em rare…Serve with a heaping portion of fresh steamed asparagus. That’s it – meat and greens! A superior red wine to accompany the above would be very nice.
MMMM. I like old school….Grilled….salt n pepper. Medium rare…twice baked potatoes with chives basil pesto…the real deal English cheddar cheese. Creamed spinach… gotta have nutmeg in it… crisp caesar salad. Mint chip sable ice cream sandwiches for dessert (Grasshopper ice cream sandwiches!) Of course, nice cab. So hungry right now can you tell???
Yum! I love steak and your porterhouse looks delicious. My favorite steak cut is the ribeye cooked medium rare over hot mesquite coals and a green one for that distinctive flavor. I usually rub the steaks with a mixture of piloncillo (aka mexican brown sugar from sugar cane), chili powder, salt and oregano which gives the steak a rub complimenting it’s natural flavor. The key to success is starting with a nice steak from great beef!
My favorite steak thus far is the grass-fed ribeye with bone marrow gravy and beef dripping chips at The Cavalier in SF. This is a beef lover’s heaven. Let’s get one thing straight – there is no particular balance to this dish. It’s salty fatty rich deliciousness through and through…sex on the plate (and then in my mouth). A perfectly cooked charred steak, with that shiny and velvety gravy and the fries cooked in beef fat to gild the lily.
You may wish to ask for a side of Lipitor. After about 20 minutes, you’ll see that bone marrow gravy seize up on the plate (that is, if there is any left – surely you sopped it up with the fries?). The first bite I’d ever had, my eyes literally rolled back into my head. I wanted to cry, no BS.
There’s this steakhouse in the middle of Iowa – Montour, Iowa called Rube’s. When I was in college in the middle of Iowa, once a year or so, a group of us would scrounge up money, load up in someone’s tiny car and drive on these country roads to get to Rube’s to eat steak. The rumor was they killed the cows right there on the premises. You get to a glass fridge with all these different cuts of steak. You pick it, then walk into these rooms with HUGE grills that people stand around. Almost like the midwest version of korean bbq. There’s squirt bottles of water and various sauces. I had no idea what I was doing but watched as people kept squirting water on their steaks. I picked ribeye because that’s what everyone else was getting, laid my steak down on the grill and kept squirting it once in a while and flipping often. Again, I had no clue what I was doing! But standing there with a bunch of 19 year olds while we pretended to know how to grill and then eating these massive steaks at a huge shared table is one of my favorite memories of college and of Iowa. That is my favorite way to eat steak! I went back years later when my brother graduated from the same college and while it was still fun and pretty much the same, the absence of my own friends reminded me that at the heart of the most memorable meals for me is the company I’m with.
How do I like my steak. Cooked and eaten with a fork and knife. Bare hands, if necessary, just so that I can eat as my cave ancestors may have. In my case, beggars can’t be choosers, so if steak is on the table, whichever manner I can get it into my gullet, be it traditional utensils or via a bent plastic spork, so shall it be. I like meat and meat likes me. Overly simplistic yet a sad reality. I may not cook it (fortunately for all involved) but I’ll eat it as it’s presented however I can.
I like Steak Au Poivre. I make a peppery crust and add a cognac cream sauce. I cook the filet mignons only about 4 mins. per side because rare is the only way to go! I’m not wasting something this good and then turning around and burning it (sorry Mom).
Simple coarse seasoning with garlic,salt,and pepper grilled to medium- let the steak shine through!
I like my steak medium rare, with twice baked potatoes because it has bacon which I love, and my fresh green bean from my garden.