Rib Eye Steak with Herb Butter & Spring Salad
I consider my husband the King of the BBQ. Yep, I think that we pretty much BBQ about everything you can put on a grill. And one of our favorites are Rib Eye Steaks. Being born in Omaha, my family ate a lot of meat so I will be the last person to say no to a nice, cooked steak. We do choose Grass-Fed when we buy our steaks. Grass-fed means that the cattle is foraging and grazing for their own fresh food. The meat is a bit more expensive but definitely worth it.
With this dinner comes a nice Spring Salad with quick, grilled Asparagus. Grilled veggies give the salad the extra flavors, specially when the veggies have a little salt, pepper and garlic oil on them. Oh, and not to forget the Herb Butter. Add a little so it melts on the steak. Yummy! So let’s get started.
Total cook time: 40 minutes; Serves 2
Ingredients:
Steaks:
- 2 grass-fed rib eye steaks, 8-9 oz. each
- sea salt flakes or kosher salt
Herb Butter:
- 5 tbsp. butter, softened
- 1 tbsp. herbes de provence
- 1/2 tsp. garlic, dried and minced
Spring Salad:
- 1/2 a head of green leaf lettuce
- 1 medium tomato from the vine, cubed
- 1/2 english cucumber, peeled, sliced in half, then quartered
- 1/4 of a red onion, sliced thinly
- 1 avocado, cubed
- 2 garlic gloves, chopped
- 12 asparagus, bottoms cut off
- garlic olive oil
- salt & pepper
- 1 tbsp. parsley, chopped
- feta cheese
The first step is to salt the meat. Do this 2-3 hours earlier or overnight before the meat hits the BBQ. Lay your steak on a cookie rack and then over a cookie sheet. Now press the sea salt flakes (1 tsp. each side) into the meat, turn over and repeat. Return meat to refrigerator. Make sure you take the meat back out the refrigerator 30 minutes before they go on the grill because the meat should have room temperature and not be cold. Room temperature keeps the steak juicy and they cook more evenly.
Before we get to the spring salad, I would like to make the herb butter which only takes a few minutes. Place the butter in a small bowl and add the herbes de provence and the dried, minced garlic. Using a fork, combine the butter, herbs and the dried garlic. Transfer the butter to a small glass container, preferably with a lid, and place in the refrigerator.
Next up is the spring salad. I usually get the salad started 30 minutes before the meat goes on the BBQ. (Now is the time to take the steak out of the refrigerator). We will start with the asparagus since they are heading on the BBQ as well. The asparagus I am using today are not very thick so they will only need 5-7 minutes on the grill. Lay they them on aluminium foil and sprinkle with garlic olive, salt, pepper and place on the grill with low to medium heat. Move them around after a few minutes so they get cooked evenly. Remove from grill and let cool.
Add the tomatoes, English cucumber, red onion, avocado and garlic to a large bowl. Sprinkle with a little garlic oil, salt, pepper and then add the lettuce to the side of the bowl. Let’s not toss the salad yet, since we do not want the lettuce to get soggy.
Before the steaks hit the BBQ, we will give them a little more flavor. You can choose whatever salts and pepper you like. For today’s steak we have some garlic salt and for a little kick, some bacon-chipotle salt. Just add a little to each side since you do not want to over salt them. Remember that we salted them earlier. Place steaks on BBQ and make sure the heat is medium to high. With the steaks not being overly huge, they will only need 3-4 minutes on each side for a medium cooked steak.
Remove the steaks from BBQ and let sit for at least 10 minutes which gives us time to finish the salad. Toss the salad and place a nice serving on each plate. Add some of the asparagus on the top, sprinkle with feta cheese and parsley. For the dressing I am choosing olive oil and balsamic vinegar but please choose the dressing of your choice. Add the steak to the plate and a little of the herb butter on top and there you have a nice and juicy steak dinner. Wine recommendation: a glass of Zinfandel or Cabernet Sauvignon.
