on the grill

I wouldn't normally offer a recipe that requires a grill. I don't grill. I usually ignore recipes for a grill, or try to imagine how to make them work on a stovetop. I lived in apartment buildings most of my adult life where having a grill, if at all possible, meant storing it in the basement somewhere, probably against the rules, half-hoping it would get stolen over the winter. To use it meant hauling it out to a park, although, in Chicago, one good place for a grill is the alley. From a practical standpoint, my household has owned and gotten great use out of this mini weber grill, a size that works for one or two people, plopping it down in the alley or in our apartment courtyard.

my attempt to photograph moving the coals to the grill basin

All this is to say, grilling seems fussy, and I only recommend it now because I had such a powerful experience with it. You might like to try it. 

I have been having trouble being in the moment lately. This is the time of year where many people who experience seasonal affective disorder like me start feeling depression and anxiety. I embrace the general wisdom that chicago winter is hard on everyone's psyche. It's the fall when I most notice its effects. It is still sunny and beautiful out, and even though the days are getting shorter, there's a lot I seem to miss, weighed down with worry about what's to come. The dread turns out to be more destructive than the season itself. 

By the time I mustered the strength to get out of the house to do my handful of errands on Monday, it was the evening. Why did I wait until there was traffic. I had planned to make chicken, but the co op had no chicken that wasn't frozen. In fact the only meat available was two shabby looking rib-eyes. In their vacuum-sealed packaging, they looked as if they'd been beaten with a bat, in kind of an intriguing way. I couldn't think on my feet very well, and so I bought the steaks. These were slimmer steaks, about 3/4 inch thick. I'm used to making thick rib-eyes in a skillet, basting them as they cook in their fat and some brown butter. These didn't seem like good candidates for that. And, steak, on a Monday, it didn't feel right to me. It's a special thing.  

I have to make a plug for the New York Times Cooking subscription, and give so much credit to the drawing board it offers. I usually go off-book but appreciate the inspiration, and the vastness of the resource that you can almost always find some direction. I searched 'ribeye' in the app and came across something called Ashkinaze Rib-Eye, after the cook Alan Ashkinaze. According to the description which came from a 2012 article by Sam Sifton, Ashkinaze is the longtime chef de cuisine for Laurent Manrique, the man in charge of Cafe de la Presse in San Francisco. It says, "Steak, in Mr. Ashkinaze's view, is crucial to the enjoyment of a grilled salad. And by steak, he means rib-eye, thick cut, on the bone." There is also a recipe for grilled caesar salad to accompany the steak, or rather for the steak to accompany. 

I love this idea. I never really liked grilled salad (by which I mean grilled caesar salad) and the idea of having a ribeye as a sort of side for it was delightful. I had thin cut ribeyes off the bone, but this sounded like the right direction. Steak salad. That makes it a bit more modest and monday night than steak and gratin potatoes or something lavish. 

I've never grilled a steak. My husband has said it's the most normative part of our dynamic that he is always the grill chef. We have only a charcoal grill. It occurred to me that grilling might benefit my mood. I would be compelled to tend the fire, and spend some time outside, and I might feel I'd done something more with my day. I asked the grill chef for directions, which he gave me and illustrated on a sheet of newspaper that would incidentally wind up in the fire.

I'm not very good at starting fires, so I was a little insecure about how this would go.I had the helpful directions and a charcoal chimney to assist. They are simple but worth outlining carefully, I think - 

Take two bi fold sheets of newspaper and crumple them each into a rather loose ball. 

Place your charcoal chimney on a flat and fire safe surface (concrete, not grass). 

Place the crumpled newspaper sheets inside the chimney next to each other, like half moons filling the circle. 

Fill the chimney up to the brim with coals. 

Use a match inserted into the holes in the sides of the chimney to light the newspaper in several places, I tried to ignite about 5 spots around the circumference of the chimney. 

Be patient. 

You can't see the flame from the top of the chimney, but as they say where's there's smoke, there's fire, so if you see smoke, you're good. The newsprint lights the bottom coals, which eventually light the top coals. 

Once you have red hot coals all the way to the top, use a metal rod to stir around the coals in the chimney. 

Carefully lift the chimney using the handle and pour the hot coals into the basin of your grill. 

Depending on how much cooking you're going to do, you might need a little more fuel (for this recipe, you might need to add just a little more) so at this time add some more coals onto the burning hot ones, and stir well again with your stick. 

Place the grate back on, close the grill, keep the vent open on the top of the grill, and let it heat for 5 - 10 minutes. 

The whole thing should take about 30 minutes.

I had decided to trust the instructions and act with confidence, and - it worked! The grill was very hot and ready to go. That moment of holding your nerve and trusting the paper to light the coals was the tense part. Seeing the neon sparks sly like tiny fireworks was exciting yet calming. 

For the salad

We didn't have any romaine but I found out something wonderful. A lot of the tough hearty type greens with bulbs whose lifespan we tend to push to powder in our fridge drawer, are excellent grilled when they're not as good fresh. Among the aging, we had, some small, old fennel, a raggedy head of radicchio, and escarole, with a limp-leaved exterior. I peeled off some of the saggier layers, halved them, tossed them in oil and salt.  

We didn't have any eggs or anchovies so I made a Caesar dressing with a little bit of Hellman's we had and fish sauce. I think this would be good with any creamy dressing, like green goddess or ranch, although the fishiness of caesar adds a piquancy that marries really well with the beef. 

An amazing wine 

It's been a while since I had wine from Portes Obertes, from Josep Serres Miranda. Josep is part of a crew of winemakers committed to working naturally in Terra Alta, Catalunya, in the Iberian mountains. He makes a lot of Garnaxta, and ages his wines in amphora for the most part. Petricor 1 is 1 of 2 wines made from the same vineyard, which grows Garnaxta Peluda, a very old type of Grenache, according to Mac Parsons of El Rancho Wine. It is aged in stainless steel. Until now, I think I'd only tried the amphora-aged Garnaxtas, which I found broad across the palette, pleasantly waxy in texture and weight and delicious. Petricor 1, however, is one of the lightest and yet most varietally-expressive Garnatxas I've tasted. There are a few folks working naturally who make lightly macerated Grenache, or lighter, fruitier styles. Perhaps most notably there is Eric Pfifferling or L'Anglore who uses carbonic maceration, or Tom Lubbe from Matassa, who makes silky but airy Grenache noir also off the Mediterranean coast. Petricor seems to carry a bit more of the mouth-coating, woody tannin of Grenache, in an extremely subtle way. I didn't really sense tannin, but then, after drinking a full glass, noticed a little dryness in my mouth. This part is maybe what makes the wine so nice for a grilled steak and bitter greens. There aren't too many wines that feel full of flavor and uncomprimising intensity that are also very light and quaffable. It's a feat to be celebrated, and that is what it felt like on Monday night, we were having something very special and super pleasant to drink and drink.

It was a really delicious dinner, and I really didn't think it would be. I really didn't think I could enjoy food and wine that night. Maybe I had inhaled too much smoke, maybe it was staring at the hot coals glow and fade for half an hour, but, for the duration of dinner I felt joy. 

I often write recipes about a seasonal fruit or vegetable that I'm excited about. But this week it eased my fear of the changing days to make this dinner that does not depend on the time of year, to decontextualize cooking for a moment, and to focus on a different method rather than unique ingredients. We can always cook, and that comforts me. 

head in hands level of deliciousness 

Mixed Grill

adapted from Alan Ashkinaze 

 

I took Ashkinaze's suggestion to crust the steaks in a sugar, salt and spice blend, though went a slightly different route in the composition of that blend. You can use whatever you have on hand, some mix of chili, salt, sugar and pepper can't go too wrong.

A couple of boiled potatoes on the side round out the meal, if you're up for it. 

        Spices for Steak: 

tablespoon kosher salt 
tablespoon black pepper 
tablespoon sugar
tablespoon ground cumin 
tablespoon ground celery seed 
teaspoon chili powder
teaspoon paprika 
teaspoon molasses 

 

Monday night Caesar Dressing: 

1/4 c storebought mayonnaise 
the juice of a whole lemon 
a few splashes of fish sauce 
black pepper 
1/4 c olive oil 
1/4 c grated parmigiano reggiano 

 

Main ingredients: 

2 steaks, can be mostly anything but should be kind of flat sided, like a top sirloin, a denver, a strip or rib-eye, a tri tip could be good but maybe not a flank, hanger, flap, skirt - 

A head of radicchio, a head of escarole, a bulb of fennel

Method:

Before you prep your grill, remove your steaks from the fridge and coat them in the spice blend. Let sit at room temp. Get your grill going. Once it's heating, halve your vegetables, and toss them in oil and salt. Make your dressing. Place your steaks on the grill and close grill. Open grill and flip and close lid again for another 2 minutes. (Grilling to temperature is a little tricky, since it depends on exactly how hot your grill is. I recommend about two minutes per side if you're using a thinner cut of steak, another minute per every half inch. My grill was 700 degrees, probably hotter than most. This will achieve medium rare, you can cook to you liking, although I think some pink is very good). Pull steaks and let rest. Grill your veg roughly the same way and same duration, about 2 minutes per side. Slice steak against the grain, plate and serve with grilled veg, topped with dressing and some more grated parm. 

You can buy Portes Obertes Petricor and many other thrilling new wines in our shop if you live in the Chicago area. We will bring them to you promptly and happily. As always, please email us at rainbowwinechi@gmail.com or dm @rainbow_wines with any questions.