Grilled Rib-Eye Steaks with Parsley, Celery & Blue Cheese

 

Grilled Rib-Eye with Parsley, Celery and Blue Cheese // Not Without Salt

 

I dipped my toes into the crisp water of the puget sound today. I needed the biting cold relief from the water to cool me down from the heat. Standing next to a good friend we soaked in the moment, reveling in the sun wishing, for a moment, that every day could have the sun, picnics, fresh-picked raspberries, burgers and ice cream that today had. But then we both quickly stopped the fantasizing because we realized that one wouldn’t be as sweet without the other. I need the gray skies to appreciate the blue ones.

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”  John Steinbeck

When the days are dark and the skies are gray it’s hard to imagine a time when the windows remain open all day and dinner is outside; simple and cooked over the fire. If I wasn’t living in the city and fearful of infuriating my neighbors with all the smoke I think I’d cook every summer meal over the fire. There’s just something so freeing about breaking cooking down to its most basic elements. Food. Fire. Dinner.

Grilled Rib-Eye with Parsley, Celery and Blue Cheese // Not Without Salt Grilled Rib-Eye with Parsley, Celery and Blue Cheese // Not Without Salt

I’ve been so eager to share this post with you. It’s actually the first in a series of three grilling videos that I created with my brother, Chris Baron, along with Porter & York; a local company that offers hand-cut meat delivered to your door within 48 hours of ordering. We’ll release the other videos throughout the summer but for now, there’s rib-eye.

I say it in the video and I’ll say it here too; when you have good meat there’s really not a whole lot that needs to be done to it in order to turn it into a great meal. Here the meat is seasoned with just salt and pepper before it hits a very hot fire. It’s grilled just long enough for a nice, thick crust to form on the exterior while the interior stays pink. On top fragrant blue cheese left to melt under the heat of the steak and a salad of parsley and the sweet, tender hearts of celery. My awkward mouth-full of food says it all; I’m a big fan of this recipe.

Grilled Ribeye with Parsley, Celery and Blue Chesse from Gabriel Rodriguez on Vimeo.

Grilled Rib-Eye with Parsley, Celery and Blue Cheese // Not Without Salt

Grilled Rib Eye Steaks with Parsley, Celery Salad and Blue Cheese

2 bone-in rib eye steaks (you can order the meat at Porter & York and have in to your house in just a couple of days) 2-3 teaspoons coarse sea salt (such as admiralty which you can purchase from The Meadow) 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper   Parsley & Celery Salad 1 ½ cups chopped flat-leaf Italian parsley 1 cup thinly chopped celery, the innermost parts and leaves juice from half a lemon 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil salt & pepper 3 ounces great quality blue cheese, crumbled (such as Rogue River Blue)   For the steak: Season the steaks generously with salt and pepper. If you can, season the steaks at least an hour in advance. Even better if you season and then let them rest, uncovered, in the fridge overnight. Cook over low flames and hot coals for 5 minutes per side for medium-rare Let rest for 15 minutes.   For the salad: While the steaks are cooking prepare the salad. Combine the parsley and celery in a bowl. Add the lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking. While the steaks are still hot and resting top with crumbled blue cheese. Finish with the Parsley & Celery salad. Serve alongside grilled vegetables or tuck slices of the steak, the salad and blue cheese into a split baguette for a killer steak sandwich.  

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Honey Sweetened Frozen Yogurt

 

Honey Sweetened Frozen Yogurt // Not Without Salt
Aspen Food & Wine Classic // Not Without Salt
Aspen Food & Wine Classic // Not Without Salt
Aspen Food & Wine Classic // Not Without Salt
Recently I spent a few days in Aspen eating and drinking my way through the Food & Wine festival. Go ahead and take a moment to roll your eyes at that last sentence. I totally would.

The food was great, I mean really great; buffalo milk soft serve with olive oil and flaky salt, salted chocolate popsicle with tequila, duck meatball sliders with bacon and Greek yogurt jam, blue cheese powder (really, it’s a thing and quite frankly it’s going on everything) and anything that the guys from Animal and Son of a Gun made was pretty much my favorite. (If you want more to see more photos of all that  food check out my instagram).

As amazing as the food was in Aspen the people who I shared the weekend with were even better. It’s really always about the people, right?

I found my people; the ones who happily eat a burger in a hotel room bed while watching, Catfish on MTV with no shame and the ones who like to hang out in the corner at parties. I like to call us; Cornervoires. We talk about things beyond the weather, we point out the bites not to be missed and we call it a night around 10 pm because the quiet hotel room is calling us home.

 

Aspen Food & Wine Classic // Not Without Salt

 

Aspen Food & Wine Classic // Not Without Salt
Aspen Food & Wine Classic // Not Without Salt

I came home eager to cook in my own kitchen after eating so much food made by and learning from some of the best in our industry (did you know Jacques Pepin pan fries his deviled eggs?!). Basically I was spoiled by incredible food and inspired to spoil others in the same way.

This frozen yogurt pulls inspiration from a number of places and tastes from the weekend. It’s softly sweetened with honey so it’s fragrant and floral without masking the bright tang from the yogurt. I use full-fat or as close to full-fat Greek yogurt as I can find then whisk in honey, a pinch of salt to round out the flavors and finally just a bit of vanilla extract. You could add a pinch of cinnamon or cardamom or use vanilla bean if your pantry isn’t bare like mine. I came home to the markets loaded with berries and my currant tree bursting with fruit so I topped the yogurt with golden raspberries, red currants and mulberries.

I find it’s best to serve it straight from the machine so it has the consistency of soft-serve.

I do so hope your ice cream base is already in the freezer because if so you are about twenty-five minutes away from frozen yogurt.

Honey Sweetened Frozen Yogurt // Not Without Salt
Honey Sweetened Frozen Yogurt // Not Without Salt


Honey Sweetened Frozen Yogurt // Not Without Salt

*This trip was sponsored by Chobani and is the reason you’ll see a lot of yogurt inspiration on the blog in the coming months as I came home inspired by many of the amazing tastes that Chobani served over the weekend. The photos and words are all mine.

I’ll be working with them to create a “Lookbook” based on all the great food and trends we saw in Aspen. I will be sure to tell you more about that when it comes out.

 

 

 

Honey Sweetened Frozen Yogurt

Serves 4-6   24 ounces plain, full fat Greek yogurt 1/3 cup honey (or up to a scant 1/2 cup) pinch salt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Fresh berries for serving   In a large bowl whisk together the yogurt, honey, salt and vanilla extract. Taste and adjust the seasonings to your liking. Freeze in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  

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