Cooking with Ancient Fire Wine

Every adventure has some twists and turns. The Manly Housewife is guest posting today with the conclusion of the Stuffed NY Strip story.

There is a lot to be said about the old adage that things happen for a reason. At the very least, a good argument could be made for this saying from my particular situation. I truly believe it happened for a reason. See, I just started blogging not that long ago, less than a month, actually, and it has been a great experience. Any blogger, as I am sure can tell you, gets very excited when he or she discovers site hits. Having recently re-watched the movie “Julie & Julia,” I now see it through different eyes. I had to laugh at the part when she gets all excited over her first blog comment. While just beginning my blogging adventure, I stumbled upon a site called Foodbuzz (if you’re a food blogger, visiting Foodbuzz is a must). Now that I have successfully launched my blog, it has sent me on an exhilarating rollercoaster ride of interesting visits and intriguing comments. I mention all of this as a preamble to an exciting story that happened all because of Foodbuzz. Three days after launching my new blog on Foodbuzz, I received a comment that one of my dishes had been paired with a wine. To let you know just how excited I was, I called everyone who knew I was doing this blog (and a few that didn’t) to tell them all about it, which really was a lot of people. Not only did this recipe (Smothered Pork Chops) receive great honors by being featured on Foodbuzz’s Top 9, it now had been paired with a great wine. We all have visions of grandeur in the things that matter most to us, and I love to cook. It’s not only fun, but it’s a passion to me. Only a few will understand the elation of having well-respected people pay respect to one of your dishes. After this great honor of pairing my dish with Pinot Noir and, specifically, the Francis Coppola Diamond Collection, I felt my desire of cooking elevate to a whole new level. I immediately contacted Jason at Ancient Fire Wines to thank him for granting me such a great honor, and I told him that I would love to do some additional pairings with him in the future. You see, The Manly Housewife has been an idea of mine for quite awhile, albeit an live-in-motion, ever-evolving idea, but an idea none the less. Each achievement only helps to confirm that this is exactly where I need to be. Jason and I had several conversations back and forth about ideas we could incorporate into our respective blogs to increase traffic, of course, but also to emphasize and complement one other’s talents. We finally decided on choosing a dish and both making our renditions of this dish. Now, before I go into my interpretation of the dish, let me quickly state that I did not fully keep up my end of the bargain, but that’s all explained as you read on below. . . .

Jason and I agreed to do a replica of a dish I had at Chef Pointe Café (an amazing, contradiction of a place, not far from my house). This is the craziest place you might ever eat. It’s been featured on Food Network because of its 5-star quality food, inspired, prepared, and served in, of all places, a gas station. Recently when I was there, I had the stuffed New York Strip Steak and was so intrigued that I was inspired enough to try to re-create it at home. We thought this would be a great dish to try and see what combinations we could each come up with. To fully explain how I didn’t keep up my end of the bargain is this: I did not use a New York Strip; instead I chose a ribeye. I like the ribeye better (and they were on sale). Also, because of a mishap on my part, which you can read about here Mandolin Safety, I omitted the potatoes and did not take as many pictures (it’s hard to snap photographs when your thumb is wrapped in a pressure bandage). And, lastly, after the mishap, I decided on stiffer drinks than what I had initially intended, knowing that Jason would totally rock that part with his recipe, and he did! But the show must go on. So my wife and I invited my parents over to enjoy a quiet evening of good food, good drinks, and good company.

Now that I am done rambling let’s get it on with the recipe. . .

Stuffed Ribeye Steaks
Serves 4

Ingredients

• 4 20-oz Ribeye Steaks (we’re talking about ¾” to 1” thick Fred-Flinstone-Style Steaks)
• Smoked Gouda Cheese (I used approximately ¼ -pound block of cheese and divided it between the four steaks)
• 8 Slices Canadian bacon
• Salt and Pepper, to taste
• 2 Yellow Squash, cut into ¼ inch rounds (again, careful with the Mandolin slicer)
• 2 Zucchini, cut into ¼ inch pieces
• ½ Small Red Onion, cut into wedges and then separated
• 1 ½ Cups Your Favorite Prepared Italian Dressing
• ¼ Cup Red Cherry Tomatoes
• ¼ Cup Yellow Cherry Tomatoes

 Directions (Steak Prep)

1. Sprinkle both sides of the steaks with salt and pepper.
2. Cut a slit along the fatty edge of the steak, ¾ length of the steaks.
3. Into each steak, add a generous slice of cheese and 2 slices of bacon (I would suggest quickly pan searing the bacon 1 minute both sides to help it crisp up).
4. Secure the stuffing inside the steaks with 3 to 4 toothpicks.
5. Let steaks sit for covered in the fridge for about and hour (this will allow the steaks to soak up the salt and pepper).

Directions (Vegetable Prep)

1. Slice Squash and Zucchini into ¼ inch pieces, discarding the stemmed end pieces.
2. Cut onion into wedges and separate into individual pieces.
3. Keep tomatoes separate from the rest of the veggies.
4. In a large bowl combine Squash, Zucchini, onion, and Italian dressing and mix well.

Directions (Cooking the Meal)

1. Spray grill grate with grilling spray prior to lighting.
2. Fire up the grill to medium high heat. You want it warm enough that you can only hold your hand for 2 seconds 3 inches from the grate.
3. Places steaks on the grill and don’t touch (moving them will cause the juices to leak out and make the steaks cook unevenly). Now here is a trick of mine: if the grill is to the correct temperature, you should cook ¾” to 1” steaks 7 minutes on each side for medium-rare steaks. For this recipe, I suggest closer to 8 minute each side to allow the cheese to fully melt and the center to warm up.
4. In a grill pan, add vegetables, excluding the tomatoes, and sauté’ over the grill.
5. Cook the vegetables until you begin to see that nice charred look around the edges.
6. Add tomatoes to the pan and continue to roast.
7. If done right, you should finish the veggies and the steak right about the same time.

To serve, add a couple of spoonfuls of vegetables to a plate. Remove toothpicks from steaks and serve over the top of the vegetables.

I hope you enjoy this meal. I still have my war wound from the mandolin accident, but the food was fantastic and well worth the pain. My original plan was to pair these steaks with a Grenache wine and a Hefeweizen beer. But, instead, due to my painful injury, my wife and mom enjoy a simple glass of White Zinfandel, while Dad and I jumped straight into the whisky stash. This was truly a fun and exciting co-blog that Jason and I did. He an I would both entertain offers to do this kind of combo blog with any other food bloggers. If you would like to pair up and do a joint blog like this one, please contact Jason at his Ancient Fire Wine Blog, or leave a message here.

Good Food, Good Drinks, Good Friends. . .

The Manly Housewife