Coffee and Steak

New tastes and new recipes are in demand. Willing participants are needed to try new ideas created by chefs. Here's my experiment involving coffee and beef steak.



Background:

I was introduced to a new author Cleo Coyle that writes Coffee House mystery novels. They are great imaginative escapes that involve coffee, plus recipes! This appealed to my inner desire to create and cook which is a lot of fun for me. The inspiration for my coffee marinated steaks was from my leisure reading of the mystery novel.



Caffeinated Barbecue Steaks



I placed my steaks from the refrigerator onto the counter. I grabbed a shallow dish to create my coffee marinade. I made this really easy for myself by grabbing a Starbucks VIA packet and a little cold water. Empty packet, add water, stir, and place steaks into dish. Yes, coffee made with VIA is that simple to make. Absolutely love using the product.


I thought about adding seasonings but I was hesitant. I wanted to keep a true coffee taste so I added no other spices or flavors. I let it sit for 24 hours in the coffee marinade.


The following evening I started up my barbecue to grill the steaks.


Once it was ready, I placed the steaks on the grill and quickly seasoned with a little season salt.


Cook the steaks to your preference. I cannot recommend the amount of time it might take. If you are worried about under or over cooking, invest in a meat thermometer


Remove and let it sit for at least 5 minutes. This is important to keep the meat juicy.


Serve with your favorite vegetable and a carbohydrate.




My vegetable to accompany this recipe was the following:

Sweet and Spicy Carrots

Grab a small sauce pan.
Heat-up on medium heat.
Add in a tablespoon of butter.
Let it warm up.
Add in about 2 tablespoons of brown sugar.
Add a dash of coffee liqueur, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
A quick dash of salt and pepper.

Let the sugar mixture bubble to cook down a little.
I added in caramelized onions that I had precooked prior to making the sauce.
I let it simmer for a little bit more.
Finally add in fresh cut carrots cut into rounds. I used a bunch Nantes carrots from produce box.
Let the carrots cook in the mixture for a quick 1-2 minutes and turn it off.
I like my carrots to have a crunch.

My carbohydrate to accompany the meat and vegetable:

Toasted Barbecue Garlic Bread

Pre-make the garlic oil spread. This is really easy to make with fresh or bottled garlic.
Grab your small sauce pan.
Heat-it up on a medium low.
Add in about 1/4 cup of olive oil.
Next add in the chopped garlic.
Optional: Add in some fresh basil, a little cayenne powder, and a little seasoning to preference.
Let the garlic oil mixture cook until garlic is tender.

Toasting bread on the barbecue should be the last item cooked on the grill. Reason- the coal fire has cooled downed so the bread gets a chance to brown up without burning.
Place your bread slices on the grill. Let the bread toast up which will happen fairly quick. After it is flipped over, spoon the garlic mixture over the bread.

All the above recipes put together makes a fairly tasty meal.
When plating up, spoon the sweet and spicy carrots sauce over the meat. It will be totally worth it in taste!

Enjoy and have fun cooking!