Cooking In, Dinner, Quick PostKerry Alaric Cheeseboroapple, Boston, brown, chili, cider, cinnamon, Cooking In, cornmeal, curry, Dinner, dry rub, egg, eggs, espresso, fritter, fruit, garlic, ginger, grilled, honey, hot, lettuce, madras, marmalade, milk, nutmeg, onion, orange, paste, pepper, powder, red, sauce, soy, spice, steak, sugar, tomato, vinegar, worcestershireComment

Apple Of My (Rib)Eye

Cooking In, Dinner, Quick PostKerry Alaric Cheeseboroapple, Boston, brown, chili, cider, cinnamon, Cooking In, cornmeal, curry, Dinner, dry rub, egg, eggs, espresso, fritter, fruit, garlic, ginger, grilled, honey, hot, lettuce, madras, marmalade, milk, nutmeg, onion, orange, paste, pepper, powder, red, sauce, soy, spice, steak, sugar, tomato, vinegar, worcestershireComment
Espresso-Rubbed Grilled Ribeye Steak | Curry-Orange Steak Sauce | Apple Fritter

NO "BACKSTORY HERE", just a random inspiration. As I was purging a whole lot of junk from my apartment this past week, a came across a leftover box of packet cups of espresso grounds for my long ago broken and thrown out Tassimo coffee/cappucino/tea maker. I've used the grounds before to make some excellent espresso ice cream (a more intense and rich version of coffee ice cream), and figured I should keep the espresso grounds for not just future ice cream applications, but for savory purposes as well.

I've seen cooking shows where they've used the grounds as part of a dry rub for steaks, so I decided to try a version of that myself. I made the rub with the grounds, some cocoa powder (!), garlic powder, chili powder, paprika, brown sugar, salt and pepper.

While I let the dry rub spices seep into the meat, I made my own steak sauce in a small sauce pot with tomato paste, orange marmalade, cider vinegar, nutmeg, turmeric, hot Madras curry, red curry, fresh cracked pepper, garlic powder, sugar, worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, and thinned it out with some water and a bit of beef broth. I let that simmer in the pot, stirring occasionally, while I threw the steaks into a very hot cast iron skillet, about 4 minutes on each side for a good medium rare temperature.

I had an apple left in the fridge from the weekend (I've been trying to eat healthier while I'm not drinking booze for the time being), so I peeled and grated it, and incorporated it into a batter of egg, milk, baking powder, flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar, cinnamon and a little bit of butter.

Once the steaks were done, I spooned the apple fritter batter into a pot of hot canola oil while the steaks rested. The fritters floated nicely in the oil and, cooking to a beautiful golden brown in about three minutes per side (they need to be carefully flipped while frying in the oil), and the done fritters came out of the oil and sat on some paper towels to dry.

Meanwhile, the steak got sliced into thick strips, followed by a generous drizzle of the steak sauce. The fritter got placed on a crisp leaf of Boston lettuce (not just a garnish but a nice cool balance when cut and put on a fork with the hot steak and fritter!), and I enjoyed a great, very tasty dinner of tender, juicy, crisped-on-the-edges steak with a hint of deep and intense, smoky coffee flavor, a bright and layered, sweet/sour/spicy steak sauce, and a light and airy fritter aromatic with the savory cornmeal yet finishing with the subtle sweetness flavor of apple.

Bun Apple Tea!

.kac.

Espresso-Rubbed Grilled Ribeye Steak | Curry-Orange Steak Sauce | Apple Fritter