Simple Steak and Vegetables: Better Than a Restaurant

My husband, very recently, had a steak at a very very posh restaurant. When I asked him about it, how marvelous it was, how spectacular, he looked at me and shook his head. "Too much salt, on EVERYTHING. I could barely finish my steak." He was extremely disappointed (as was I because I generally live vicariously through my husband since he eats out far more than I do) and proclaimed "Everything tastes better at home."

Hmph. That just means more work for ME of course. And sometimes, I just don't WANT to cook. Yes, it's true. I also don't like cooking on some days. But if it is easy? Why not? This meal, I do some prep work in the kitchen, but I make husband do the rest of the work on the grill. He doesn't complain as grilling, in the caveman sense, is still "a man's job."

Some tips

I love a good rib-eye. I've said this before - but it just has great marbling, cooks up great, and tastes delicious with a simple olive oil rub and salt and pepper on both sides.

Take your meat out of the refrigerator a good 30 minutes before you intend to grill it. Too cold meat never grills well - but one that has been gently brought out - will cook much better.

How to get your kids to eat the vegetables? As they said in one episode of Top Chef -DIPPING SAUCE. I made a balsamic reduction, similar to the Salmon Agrodolce one and offered it as a topping to the steak and as a dipping sauce for the kids. They were dipping the grilled vegetables in there like there was no tomorrow. One of these days I'll post a video of my kids eating - generally it's a bit embarassing as they sometimes can eat like maniacs.

Preparation
For the vegetables, I simply cut them into grill-able pieces (meaning sort of chunkier so that husband wasn't constantly dropping them through the grill) and tossed them with olive oil and salt and pepper. I used a selection of zucchini, asparagus and bell peppers. For the bell peppers, red, yellow, and orange taste better grilled than the green. (it's easier for the kids to eat as well for they are sweet.) I also think that eggplant would be nice, red onions, or mushrooms. All your vegetables just need a simple drizzle and toss with olive oil and seasoning of salt and pepper.

I had husband cook the vegetables first, so as to get the kids started on that. The vegetables cook quickly so there shouldn't be idle chit chat while vegetables are cooking. Then he cooked the steak and we came in and had a delicious meal.

The menu:

Rib-eye steak with balsamic reduction sauce
Grilled Vegetables
Steamed corn
cherry tomatoes

The only pan you need is for the balsamic reduction -what more could you ask for!