Reverse Seared Cowboy Ribeye Steak

I got up early yesterday to make sure I had a decent breakfast to start my day off on the right foot.  Just a simple egg white omelette with ham, spinach and cheese (6) with fresh fruit.  I cooked the omelette while I was in the shower.  I just pour the ham and egg whites in a skillet with a lid, turn it on low, and by the time I get out of the shower (granted, I take quick showers on the weekdays) it’s done.  I love the bit of crunch in the fresh spinach on top.

Today is our last full day in the office and the final stretch before the move.  It’s been nice that we have been able to wear jeans all week, and yesterday they had free pizza, but I said no thanks!  While I still had Roti on my bread, it was pouring down raining at lunch and I didn’t feel like getting wet, so went to another favorite – Pret salad and their tomato feta soup.  I am calling lunch 14 points, but that may be on the high side.

While I love that salad, I normally chop it up when I get back to the office, but I had already packed up my cutting board, so it was kind of hard to eat.  And yes, I have a cutting board at work 😀

Since I am walking around my office so much, I decided not to take any insulin with lunch, but still my blood sugar tanked at 4:00 p.m.  I brought one of these Premier Protein bars to stock in my drawer.  While it is 8 smart points, it’s a giant bar.

It tastes like a giant candy bar.  I was the night secretary last night so I didn’t get home until after 8, and didn’t eat dinner until 9:30.  I could see eating this as a quick breakfast on the go with some fresh fruit.

 One of the reasons I didn’t eat dinner until 9:30 was that I was bizzy in my kitchen!  I have cooking club tonight at Courtney’s house.  While it’s a Mexican themed night (#love) I was assigned an appetizer.  Since I work downtown I have to think a little outside the box and think what will transport well.  I think I came up with a winner – cucumber avocado chipotle bang bang shrimp bites.  Below is the bang bang shrimp I came up with made with Chobani and some other good stuff – you’ll have to wait for that recipe, but I couldn’t help putting some of the shrimp on top of my steak last night – you know, for quality control to make sure they were good.   I haven’t run the numbers yet, but I think every shrimp bite is only one smart point.  

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I am actually really proud of how I’ve improved my grilling skills . . . I think my twin sister may have grilled twice on her own? Maybe never?!  And I think my brother is more of a burgers and hot dog kind of griller.  My brothers friend John had a BBQ at his home where he had amazing beef tenderloin, baby back ribs, I don’t even know what else, and John told me that Charlie just ate a hot dog.  I don’t know how my brother and sister don’t have the love of beef as I do – well, Jenn likes beef, but only has steak a couple times a year.  What the what?!

My new favorite way of cooking steak on the grill is called reverse sear.  Some BBQ people feel that if you sear the meat first, it “seals in” the juices, but I feel the outside gets way too done before the inside is done.  While I love a rare steak, I am not looking for burnt and raw.

I bought this ribeye at Sam’s Club.  While $20 might seem like a lot, my thinking was that I would get at least 4 servings out of this 2.5 piece of meat.  Um, what I didn’t count on was Jacob eating the rest of it, including eating the meat off the bone.  It’s all good though – I think he’ll miss my grilling when the kadults move!

I flipped open the grilling guide and I whole heartedly disagree with those cooking temps.  If I were to cook this meat to 145, with the residual cooking or “carryover” cooking, it would easily be medium or even medium well.

125 to me is rare, 130 is medium rare, 140 medium and well, any temp higher than that, don’t bother spending $20 on this cut of beef because you’ve just overcooked it in my opinion.

Since this is Certified Angus beef, I usually only season with good salt and pepper.  

Always let your meat come to room temperature before grilling.  For smaller steaks like a NY strip or filet, 30 minutes is plenty.  This bad boy took about 60 minutes to come to room temp.  When I lit the grill I salt and peppered the steak.  Again, there are a wide range of opinions on when to salt meat, or whether to salt at all.   For smaller steaks I salt just about 3 minutes before grilling or pan frying.  For bigger cuts, I give it 30 minutes.  For roasts?  I salt the night before, wrap in plastic wrap, and rinse and dry before grilling.

I thought I had taken a picture of my grill to show you indirect grilling, but I guess I didn’t.  Thanks google images for this photo.  However, I pointed the bone of my steak towards the coals, and as the bone heats up, the heat travels through the bone and helps cook the steak.

I was looking for an internal temperature of 105 before doing the final sear.  It only took about 2 minutes total, moving the beef around every 15 seconds or so, to get to an internal temperature of 115 – and once rested, got to a perfect 125.

This is a picture of me searing the fat side, while it looks like my oven mitt is on fire, I was fine.

The next step is to let your beef rest.  For smaller steaks, 5-10 minutes is sufficient, but I let this rest 20 minutes before slicing.  

I hope you get your grilling pants on this summer.  If you have any questions, you know where to find me. 😀

Check out my friend Louise’s cowboy ribeye that she did on the stove first to sear, then finished in a hot oven – looks delicious Louise!

I will not be going to WW today – I have to hit the ground running and am working through lunch so that I can leave at 4:30 to get to Cooking Club tonight.  Can’t wait to catch up with everyone!

Make it a great day!