Sorry vegetarians, you’ll need to look away.  I’m firing up the grill today to make a juicy, flavor packed ribeye with a porcini mushroom rub. Typically, Argentinians use flavorful condiments on their meats like chimichurri. You can find my favorite chimichurri recipe HERE.

I wanted to incorporate the popular zing of red pepper flakes used in chimichurri, but I also wanted a deep rich flavor to complement the wine. I decided to attempt to recreate a steak I recently enjoyed at Olde Ebbitt Grill in D.C. After thoroughly questioning our waiter, doing a little research and testing this recipe, my family agreed that I nailed it. This recipe is now our ultimate, all-time favorite way to eat steak.

When choosing your steaks consider a dry aged ribeye. I paid a little bit more per pound but the quality of these steaks make for a delicious grilled steak that’s worth every penny.

The rub is simple. Just a few ingredients combined in your blender. The dense, earthy flavor of the dried porcini mushrooms coupled with the sweet sugar and spicy red pepper flake make every bite delicious.

Ribeye with Porcini Red Pepper Rub

Ingredients:

• 2 oz dried porcini mushrooms
• 1/2 T red pepper chili flakes
• 1/4 C sugar
• 2 T kosher salt
• 2 T freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
• good quality olive oil
• Two 1 pound bone-in rib-eye steaks (about 1″ thick)

Porcini Rub Directions:

• Roughly chop the porcini, and then grind in a blender – slowly at first, and then gradually increase the speed.
• Add in red pepper flakes and blend to mix.  Mix salt, pepper, and sugar together and then add the porcini-chili flake mixture together.
• You will have plenty of rub left over to make these steaks again – and you will want to!

Ribeye Directions:

• Dust and rub your rib-eye with the rub mixture. Drizzle on some olive oil and rub that in too. The rub will turn into more of a thick paste with the consistency of wet sand.
• Flip the steak and repeat. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate 12 hours or overnight.
• About 1 hour prior to grilling, remove the steak from the refrigerator.
• Pre-heat a gas grill or grill pan. If you are going to use a charcoal grill, preheat that but use enough coals to keep the fire going for about 20 minutes.
• Put the steak on the hottest part of the grill.  I use a Weber grill and start with all burners on high. I sear the steaks on each side for about 90 seconds. Then I turn the heat to Medium indirect heat. That means I turn the front and back flames to medium and turn off the center flame. I cook the steaks for 4 minutes per side at this medium temperature for medium-rare doneness. The internal temperature should be 127-128°F .
• Transfer to a carving board, cover loosely with foil and let it rest for 10-20 minutes or more.

My husband is often anxious to get dinner started at this point but the resting step is an important one. If you cut into your steak right away all those delicious juices will run all over your cutting board. If you can patiently wait at least 10 minutes the steak will reach the perfect temp and, when you slice it, the juice will be in the bite you take and not on your plate.

Our favorite way to enjoy steak is on a bed of sautéed greens. Today, it’s kale, chard and garlic.

As you can see, with a rested steak there are no running juices when it’s sliced. They’re all there though, in each bite!

I hope you’ll give this recipe a try then let us know what you think.

xo