PHOTO CREDIT: KENDRA ARONSON.
Every month the menu changes at Ember to reflect the seasons and their culinary creativity, yet one mighty dish has remained a permanent fixture since opening night: their incredible rib eye steak with avocado chimichurri!
AVOCADO CHIMICHURRI
3 T shallots, minced
1 T lime juice
1 t. red wine vinegar
1 large Hass avocado, diced
½ cup cilantro, minced
¼ cup Italian parsley, minced
1 t. garlic, minced
2 T jalapeño, charred, skinned, seeded, and minced
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil (approximately)
sea salt and pepper
STEAK
Rib eye steaks
RECIPE & TIPS CONTRIBUTED BY
Chef Brian Collins of Ember Restaurant
Arroyo Grande, CA
AVOCADO CHIMICHURRI
Place the shallots in a mixing bowl; pour the lime juice and vinegar over them. Lightly season with salt and let them macerate for fifteen minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and fold them together, making sure the avocados don't get mashed. Season to taste. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the flavors to meld for about one hour prior to serving.
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STEAK TIPS FROM CHEF BRIAN COLLINS OF EMBER
“To select a nice steak I look for good marbling. Marbling is the subtle presence of fat in most meats; marbling is the threads that run between and through the muscle meat. If you are unsure what to look for, simply ask the butcher working behind the counter and they could point out the steaks with the best marbling for you. Since we cut each rib eye steak at our restaurant by hand we also take the time to trim off any overabundance of fat from the "tail" and "fat cap". Leaving the right amount of fat in the right places on the steak is important because during the grilling process it will render and become golden-brown, crispy, and delicious.
For the actual cooking of the steak, I believe that a wood fire and embers produce the best flavor. Before building the fire there are a couple of things I do to the meat that I think are very important:
1. I always have the steaks at room temperature before cooking. A cold steak cooks less evenly and the fat on the inside (assuming you are cooking the steak to rare to medium) does not warm up or melt away like it should.
2. I season the steak with sea salt and coarse ground fresh black pepper. Seasoning an hour or so ahead of time allows the seasoning to get inside the steak.
For the actual cooking, I make sure that I am grilling the steak over glowing, red-hot embers or coals. You want to cook the meat with intense heat. This searing heat will caramelize the outside of the steak, giving it a nice crust. Depending on the thickness of the steak you will need to adjust the grills' proximity to the coals; the thicker the steak the closer you want it to the heat. The steak should be turned a few times so that both the coloring and cooking are even.”
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