A little Asian inspiration for your BBQ`d steak dinner.

The best steak I ever had was BBQ`d by a former butcher friend.  He knew just what to do with this steak to make it melt in your mouth.  He used a prime rib roast and cut it into steaks.  (We were at a vacation condo at the time, and there were no proper knives so he used a tiny little knife.)  I tried to use a similar technique tonight with our dinner.

I decided to make the steaks and the remainder of tonight`s dinner with a little Asian influence.  I created my own teriyaki marinade.  For sides I made a coconut rice, and a salad with a honey ginger dressing.

So this is the steak that I started with.  It was cut from a roast - my knife skills are not that of my friend`s and I`m pretty sure THIS isn`t prime rib, but you get the idea. Any good BBQing steak will work.

I made a quick and easy (thin) teriyaki type marinade, and marinaded the steaks for about 30 minutes.

Teriyaki Marinade

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp minced garlic*
1/4 tsp minced ginger*
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper

Mix together until sugar is dissolved, place steaks in bowl, pour marinade over steak and let sit.

After the 30 minutes, BBQ as you would any normal steak - I like medium rare so only 4 minutes per side.  Flip only once.  (My husband, for some reason has an issue with this.  He's a flipper, hates, to only be able to flip once.  Plus every time he BBQ's steak, he has to ask me how long.  I gave him the steak yesterday, and just waited until the inevitable question - and it came.  FOUR MINUTES A SIDE.)

While the BBQ was heating up I made my coconut rice.  I used a rice cooker (about $10 at Canadian Tire) so I can just leave it and can do other things.  To make coconut rice, all I do is make white rice and substitute half the water for the same amount of coconut milk.  If you like a sweet coconut rice, use ALL coconut milk instead of water.

I've never been known for my plating skills.  This is about as complicated as I get.  When making coconut rice, after it's cooked, I put in small ramekins.

And then turn upside down onto the plate.  I sometimes will add just a little blob of toasted coconut on top.

Everybody can make a salad.  They can often be boring or ho hum.  I tend to make the same kind of lettuce salad a lot.  Sometimes I make the vegetables look different just for fun.  In this case I julienned the red pepper (small thin strips), and slivered the carrots - I used a potato peeler and just shaved the carrot. 

To continue with my "Asian inspiration". I made a dressing with ginger and honey in it.  

Honey Ginger Dressing

1/2 cup olive oil

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbps.honey

1 tbsp dijon mustard

1/4 tsp garlic

1/4 tsp ginger

1 tbsp mayonnaise

In a squirt bottle or small class jar, add all ingredients and shake until smooth.  It's a bit runny, so treat it like a vinegar type dressing.  To make it creamier if you prefer, just add more mayo.

To add a bit more depth to your salad, consider adding different foods not necessarily just vegetables.  This one has dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, and cheddar cheese.  (Along with lettuce, carrots, red peppers, cherry tomatoes, celery and mushrooms.)

*minced garlic/minced ginger - I like to use fresh when I have it and when I have the time, but you can buy jars of both made by Derlea Foods - they are a great time saver.

Tomorrow's blog.......Rice Cookers - not just for rice!