Bar BQ Grills

My parents hopped acrossthe Great Smoky Mountains for a visit two weekends ago. I didn't blogabout any of the food because I wanted to relax and just enjoy thevisit. It was fun improvising dishes and not worrying about writingdown what I did. We just talked in the kitchen while I threw thingstogether.

One of the things I madeup was a beef appetizer that we thought was rather good. Itreminded me of panzanella (bread salad)....with steak....on astick.

I made a few tweaks to itthis weekend. The beefy taste, the acidic bite from the tomato, thecrunch of the bread and the sweet sauce combine for a greatappetizer. Alexis declared them to be the perfect “one bite”.

Note: I am basing thecounts marked with an asterisk* on that I got 24 cubes from one largeribeye. You might get a little more or less depending on the size ofyour steak. 

1 ribeye steak, cut intobite sized pieces (about 3/4” cubes)

12* cherry or grapetomatoes, halved

¼ cup Girard's ItalianVinaigrette

24* cocktail skewers

½ loaf of French bread

1-2 Tbsp olive oil

pinch salt

½ shallot, finelychopped

2 cloves garlic, finelychopped

1 dried red pepper,finely chopped and seeded (you could substitute 1 tsp of red pepperflake)

2 Tbsp fresh oregano,finely chopped

¼ cup red wine vinegar

½ cup olive oil

½ tsp black pepper

¾ tsp kosher salt

2 Tbsp butter, unsalted

½ shallot, finelychopped

1 clove, finely chopped

¼ cup marsala wine

½ cup beef stock

2 Tbsp demi glace

1 Tbsp chives, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

1 Tbsp butter, cold

Mix the marinadeingredients together and marinate the steak cubes for 1 ½ to 2hours.

Marinate the tomatoes inthe vinaigrette.

Tear the bread into 24*bite sized chunks and place on a sheet pan. 

Drizzle a little oliveoil (maybe 1 Tbsp) over the bread and toss to coat. Toast in a 425foven for 8 minutes or until crispy. Season with a pinch of salt. Set aside.

About 15 minutes beforeyou are ready to grill, make the sauce. In a pan over medium highheat, saute the shallot in butter for 2-3 minutes. Add the garlicand cook another minute, reducing the heat if necessary to keep fromburning the garlic.

Deglaze the pan with themarsala wine and let it simmer until it reduces it's volume by abouthalf. Add the beef stock and stir in the demi glace until it isdissolved. If you don't have demi glace you could try substitutingbeef base but I would start with 1 Tablespoon and add from there. Taste for seasoning. I added a pinch or two of salt and about 4twists from a pepper grinder. Set aside.

Place 1 piece of steak onthe end of each cocktail skewer. 

Preheat your grill tomedium high heat.    Use a kabob shield (you can make one by folding apiece of heavy duty foil over several times) to protect the exposedskewer. Grill for 5-6 minutes, turning every minute or so. 

Remove from grill and add1 half tomato to the skewer. Return to grill for one more minute. 

Remove from grill. Add 1piece of toast to each skewer.

Reheat the sauce overmedium low heat. Add the chives and stir in a cold tablespoon of butter untilit melts. (This will help re-emuslify the sauce and keep it fromsplitting when reheating.)

Serve the kabobs warm, topped with thesauce. 

Don't sauce them until ready to serve, the bread needs to becrisp, not soggy.  If serving for a crowd, plate them something like this and then let people sauce their own.

I am adding this to my short list of "signature dishes".  You could make this with other cuts of beef.  this would be perfect for using the trimmings from a beef tenderloin.

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