Grilled steak

Eastside Road, June 25, 2010—

SOME TIME AGO we drove up the Central Valley to have dinner, then next morning breakfast at a Portuguese restaurant we'd become infatuated with; breakfast was particularly good — you may recall reading about it here. So when I suggested grilling a steak for company, Lindsey suggested marinating it. As usual, she was right: my first instinct was to make a steak Florentine, with just salt and pepper, olive oil and lemon, but for that to work you need exactly the right beefsteak, and where to find that at the drop of a hat?

But an ordinary tri-tip worked fine in the marinade: say a quarter cup of olive oil, half a bottle of red wine, three or four whole cloves of garlic, salt and pepper, bay leaves. I marinated the steak for 24 hours in the refrigerator, bringing it out a few hours before cooking to bring it to room temperature; then grilled it over charcoal, reducing the marinade, adding a little butter, and pouring it over the sliced steak.

Alas we forgot to eat the grilled zucchini, but we did have a fine green salad…

Côtes Varois, red, "La Ferme Julien"