FLOWER POT KITCHEN: GAUCHO'S COWBOY RIB EYE 32oz FIRE PIT COOKED STEAK BEST EVER

16 Jun 2014

GAUCHO'S COWBOY RIB EYE 32oz FIRE PIT COOKED STEAK BEST EVER

One of the best pit fired steak's I have ever eaten, Summer is here and I am all excited and want to enjoy as much outdoor cooking and living as I can, even though that is rather limited here in the UK. This summer I am learning how to cook the Gaucho's cowboy way, a simple way to cook your food on the go over daily made wood fire pits. This aged steak along with the slow wood fired pit cooking adding that extra flavour, just can't be beaten. I first had this 32oz cut of steak in 2004 in Gallagher's Steak House from NY in Las Vegas, and have never forgotten it, I don't eat this very often, maybe once, twice a year at most, but oh boy this is a winner winner Gaucho steak dinner.

Glorious aged steak in itself loaded with honest old fashioned fat and flavour, add the slow cooking over wood and BaBoom you elevate the flavours with some glorious soft smokey wood charred notes.

These cuts can be ordered from your butcher in advance, if you can not find these cuts, just look for a rib eye bone in joint of beef and ask the butcher to cut you one rib per person as a steak off the joint, I also asked my butcher to french trim the bone for presentation. On average each steak will be around 800g. Great for sharing, unless you live in my house hold !

Crank up your BBQ or fire pit with a wood fire rather than coals, the flavour from the wood adds a really rich soft woody deep layer to your meat, gorgeous.

Once your wood fire is established and you have white coals with a gently glowing fire your pit is ready to cook on, this is very simple honest cooking, place your steaks on the grill, do not be to eager to turn the steaks, let them seal forming a gorgeous crust before your first turn, once both sides are sealed I take off the steaks and leave to rest for a few minutes, this is so I can control the heat from the fire pit, my fire pit has a hot side and lower heat side for control, place the steak back on the grill on a lower heat area to cook on to your choice of blue, rare, medium or well done. I cooked these rare towards medium and these took approx 15 minutes on the pit with a few minutes of resting in between and a final 5 minutes resting after cooking, cover with foil to keep warm. The steak is the main event on your plate and needs no fancy accompaniments, just some sea salt and fresh ground black pepper and served with some green beans.

Leftovers.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.