FoodB

I think I found my new love when it comes to BBQing.

About a year ago I was really wanting to get a charcoal BBQ. At that point I had a propane grill that I got some time ago as a Christmas present and I had my smoker which I bought myself as a tax return present. So naturally I wanted the final major form of BBQ cooking to complete my collection. I found one on craigslist for $10 and it has been sitting in my yard pretty much unused ever since then. Propane is so much easier to just fire up and throw the meat on.

Then I ran out of propane.

So when I really wanted to make the below recipe, I had to fire up the charcoal grill. At first I was kind of upset that I had o take the time out to light the coals, get them set up and then watch the meat to make sure it didn't burn. Somewhere in the middle of all of that I realized that a strange calm came over me and I was actually enjoying the simplicity of it all. So I think from now on I will be doing all of our BBQing on the charcoal grill because I'm not really that busy of a person and I really had a blast.

Grilled Tri-Tip Steak with Bell Pepper Salsa

Marinade
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp sherry vinegar or apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
A couple of turns of freshly ground black pepper
A sprinkling of salt

Steak
1 2-pound tri-tip steak or roast
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Salsa
1 large green bell pepper, stem and seeds removed, finely chopped (if you don't have green, probably any color will do)
6 green onions, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp chopped parsley, basil, or arugula
1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes
2 Tbsp sherry vinegar or apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Prepare the marinade in a large bowl, stirring together all of the marinade ingredients. Place steak in the bowl and coat on all sides with the marinade. Let the steak sit in the marinade and come to room temperature while you prepare the grill. (No need to marinate the steak more than 20 minutes or so.)
2. Prepare the grill for direct high heat. If you are using charcoal, use approximately 5 pounds of coals. Bank the coals so that more of them are on one side than the other, so that you have a high heat zone and a lower heat zone.
3. When the grill is ready and hot, remove the meat from the marinade and dry it all around with paper towels. Sprinkle all sides of the tri-tip generously with both salt and freshly ground black pepper.
4. Place the tri-tip on the grill, on the hot direct heat side. Leave the cover off and watch carefully for flare-ups. As the meat browns, any fat will melt and drip on to the coals causing flare-ups. These are okay, as long as they don't get out of control. Keep moving the tri-tip around the grill away from the flames if they get too high. After one side of the meat is browned (about 5 minutes) use tongs to flip it on to the other side. When it is browned all around, move the tri-tip to the lower heat side of the grill. Cover the grill and close the vents enough so that you maintain about 300-325°F temperature in the grill. (If you are using a charcoal grill, you can place a meat thermometer through the vents to measure the heat.) If you are using a gas grill, turn off one of the burners and move the meat over that burner for indirect heating.
5. Cook the tri-tip until a meat thermometer reads 130°F when inserted into the thickest part of the meat (15-30 minutes, depending on the thickness of the meat). Remove the tri-tip from the grill. Cover with aluminum foil and let rest for 10 minutes.
6. Prepare the salsa by combining all of the salsa ingredients into a small bowl.
7. Cut the tri-tip in 1/4-inch slices against the grain. Serve with the salsa.

Wow. This was a great meal. Jenn made some potatoes with garlic in a foil pack that I threw on the grill also. The potatoes were perfect. I overcooked the meat a little (ended up being about medium-well) but it was still pretty tender. The star of the show though was the salsa that we put on top of the steak. We used an orange pepper instead of green because we both find that the flavor of the orange ones is the best. After the meal was done I commented that the salsa (which didn't really taste like the salsa that we are used to from Mexican restaurants) could have been used in more ways. We could have thrown it in with the potatoes and it would have tasted great. We could have ate it by itself and it would have made a good side dish. All in all I think we found a keeper and this one will definitely be the recipe of choice when I get tri-tip in the future.

Also to give credit, I found this recipe on Simply Recipes. I subscribed to their RSS feed some time ago and their stuff always looks really good.