A new restaurant has come to town, and while locations are available elsewhere in the state which we have been known to enjoy, this one was new to Bozeman. Being the “good” residents we are, we made a reservation to check out the renovation and offerings. A bone-in ribeye was the temptation that evening, so we split it along with a couple sides and dinner salads. After all, who needs 16 oz of beef per person!? It was so unbelievably flavorful and mouthwatering, my husband has spent the last few weeks scouring the menus of other steakhouses to see who could compare. Since we hadn’t found a similar menu item, he suggested I stop by the local meat market and see if they had a bone-in ribeye. Well, of course they did, and it was on the menu tonight!
I didn’t do a whole lot of planning other than “let’s cook that – maybe a reverse sear would be good for that – add a potato and a vegetable. That sounds good.” In other words, there was really zero effort in the planning. At about 5:15, I decided it was time to get started. Within seconds, he was worried about how I was going to cook his precious red meat. I responded, “I don’t know. I haven’t decided, maybe reverse sear.” So, to YouTube he navigated and before you know it, he had the ideal video for me to watch. A pretty snazzy video, I might add, from Babish Culinary Universe. So, we decided to give it a try.
While the 1.6 pounds (yep, that’s right!) of ribeye sat on the counter with plenty of salt and pepper, I prepped the side dish, the Twice Baked Potato Casserole. After about 30 minutes, I put the ribeye in an oven safe dish at 250° for an hour. His instructions said to measure for a temperature of 115°, which I did not do, because honestly, I don’t follow instructions well in the kitchen. I do what makes sense, looks and feels right to me. To develop this skill just takes practice and truthfully, it doesn’t ALWAYS work. Today, a masterpiece…
What is important to note is that I needed this potato recipe to make this steak as perfectly wonderful as it was. Mind you, the pairing was not only perfect, but I have no doubt it was the bacon grease that made the difference. To reduce some of the calories and fat from the potato casserole I used less than half of the sour cream and cheese, so they aren’t quite as gooey, but still packed with flavor. I know what you’re thinking, I just cooked my steak in bacon grease, do I really care about fat content? Well, swap from one to make the other and it’s called “in moderation.”
Twice Baked Potato Casserole
Ingredients
- 5 medium potatoes, cut in half red or yukon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/2 lb bacon, cooked & crumbled
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 1/2 cup white cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 1/2 cup mild cheddar cheese, shredded
- 2 green onions, sliced
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Bake the potatoes halves, drizzled with olive oil and face down in a pan, covered in foil for an hour.
- When soft, cut baked potatoes into 1-inch cubes. Sprinkle with the salt, pepper and bacon. top with the sour cream and cheeses.
- Bake uncovered 20-25 minutes. Sprinkle with onions before serving.
Notes
Bone-In Ribeye Steak
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb bone in ribeye
- steak seasoning (I used Weber Steak 'N Chop)
- bacon grease, or ghee butter
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 garlic clove
- thyme sprig
Instructions
- Season the steak thoroughly with salt and bring to room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Heat the oven to 250°. Bake the ribeye in an oven proof pan for one hour.
- Heat a cast iron pan with the bacon grease (use the grease from the bacon in the twice baked potato recipe) or ghee butter, until very hot.
- Carefully add the ribeye straight from the oven. Sear until crisp and brown on the underside, 5-10 minutes, depending on how hot your pan is.
- Turn over, adding 1 Tbsp of butter to the top of the meat, the garlic and thyme to the pan. As the steak cooks ladle some of the bacon grease, thyme and garlic over the top of the meat.
- Remove the steak from the pan to a cutting board to rest. Cover with a foil blanket for 10 minutes.
- Slice into one inch strips and serve.
Notes
I’ll be honest, this was undeniably the best steak I’ve ever cooked – and that is saying a-lot from this farm girl who has been cooking steak since I was about 9 years old! My barbecue grill might get lonely outside, because this was amazing…. I will definitely attempt a similar process with other cuts of beef. You probably could have even cut this with a fork it was so ‘melt in your mouth’ good.
I hope you enjoy as well!
Blessings,
Tina
