I miss bbq

So Jason and I are dog sitting for some friends while they are away for the weekend. I love these times because not only are their German Shepherds a joy to be around, they have a barbeque and we do not. This is the sacrifice we made in moving to Toronto and choosing to live in a high rise. Relocating is on the horizon as Jason has recently accepted a new job, and after he’s settled in and past the 3 month probationary period, we’ll be in a good position to choose a new place in the city to live… one with access to or provisions for the owning of a bbq, but I digress.

This evening I took my first crack at barbequing with cedar planks. I’m in love and this is definitely going to be a repeat performance. As soon as I can manage it I’ll be gathering together a group of friends and reproducing what I pulled off tonight.  (If you can’t tell, I’m rather proud of the results).
We bought a couple of beautiful rib steaks, you know those little mini roasts held together with two wraps of butcher’s twine, easily my favorite cut. Anyway, I’ve been thinking about some sort of coffee based marinade for some time, and what follows is what I threw together after a trip to the local grocer’s this afternoon.

Things you’ll need:

1. Cedar plank (you can get this at the grocery, or ask for an untreated piece from your building supply store). You’ll need to soak this, completely submerged in water for at least 4 hours
2. A couple of 2″ thick rib steaks that turn your crank
3. Smoked Pancetta (enough to line the bottom of a small frying pan)
4. Green onions
5. Crushed garlic
6. Minced ginger
7. Red or white wine vinegar
8. Coffee liquor (I used Starbucks)
9. Sesame oil

Alright so the first thing you’ll notice is I’ve included no measurements, sorry I just don’t operate that way. I started by slicing a nice piece of smoked pancetta into 1/4″ thick slices, and rendering it down in a smallish frying pan. While that was taking care of itself I took 3 stalks of green onion and diced them up, including a good portion of the greens.
Once the bacon has cooked down to a nice golden brown, toss in the onion, and follow up with either a clove of crushed garlic and a 2 teaspoons of minced ginger or do what I did and buy a couple of those packs of frozen cubed herby dealys and use 1 cube each of ginger and garlic. Stir this around until the onions have carmelized a bit, then pour in about 1/2 cup of coffee liquor. Let this reduce for a bit then add a couple of table spoons of wine vinegar. Stir again then allow to cool.
Place the steaks in individual zip lock bags, I find the small ones are just big enough to hold one of these steaks with enough room left over for some of the marinade mixture. Pour the marinade mixture into each bag, the close and place in the fridge for serveral hours or overnight.
When you’re ready to grill, heat the bbq up to about 500 degrees. Pull the steaks from the zip lock bags and pat them and the cedar plank dry with some paper towel. Brush some sesame oil on the plank and steaks, arrange the steaks on the plank, and place on the bbq grill, near the front.
Cook for 10-15 minutes a side, then place them directly on the grill for a minute a side to bring back some color.

Enjoy!