Being a foodie-girl, I had a very foodie-centric Christmas. Kitchen gadgets were in abundance and yummy treats filled my stocking. Included with these treasures was, much to my delight, a package of Foxhollow Farm beef! Run by one of my dear friends Maggie Keith, Foxhollow Farm is a grass-fed beef and biodynamic farm in Crestwood, KY. The farm store is never in short supply of their delicious and healthy beef as well as loads of farm fresh veggies and products from local purveyors. A visit to the farm is a treat. One look at the marbling on the ribeyes in my bag and I couldn’t wait to dig in! The first thing I always notice is the beautiful color of this beef. It has a deep maroon-purple hue and you can almost see the pure richness of the meat. Add in the fact that you know exactly where the beef came from, how it was raised and what it was fed, makes it taste that much better. To send it over the top, I put a dollop of bleu cheese butter on top. Grass-fed beef, bleu cheese and butter – healthy richness never tasted so good!
What beautiful ribeyes! The marbling is perfect and even throughout each cut. Make sure to pull the steaks out of the fridge for at least 30 minutes before cooking them. You want to ensure they come to room temperature.
While the chill is coming off of the steaks, go ahead and assemble the bleu cheese butter. This couldn’t be easier and you can substitute all sorts of ingredients to make custom butter for meat, bread, etc. Bleu cheese and steak is a classic combination and one of my favorites. Start by assembling the ingredients – three tbs. of room temperature butter, three tbs. of bleu cheese, one tsp. freshly grated lemon zest, one minced clove garlic, one quarter tsp. fresh cracked black pepper and one tsp. fresh parsley. It is very important that the butter and cheese are at room temperature or else they will be very difficult to mix and won’t come together.
Place everything in a bowl and mix to combine. Taste for seasoning and add any additional pepper or cheese, if needed. I really like the bleu cheese kick to come through so I often add in an extra half tbs. at the end. Set aside, leaving at room temperature.
Heat a saute pan or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add one tbs. of olive oil and one tbs. of butter to the pan and allow to melt and heat through. Sprinkle kosher salt and black pepper over each side of the steak and set in the pan.
I like my meat medium-rare, so five minutes per side was just about right for these steaks, which were one-inch thick. Only flip the steaks once and don’t mess with them while they cook. You want to develop a nicely seared, caramelized crust on each side and moving them around will keep this from happening.
Once the steak is done cooking, remove to a plate and tent with foil, allowing the meat to rest for 10 minutes. As tempting as it may be, do not cut into the steaks – it will release all of the juices and I promise you want those to stay inside, keeping the beef succulent and delicious!
Top the warm steaks with the bleu cheese butter for a final flourish and watch it slowly melt over the top, soaking into the crevices of the beef. YUM!!! This preparation will work wonderfully with ribeyes of any kind but if you have the opportunity to treat yourself to Foxhollow Farm‘s grass-fed creations don’t think twice – it will be worth every bite!
Continue reading for the ingredient list and step-by-step directions!
Serves Two
Ribeyes:
- two ribeye steaks, one inch thick
- one tbs unsalted butter
- one tbs olive oil
- kosher salt
- fresh ground black pepper
- three tbs of room temperature unsalted butter
- three tbs of bleu cheese
- one tsp freshly grated lemon zest
- one minced clove garlic
- one quarter tsp fresh cracked black pepper
- one tsp fresh parsley
Comments 1
I used to say if I changed from being a vegetarian I would want a hot dog. I changed my mind, I WANT THIS.