Coffee-Soy Sauce Marinated Buffalo Steaks and Maloy O’Neill Cabernet Sauvignon

Recipe: Coffee-Soy Sauce Marinated Buffalo Steaks
Recipe: Roasted Brussel Sprouts
Wine: 2005 Maloy O’Neill Cabernet Sauvignon Windy Hill, Paso Robles


After beginning this blog I realized that I am a red wine lover that eats like a white wine drinker. I knew if I wanted to showcase some of my favorite wines I needed to increase my red meat intake. It’s not that I don’t like red meat, but I don’t crave it the way I crave pasta and fish. So, we don’t eat it that often and it’s very rare that we eat traditional beef. I am a great fan of grass-fed meat and even better, buffalo. I once read that buffalo is one of the best things for women to eat. I prefer the flavor of buffalo over beef, so I almost always chose this. However, I am positive this recipe will work just as well with regular beef and whatever cut you chose.

As for the wine, my husband brought a bottle of Cab back from one of our favorite Paso wineries, Maloy O’Neill. As I didn’t try the wine first, I looked it up online and read the description which included coffee notes and thought it would be perfect for this recipe. In general, I think this recipe will work with any Cabernet with toasty oak and/or coffee notes. The John Alan Roasted Ridge Syrah with its heavy coffee notes would be delicious if you find it. Upon trying the Maloy O’Neill Cab, I thought the coffee to be subtle with some toasty oak, black cherry, black berry and a little spice. Either way, the wine was superb and tasted delicious with the smoky, nutty, caramelized flavors of the tender steak.
http://www.maloyoneill.com/wines/

In addition to the steak, I served roasted brussel sprouts. If you have never roasted brussel sprouts, please try them. My mother always served brussel sprouts soaked in vinegar and I HATED them. I am so grateful, I gave them another try as I love the caramelized flavor of roasted brussel sprouts. Yum!

RECIPE: COFFEE-SOY SAUCE MARINATED STEAK
Servings: I marinated 2 steaks, although I think the same amount of liquid could easily accommodate four.

Ingredients:
2-4 Steaks, I chose NY strip buffalo steaks
1 cup coffee
1 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
½ large onion or 1 medium to small onion
4-6 cloves of garlic ( I love garlic)
2 tbsp. sesame seeds
1 tsp of red pepper flakes, more or less based on your preference
Olive oil, couple tbsp to sauté onion and garlic

1. Saute onion, garlic, sesame seeds and red pepper flakes in olive oil until onions are soft.
2. Brew one cup of coffee (or use leftovers from the morning pot).
3. Mix soy sauce, coffee, Worcestershire and balsamic vinegar. Add onions, garlic, red pepper flakes and sesame seeds. Cool.
4. Once marinade is cool, add steaks and refrigerate overnight (or at least eight hours).
5. Remove steaks from marinade and grill until desired temperature/doneness.
6. While grilling, pour the marinade into a pot, boil for several minutes to kill any bacteria, reduce heat and simmer on low until steaks are finished.
7. Drizzle sauce over steaks.

RECIPE: ROASTED BRUSSEL SPROUTS
This is a recipe, I make so often that its hard to quantify ingredients.

Ingredients:
Brussel Sprouts
Olive Oil
Pepper
Garlic Salt
Balsamic Vinegar, optional
OR
Thyme, optional

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. You can cut the sprouts in half or leave them whole. Honestly it depends on my mood.
3. Coat brussel sprouts in olive oil. Season with garlic salt and pepper. Now, I either sprinkle with thyme or a little balsamic vinegar. Again depends on mood or main dish.
4. Roast about 25 minutes or until they get nice and brown.