Why does Friday night say STEAKS? What a great way to celebrate having a couple of days off! I like to go out to a nice steakhouse, but I also know how fast the price of a dinner like that can all add up, so I prefer to buy nice steaks at the grocery store, or Costco, and grill them at home. Even adding a nice $30 bottle of wine, the maximum you're looking at with the all steaks for this dinner is probably about $50, a far cry from the price in a restaurant!
It's no secret that I love Mexican flavors in my food, so I decided to incorporate this into our dinner tonight. A chili rub for the steaks is so easy, and the green rice is a different and interesting way to get your veggies and your starch into one intense flavorful dish.
(Lime is not pictured)
4 steaks
1 Tbsp garlic
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp cumin
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp fresh pepper
"Green" Rice ingredients:
2 cups white rice, long grain would be best
4 cups chicken stock
1 lime, juiced
6 oz bag of spinach
1 bunch green onions
1 bunch of cilantro
1 tsp granulated garlic
1-2 tsp salt
In a ziploc bag, add the steaks, olive oil and all the spices. Once everything is in there, seal up the bag and "massage" the whole bag rubbing the spices equally into all sides of the steak. I do it this way because I wanted to keep my hands clean...
Let it sit for about 30 minutes while you prep the rice and heat up the grill.
In a sieve, or colander, rinse your rice in cool water. This helps to dissolve the starches that make your rice sticky and gummy and should allow your rice to be nice and fluffy when cooked. In a medium size covered saucepan, add about 3 1/2 cups of chicken broth, 2 cups of white rice and 1 tsp. granulated garlic. Bring to a boil and immediately turn the burn to the lowest setting, cover your pot and set your timer for 20 minutes. If you are using brown rice, you will need to cook it longer. White rice will set off all the veggies better than brown, just saying!
While that cooks, in a food processor, add the bunch of green onions cut into 2" lengths, and the cilantro, roughly chopped. This almost filled my food processor which is only a 6 cup, so I processed the mixture down and then added the spinach.
Again, it completely filled my processor. I added about 1/2 cup of chicken stock to get the whole mixture chopped and wet. It was about 2 cups of pureed veggies when complete. Set aside for the rice to finish cooking.
When the rice is done, stir in the veggies, fluffing the mixture with a fork. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper, if needed. You might need to re-heat a bit before serving, but it will probably be hot enough.
Grill your steaks to your liking and serve with the green rice.
What else should I serve with this?:
- Pictured above is a grilled portabello mushroom with cheese, onions and red pepper. I bought this pre-made "on special" but it would be so easy to do yourself!
- Spicy Coleslaw, use the recipe from my Simple Fish Taco & Coleslaw.
- Southwest Edamame Salad would be great too.
What else would this work with?
- Chicken! Breasts or thighs would be great with a chili rub and the green rice.
- Pork Chops would work beautifully too!
- White fish, like Tilapia, would work, but might be easier to oven bake instead of grilling.
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