Mmm... Steak

Those of you who have known me a long time know that I wasn't always a meat eater. My parents raised us without "red" meat, but we did eat fish, poultry, and occasional bacon. I was a true vegetarian for a while too. But my membership has lapsed and I haven't renewed. Disapprove all you want, but I really like eating meat. And luckily, in Eugene, it's easy to find meat that is raised as naturally as possible. Yes, "all natural" cows still graze on public land, consume a lot of water, etc. but it is far better than the alternative, and I like supporting businesses who do it the better way.

Anyway... We got some Painted Hills ribeye steaks, on sale at the Market of Choice, last week. We had to wait most of the week for the weather to be nice enough to grill, but yesterday it was. So we fired up the charcoal, slapped these huge marbled steaks down and cooked them up. Other than a little salt and pepper, I didn't do anything to them.

Alongside, we grilled up some asparagus. Those I tossed with some lemon olive oil, salt and pepper before grilling.

Given my late coming to the meat world, I haven't eaten a lot of steaks in my life. And I don't often keep track of the cuts, or know much about one over another. But this ribeye... WOW!!!! It was SO flavorful! Maybe it was because it is a fattier steak, and maybe it was just cooked to perfection (medium-well in this case), but it was amazing.

The asparagus had just a hint of lemon flavor to it, and we cooked it just until it still had its crunch.

For wine we could have gone with something heartier, but we really wanted some Pinot Noir. The Marylhurst Vista Hills 2007 that Rose and I picked up in January was perfect. It stood up well to the rich but simple dinner, and complemented it nicely. We got lucky! Yum!