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Sirloin Steak with Blue Cheese Butter

Source of Recipe

From "The Cheese Lover's Cookbook & Guide" by Paula Lambert


Recipe Introduction

"Years ago, when I was looking for a location to lease for the Mozzarella Company, I wandered into a famous old meat market near downtown Dallas called Rudolph's. I had often shopped there for steaks. The meat market was run by Cyrill Pokladnik, who had come to Dallas around 1920, when he was ten years old. He found a job working at the meat market, the job stuck, and Cyrill went on to buy the market and eventually the entire block. He owned the little building on the corner and he agreed to rent it to me. The Mozzarella Company has been there ever since. Today Cyrill's grandchildren run the meat market. They still hang their beef to age it; few places go to this trouble, and this is one of the secrets of their great steaks. I am convinced that the butchers at Rudolph's cut the very best steaks in all of Dallas, and I should know, because I have had so many of them through the years. Red meat and blue cheese are a classic combination. This recipe is one of the easiest and most delicious ways to combine the two. And both just beg for a big red wine like Carolyn Wente's Cabernet Sauvignon from the Charles Wetmore Vineyard in California's Livermore Valley."

List of Ingredients

Blue cheese butter:
â—¦ 4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, softened
â—¦ 8 ounces Danish Blue Cheese, at room temperature

Sirloin steak:
â—¦ 1 sirloin steak, 1 ¼ to 1 ½ inches thick (bone-in, 3 to 3 ½ pounds; boneless, 2 ½ to 3 pounds)
â—¦ Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
â—¦ ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
â—¦ 4 sprigs fresh rosemary, plus extra for garnish


Recipe

For the blue cheese butter, place the butter and blue cheese in a small bowl. Mash into a smooth paste using a fork. Place the mixture on a sheet of waxed paper or plastic wrap. Roll up the butter in the paper or plastic and shape it into a cylinder about 1 ½ inches in diameter. Twist the ends of the paper or plastic together to close it and smooth the roll with your hands. Refrigerate until firm.

Preheat a gas grill to high or build a fire with hardwood charcoal, charcoal briquettes, or wood and allow it to burn until the coals are covered in gray ash. Adjust the rack so that it is 3 to 4 inches from the heat source.

Season the steak liberally with salt and pepper. Place the steak on the grill and baste it with the oil, using one of the rosemary sprigs as a brush. Throw 3 rosemary sprigs onto the coals in an area not directly under the steak. Cook the steak on the first side for about 6 to 8 minutes. Turn the steak over and cook, continuing to baste with oil, for an additional 6 minutes or until medium-rare.

Remove the steak from the heat and place it on a heated platter. Cut the blue cheese butter into ¼-inch rounds and place on top of the hot steak—the butter will melt over the meat. Allow the meat to rest for 5 minutes.

Just before serving, cut the steak against the grain into slices about ¾ inch thick. Garnish with sprigs of rosemary.

Serves 4