Blue Cheese Smothered Sirloin Steak

             Blue Cheese Smothered Sirloin Steak, Garlic Skillet
                        with Grilled Steak Fries Traeger Style


Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 60 minutes
Grill: Traeger Wood Pellet Grill
Pellets: Oak

Ingredients: Steak

2 inch Sirloin Steak

Blue cheese

Seasoning of choice

You know how sometimes it seems like the weekend will never come. This was a long week both Patti and I were ready for a quite night and a simple dinner.

Patti is from Philly and this is definitely her idea of a cheese steak and fries! Quite time we could enjoy the music,  some well placed flickering candles and a little chit chat for awhile before we fired up the Traeger.
 

Dinner could not have been much easier. We had a 2 inch sirloin and put together a Garlic Skillet.

The potatoes were just as easy, just sliced, boiled for 10 minutes and onto the Traeger.

I like to do my potatoes on the grill, love the smoke flavor. The neat thing about potatoes is that you can season them up anyway you want. I sometimes give a big spritz of olive oil and put them into a plastic bag with our favorite dry soup or a tablespoon of Country Bob’s Seasoning Salt and a few blasts of fresh pepper and mix them up well. Or I’ll hit them with Chipotle chili powder, whatever way you feel like works…

Ingredients: Potatoes
Big Fries Need Big Potatoes

Big Fries Need Big Potatoes

Directions:

Steak fries are big, so cut your potato into big pieces. They will take a long time to cook on the grill and whatever meat you were grilling would be toast, burnt toast. So put them into a big Dutch oven and bring them to a hard boil for 10 minutes.

Don’t go any longer than 10 minutes or so because they will turn to mush before you can brown them. Then, they will never get crispy. We run cold water over them to stop the cooking.

At this point they are halfway done. Oil them and hit them with the seasoning you want. Put them on the grill, turning them now and then so they brown evenly.

When they crisp up to where you like them, plate them. On the grill, they come out nice and crispy and not greasy like some regular fries.

We love smoked garlic, and it only gets better with sweet onions and bacon. This is something you can only do if you are slow smoking. The garlic takes a 1 hour to 1 ½ hours to cook in high smoke (225-250).

I have been working on this for some time now and I find I like it best just as a simple side.  Sometimes Patti insists I add mushrooms and pile it on our steak.

Ingredients: Garlic Skillet

½ lb. pepper bacon (ends & pieces)

2 cups peeled garlic (we add more, but we love garlic)

2 large sweet onions, rough chopped

Coarse ground black pepper (to taste)

Mushrooms caps, any kind you like or mix several different kinds (optional)

Smoked Garlic Skillet

Directions: Garlic Skillet

Using a cast iron skillet, add the bacon and garlic. Place it directly on the grill. The bacon fat will render (melt) providing the moisture for the garlic to cook. The garlic will take awhile depending on how hot your grill is and if you have a “Hot Spot”. My hot spot is on the right by the stack on the Traeger.
 
Stir the garlic every now and then to keep from sticking. After an hour or so the garlic should be getting soft.  Stir in the onion. I like them just as they are, still a little crisp. About 30 minutes, again, depending on your grill and temperature setting.

Getting Happy in the Smoke

Directions: Steak

Sprinkle a little Worcestershire sauce over the meat then shake your spices on it. Using your fingers, rub the seasoning into the meat as best you can.

Keep in mind that you are trying to make a crust that will sear on/into the steak. Think about your taste and season accordingly. I like lots of garlic, pepper, chipotle and a little salt.

Set the steak aside while you enjoy a beer, or for Patti a nice Cabernet or Shiraz. Steaks are best cooked at room temperature so they cook evenly. Use High Direct Heat 450- 500 degrees 7 to 9 minutes per side. This will vary with the size and how well done you want it. One this size will be rare.

Cover the steak with the blue cheese the last 5 minutes of cooking time and just let it melt in.

Covered with Blue Cheese

Cooking Directions: Traeger

Open the lid and set the dial to “Smoke”, after about five minutes shut the lid. Give it about 10 minutes to heat up. Notice in the picture above Patti lined the drip pan with foil. It makes for easy clean up. Place everything directly onto the center of the grill and just let it hang out in the smoke and get happy for 30 minutes or so.
 

After 30 minutes, turn the digital control up to 275 degrees and pull the meat off the grill. You should have a temperature around 310 at the stack or dome thermometer. Just let the garlic and potatoes go for ½ hour. (Stir every now and then)

When the garlic starts to get soft, turn your grill up to high (400-450). As the temp is coming up watch your veggies, they won’t be able to take this kind of heat for long, you may want to pull them when you turn the meat, or sooner. I like to pull them when they are still a little crisp. Cover and place somewhere to keep warm, like the unlit oven.

When the grill is screaming hot, add the steaks. I use a kitchen timer so I don’t lose track of time as I am enjoying a beer or two. (I have done that more than once!) This is a Very Large Steak, 2 inches. You can see that it covers a lot of the grill. We have a Very Large grill, too.

Keep in mind that the meat will continue cooking to another 10 degrees after you pull it off the grill. So for rare pull it at 130, medium at 140 and overdone 160.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Grill: Direct Medium & High Heat

Preparing Grill: Medium Direct Heat

Preheat your grill to medium heat (350). Add your wet hickory chips to the fire and oil the grill. A cooking spray is easiest for this.

(Note: you can add your hickory directly to the grill or you can use foil smoke packets.(Two handfuls wet chips and one dry, fold foil into a packet, poke holes in it with a fork and you’re good to go.)

Preparing Grill: High Direct Heat

Preheat your grill to High heat (400-450). Add your wet hickory chips to the fire and oil the grill. A cooking spray is easiest for this.

Note: I use a spray bottle when cooking on the grill filled with a Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke mix that keeps things moist and adds tons of flavors. (Mix is 3 parts Worcestershire with 1 part liquid smoke)

Blue Cheese Smothered Sirloin

Remember that a recipe is simply an outline; it is not written in stone. Don’t be afraid to make changes to suit your taste.

Take it and run with it….

Live Your Passion,

Ken & Patti

Hey, if you are interested in learning more about Traeger Grills or for fine meats and sausages for your grill, go see Jacob. He is our Sausage Meister. If you get a chance, go and see him. It will be a fun day trip. (Take an ice chest, we always fill up a big one.) Or check him out @ www.tandhsausage.com or call him 760 471- 9192.