I have a charbroiler on top of my stove that all my friends swore I’d never use because it’s too difficult to clean and makes too much smoke while grilling.  

First of all, I use it often.  Secondly, I clean it only every so often, but don’t keep it squeaky clean.  I treat it like the outdoor grill–a regular cleaning a couple of times a year, and it’s fine.   As for the smoke, I have a powerful exhaust fan and hood which make quick work of disposing of the smoke from even the fiercest flare-ups.  Therefore, I use my grill often and the results are about the same as cooking on a gas grill outside. 

Tonight I’m grilling a beautiful organic rib-eye steak that I couldn’t resist at the butcher.  As I stated previously, I rarely serve beef, but this steak looked too good to pass up and it’s been awhile since I was drawn to a steak.  I’ve smeared it with oil, sliced garlic, dried rosemary and black pepper and left it in the fridge all day–no salt in advance of grilling.  I’ve removed it and let it come to room temperature about 2 hours prior to grilling.

With it, I am serving roasted potatoes (yukon golds–my favorite all-purpose potatoes) cut in wedges to resemble steak fries.  These are also rubbed with dried rosemary, olive oil and salt, then tossed into a 425 degree oven for 45 minutes.  No garlic on the potatoes because it would burn before the potatoes would be cooked.  If you want garlic on your potatoes, toss in some split garlic cloves about 15 minutes before the potatoes are done (or, if you want a stronger garlic flavor, dice the garlic fine and sprinkle it over the potatoes 5 minutes prior to their completion).

The steak goes onto the grill about 20 minutes before the potatoes are cooked. Preheat the grill on high.  Once the grill is hot, (in my case, after about 20 minutes), remove the garlic cloves and sprinkle the steak heavily with salt, then grill for about 4 minutes per side.  At the end of the 8 minutes,  throw the steak into the oven right in the middle of the roasting pan with the potatoes and let it roast for about 5 minutes.  Remove the steak from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes at room temperature.  Finish roasting the potatoes, if necessary then serve together.

On the side, I’m serving sauteed spinach (see my prior post “New Year’s Eve Dinner” for the recipe).