This is all about a sauce (and steak, too, of course). The point is that a good sauce can transform and elevate a simple dish. Sauces complement proteins, elevate vegetables and season grains. They celebrate the very item they accompany while delivering pops of flavor — all without stealing the show.
Mind you, this is not about a fancy, labor-intensive, method-forward sauce. It’s about a good shake of kitchen spices and a pantry item or two (that you likely already have), along with fistfuls of fresh, leafy garden and supermarket herbs. The whole lot gets a good blitz in a food processor, and — voila — you have a sauce.
This red pepper chermoula sauce is fresh, smoky and piquant. It graciously allows the steak to shine in its purest form: simply seasoned with salt and black pepper and kissed with char from the grill. Once plated, the steak remains at center stage, adorned with a drizzle of the bright, herbaceous chermoula, which enhances the meat without overpowering its rich flavor.
In the simplest of iterations, all the sauce ingredients can be combined in a food processor and blitzed until smooth. In this recipe, a quick step to bloom the dried spices in a skillet with a little olive oil amplifies their flavor and aroma. While you can certainly roast and peel your own red peppers, jarred red peppers are ideal in this sauce. Not only are they a convenient shortcut, but they also contribute juicy sweetness and notes of briny acidity to the sauce.
Rib-eye Steaks With Roasted Red Pepper Chermoula Sauce
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients
Sauce:
Olive oil
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3 jarred roasted whole red bell peppers, drained, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves
2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste
1/2 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems
1/2 cup packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
4 boneless ribeye steaks, about 1 inch thick
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a small skillet or saucepan over medium heat. Add the paprika, cumin, coriander and red pepper flakes and stir until fragrant, 10 to 15 seconds. Transfer to a food processor.
Add the peppers, garlic, vinegar, honey, salt, cilantro, parsley and 2 tablespoons more of olive oil to the food processor. Process to achieve a loose salsa consistency. If too chunky, add additional olive oil, 1 tablespoon at a time, to achieve the desired consistency. Transfer to a bowl and set aside until serving (or refrigerate if preparing in advance).
Remove the steaks from the refrigerator 30 minutes before grilling. Lightly coat the steaks on both sides with oil and season evenly with salt and black pepper.
Prepare the grill for direct cooking over high heat. If using a griddle, preheat the griddle for at least 10 minutes.
Grill the steaks over direct heat, with the lid closed, until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center registers 125 degrees for medium-rare, 6 to 8 minutes (or to your desired doneness), turning once.
Remove from the grill and let rest for 3 to 5 minutes. Serve with the chermoula sauce.
Lynda Balslev is an award-winning writer, cookbook author and recipe developer, and authors the blog TasteFood.