Grilled Ribeye with Blue Cheese Butter

Grilled ribeye. Blue cheese butter. Cabernet Sauvignon. The trifecta of summer grilling. The holy trinity. It's that extraordinary moment in eating when one plus one plus one equals ten.

Blue cheese contains mold. Specifically, the mold Pennicillium. Blue cheese tastes quite sharp and salty. Blue cheese also contains bacteria. Specifically, the bacterium Brevibacterium linens. That bacteria is what gives blue cheese it's distinct smell. Brevibacterium linens also gets credit for foot odor and other human body odors. But, oh, what it does to a grilled steak and a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon.

Grilled steak and Cabernet Sauvignon have aways been a match made in heaven. But the addition of Blue Cheese Butter makes the meal a true gift from the gods. I make my blue cheese butter with two of Costco's very best ingredients: Kirkland Creamy Blue Cheese and Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter. The former is made with sea salt and aged for 90 days while the latter is made from the milk of grass-fed cows on the Emerald Isle. This recipe will yield more butter than you need for the steaks, so keep a loaf of artisan bread within easy reach.


Ingredients
1, 8-ounce stick of Kerrygold butter, softened
1/2 cup crumbled Kirkland Blue Cheese
4 teaspoons freshly chopped thyme
Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper
4 ribeye steaks (1-1/2 inches thick)


Directions

1. Prepare a grill for direct cooking over high heat.
2. Combine butter, cheese, thyme and salt and pepper to taste. Cover bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Season steaks generously with salt and pepper. Grill for 4 minutes per side (for medium rare over lump hardwood charcoal). Remove steak from grill, add a pad of blue cheese butter to each steak,  tent with foil and let steaks rest for 5 minutes. Then serve.

Wine pairing: Cabernet Sauvignon. A Far Niente if you are really lucky.