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savory main dishes
In this chapter, I show you a new way to serve coffee at lunch and dinner: as an ingredient in the main course! When added to fruit sauces like blueberry, blackberry, or passion fruit, coffee creates beautiful hues and new tastes in savory dishes. And the combination of fruit, nuts, and coffee with poultry, grouper, or tuna is extraordinary. Serve the cornish game hens with blackberry-coffee sauce coupled with couscous or wild rice, and it will make a memorable meal.
 
Rib Eyes with Blackberry BBQ Sauce
4 servings; hefty 3/4 cup sauce
 

This sauce is a wonderful change from traditional BBQ sauce. When I tested it, it spread like chocolate sauce on ice cream, but all of it was eaten without guilt. The fruit base makes it easy to take full pleasure in the lightly sweet yet savory taste and allows the unconscious to eat freely and enjoy. Along with this delicious sauce, this easy-to-cook cut of beef will bring out the ambience, flowers, and color of an outdoors lunch or evening dinner.
  • Grill (optional)
  • 4 boneless ribeye steaks, each 1 inch thick (about 3 pounds)
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup blackberries
  • 1/2 cup beef stock or broth
  • 1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon raspberry or red wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons freeze-dried or granulated instant coffee
  • 1 tablespoon demiglace, optional
  • 1 tablespoon minced cilantro
  1. Sprinkle the steaks with 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper and rub with the olive oil.
  2. Heat a grill to medium high, or place a skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the steaks with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and cook for 5 to 6 minutes on each side for medium rare.
  3. Remove the steaks from the grill or pan and set aside covered for 5 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, place the berries, stock, brown sugar, vinegar, oyster sauce, coffee, and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper in a blender and puree until smooth. Pass through a sieve into a saucepan and cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until thickened.
  5. If using a grill, add the demiglace (if available) and cilantro to the sauce and serve warm with the steaks. If using a skillet, add the sauce to the pan and cook with the pan juices for 1 to 2 minutes; stir in the cilantro. Serve with the steaks.