4th of July BBQ on a cast iron pan in a 750 sq feet apartment

Lee and I enjoy watching Bobby Flays' "Boy Meets Grill" & I had printed a recipe called "Coffee Rubbed Rib-Eye" from one of his episodes back in November. Usually, I flip right over his recipes because they call for ingredients that are not always easy to find. As my mother would say, his recipes are a bit of a "patchke", which is yiddish for "a pain in the ass"! After a full day of doing nothing on 4th of July, I was feeling ambitious (and hungry!) and called Whole Foods Union Square to find out if 1) they were open and 2) they had the rare spices I was looking for....Off to a good start.

Coffee Rubbed Rib-eyes call for ancho chile powder (a staple in Flay's recipes), ground espresso, chili de arbol powder and spanish paprika....they were all at Whole Foods ! The rest of the spices were the common ones: ginger, oregano, coriander, salt, pepper...

Here is the link for the recipe on Food TV: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_32295,00.html
It takes a commitment to find the ingredients (or just Whole Foods on a lucky day).

We only got 1 inch thick ribeyes, the recipe calls for 2 inches, but what are we monsters?
We have physiques to maintain!

We smoked up the 700 sq ft apartment we call home real nice! I don't notice it anymore cause it's the "Beni Hana" effect...you go there, it's amazing and you realize it smells...the longer you stay, you don't notice the smell, then you go meet people who were not at dinner with you and they are like "UCH, you smell like a hibachi grill!".

With the coffee rubbed rib-eyes, I made roasted sweet potatoes with cumin and cilantro.
They were super easy & called for staple ingredients ! YUM....another hit from Williams-Sonoma's "Essentials of Healthful Cooking".

Roasted Sweet Potato Fries with Cumin and Cilantro

2 yams
2 Tbsp fresh minced cilantro
1 tsp cumin
olive oil
s & p

Preheat the oven to 400. Peel and wash the yams. Cut into strips and mix with cumin, olive oil, kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Place potatoes on baking sheet and bake for about 35-40 minutes, flipping them every 10 minutes.

Roasted Asparagus
We also roasted asparagus for 20 minutes at 425 with kosher salt, freshly ground pepper and a minced garlic clove.

You can make all 3 dishes together and keep the oven temperature consistent!

We had our first dinner of the season on the balcony. After dinner, I watched the Macy's fireworks. Lee doesn't do fireworks, he thinks they are just lights, "you see one, you see them all". Leave it to me, the lone Canadian, to watch the fireworks and show patriotism for my American husband! He did wave affectionately through the window from the couch!

Happy 4th! See pics on my next entry!