Tri Tip and Left Over Wine

Good sale on tri-tip beef this weekend so it went on the grill it last night. In the morning we made a dry rub with salt, white pepper, black pepper, ancho chili powder, chipotle powder, bay leaf, paprika, ground cumin and a few Chinese pepper corns. The entire mixture was buzzed in the spice grinder and rubbed thoroughly into both sides of the meat. Just before grilling a little more was rubbed into the meat. Obviously it was cooked rare to medium rare and sliced thinly across the grain. The crust (bark) was quite spicy but certainty not overdone. The meat was juicy and tender and picked up the flavors in the rub as well.

There was a couscous dish to accompany the meat. The couscous was cooked in chicken stock with paprika, powdered ginger and ground cumin. At the last minute some chopped cilantro and parsley were stirred in along with some lemon zest, a fineley diced Cippolini onion and a grated carrot. It was dressed with a little lemon juice and olive oil. There was also an ear of Sunday picked corn on the cob which was the first of the year from a local farm.

There were two left over red wines available so rather than open a third bottle we finished off a 2006 Kinkead Ridge Revelation and the 2006 Cecchi Chianti Classico from Saturday night. The Chianti really didn't match with the flavors on the crust of the meat, but the Revelation was almost flawless with it. The wine had been open for four days, sealed under vacuum but was still fresh and balanced.

Scott got a few pieces of the meat mixed in with his dog food so all of us were happy with the evening.