Grilled Mini Roast Beef and Mushrooms

Roast beef has always been my favorite and grilling the roast beef makes it even better. However, outside of special holidays where a large cut of rib eye will feed a family, what do you do when you want to serve a small number of people (like one!). Well here’s method to make roast beef on your grill using a thick rib eye steak. The preparation and even making the pan gravy is the same as when using a larger cut of meat.

The trick is to quickly roast the beef using indirect heat in your grill in a rack over a pan. What matters to the cooking time is the thickness of the beef and not the weight. You want a cut of beef at least 1-inch thick, and a 2-inch thick cut of beef doesn’t take much longer to cook medium-rare. If I were smart, I would use a meat thermometer to always produce medium-rare roasts, but I found that for a 1-inch roast, 12-15 minutes, and for a 2-inch roast, 17-20 minutes of indirect heat in my grill produces the desired results.

Enjoy!

Roast Ingredients

1- to 2-inch thick bone-in Rib Eye Steak (1½ - 3 lb.; thickness is more important than weight)

1-2 cloves Garlic, crushed and rubbed onto the steak

Lawry’s Seasoned Salt

Ground Pepper

10-12 Button Mushrooms (or other vegetables)

Pan Gravy Ingredients

3-4 cups boiling Water

3-4 Tbs. Corn Starch

1 Tbs. Kitchen Bouquet

2 Tbs. Soy Sauce

2 Tbs. Port or Red Wine (optional)

Preparation Instructions

1. Prepare the charcoal or gas grill for indirect cooking following the manufacturer’s instructions. Light the charcoal or preheat the gas grill accordingly. Soak the wood for smoking (mesquite, hickory, oak, or any other wood can be used) for one hour if desired. I do not soak my wood in water and add dry wood to my grill.
2. Remove the beef from the refrigerator at least one hour before grilling. Coat the steak with oil and then rub the crushed garlic into the oil-coated steak. Add Lawry’s Seasoned Salt and ground pepper to the steak.
3. Put the beef steak into a rack and place the rack into a small foil covered pan (thick heavy duty foil protects the pan and makes cleaning easier). Place the mushrooms (and other vegetables if desired) into the bottom of the pan.

Cooking Instructions

1. If using a charcoal grill, split the lighted coals in half and place the coals on opposite sides of the grill, leaving the middle of the grill without any coals. For a gas grill, follow the manufacturer’s instructions as to which burners to leave on for indirect cooking. Put the smoking wood onto the coals or as per the instructions for the gas grill.
2. Place the pan with the beef and vegetables into the middle of the grill so that the each side of the beef steak faces the sides of the grill with the hot coals (or gas burners for a gas grill).
3. Cover the grill and cook for 12-15 minutes for a medium-rare 1-inch thick steak (17-20 minutes for 2-inch thick steak).
4. Remove the pan from the grill. Take the beef and vegetables from the pan and allow them to rest for at least 10 minutes.

Pan Gravy Instructions

1. Add boiling water to the pan, scraping any browned bits from the bottom, and then pour the water into a pot. Repeat this process until all the browned bits are removed from the bottom of the pan.
2. In a small bowl, add the corn starch, Kitchen Bouquet, soy sauce, and port or red wine. Mix the ingredients together in the bowl before adding them to the pot. Mix the contents of the pot thoroughly.
3. While stirring the contents of the pot constantly, bring the contents of the pot to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low to simmer the contents for another 10 minutes or more.

Serving Instructions

1. Even though the roast beef is relatively thin, a 1-inch roast can be carved into two steaks given a sharp knife and artful use of tongs to hold the roast while carving (unless you’re really hungry and can eat the whole roast!). More portions can be cut for a 2-inch roast. Serve the grilled roast beef, the vegetables, and pan gravy together with your choice of rice or potatoes.