I realize that I haven’t written in a while. I apologize. Lots going on. To make up for my absence, I present this:

Okay, now that you’ve completely forgotten about my neglect of this blog and are thinking only of perfectly marbled steaks, let’s get cracking. There is nothing like a perfectly cooked steak, and it’s much easier than fancy steakhouses would have you believe. In fact, the key to the perfect steak is simplicity.

As if I wasn’t excited enough to be cooking these beautiful steaks, one of the those filets was my little guy’s very first steak, which is a monumental occasion, if I do say so myself.

I will again stray from the typical Ingredients/Procedure format as the ingredients here are nothing more than steak, salt and pepper. I did throw some asparagus on the grill as well, again just olive oil, salt and pepper.

First off, you have to pick your steak. For me, this is a rather easy choice…

The holy grail of steaks is none other than the bone-in ribeye. No steak has a better balance of flavor, tenderness and marbling. Mrs. Eats For All Ages prefers a nice filet, which is also an excellent choice, but just doesn’t have the allure of the ribeye for me. The little guy got a filet, but also had a few bites of ribeye, and I like to think his smile was a little bigger with the ribeye…

Once you have your steaks, it’s time to get the grill fired up. If you’re using gas, preheat the grill to either high or medium high, depending on how hot your particular grill gets. If you’re using charcoal, light a full chimney and spread the coals evenly on one side of the grill once they’re lit and ready. I threw a chunk or two of pecan under the coals, as well, for a little smokey flavor.

While the grill is heating up, let the steaks sit out to come up to room temperature, at least 15 minutes. Season liberally with fresh cracked black pepper and kosher salt on both sides.

I also washed and trimmed my asparagus so that it would be ready to go on the grill as soon as the steaks finished up. I kept the seasoning simple with just a little olive oil, salt and pepper on the asparagus as well.

Once the grill is hot and the steaks are seasoned, it’s time to cook. No matter how you like your steaks done, the key to a tender, juicy piece of meat is not to keep it over high heat for too long. I like my steaks medium rare, but if I need to take a steak up to medium or even medium well, I still sear them to a perfect medium rare over a high flame and then move them to the the indirect side of the grill to continue cooking.

For a 1 1/2″ thick ribeye, I use a 2-2-2-2 method. Sear for two minutes over high heat, then rotate the steak 45 degrees and cook two more minutes. Then flip, and do the same thing on the other side.

The rotation is not absolutely necessary, but it gives your steak some pretty impressive criss-cross grill marks.

Once the steaks are done to your liking, let them rest at least five minutes before cutting into them. This lets the juices redistribute into the meat, keeping the steaks juicy and tender.

While the steaks are resting, toss the asparagus onto the grill.

Asparagus cooks very quickly, so just set them over the hot coals, and turn them a few times until they’re lightly charred on all sides.

Serve the asparagus immediately as it cools pretty quickly.

Oh, right. I also had some potatoes with this meal. Well, since I didn’t take any photos of the prep or the cooking of the potatoes, I’ll summarize here. Boil the potatoes until they’re just barely fork tender in some well-salted water. Then toss them onto the indirect side of the grill for about 10 minutes to finish cooking and pick up the grill flavor to complement the steaks and grilled veggies.