Greek Bay Leaf Dry Rub
Ingredients
2 bay leaves, ground
2 tablespoons fennel seed, ground
1 tablespoon dried oregano, ground
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder, or 1 fresh clove microplaned
1 teaspoon onion powder, or 1 fresh tablespoon grated
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, ground
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
olive oil – for rubbing the meat
To shatter the myth that you can’t eat bay leaves and to convince you that you should.
Directions
Combine all the ingredients except the olive oil.
Rub down a hunk of steak (or other red meat) with olive oil.
Coat with dry rub and rub it in. Cover or wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
Cook it up.
Additional Notes
One of my biggest discoveries over the past year has been ground bay leaves. For the longest time I’d heard that you couldn’t eat them because they were poisonous or some bunk. Truth is you don’t eat them because they’re tough. But if you grind them into a powder, what they become is intensely delicious in a way unlike anything else you’ve ever known. Actually, ground bay is often one of the reasons why great Greek food is great. Here’s a dry rub I normally put on steak. You’ll have to grind the bay leaf yourself, so you might as well grind everything else yourself too for maximum flavour. A mortar and pestle works great and a hand-held coffee grinder is fast and efficient.
