Ancho chili rub brings out grilled steak flavor

What's for dinner tonight? Let's sit down to something that is hearty, bursting with flavor, but low in fat. Quick and easy would be nice, too. If you think that description's a tough goal to meet, be of good cheer.

Here's an answer: a recipe for grilled beef tenderloin steaks with a chili boost, from the May issue of Cooking Light magazine. It's part of a feature suggesting several ways of using easy spice rubs to punch up flavor on the grill.

In this case, it's done with ancho chili. Ancho chili powder is made from ground, smoked, dried poblano peppers, and it gives the rub a subtle, smoky heat. For a milder flavor, cut back on the ground black pepper or ancho chili powder, and omit the ground red pepper.

Serving suggestion: Mashed potatoes, and a salad of iceberg lettuce wedges with creamy blue cheese dressing.

Roadhouse Steaks with Ancho Chili Rub

(Start to finish 32 minutes)

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons ancho chili powder

4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

Four 4-ounce beef tenderloin steaks, trimmed

Cooking spray

Prepare grill.

Combine first 8 ingredients (black pepper through garlic) in a small bowl. Rub this spice mixture evenly over steaks; let stand 10 minutes.

Place steaks on a grill rack coated with cooking spray. Grill 5 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness.

Makes 4 servings (serving size: 1 steak)

Nutrition information per serving: 177 cal., 7.1 g total fat(2.4 g saturated), 22.3 g pro., 59 mg chol., 441 mg sodium, 1 g fiber, 3.9 g carbo.

Iceberg Wedges with Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing

Small head iceberg lettuce, rinsed, drained, cut into 8 wedges

24 cherry tomatoes

1/3 cup low-fat buttermilk

3 tablespoons reduced-fat mayonnaise

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese

Arrange 2 lettuce wedges on each of 4 plates; top each with 6 quartered tomatoes.

Combine buttermilk, mayonnaise, vinegar and salt, stirring well with a whisk. Stir in blue cheese; drizzle dressing evenly over each salad.

Makes 4 servings.