14 posts tagged “flank steak”
It's actually pretty rare for my grocery store to have tomatillos, which is why I appreciate the canned version I have been able to find at Whole Foods. Last time I went to WF, even they didn't have fresh tomatillos. I don't get it.
Last week, I was grocery shopping when I not only saw tomatillos, but saw them on sale. Now, I am a bit of a planner. I plan our meals out for the week--maybe not by the day, but I make a list of meals and ingredients and shop from that. I *try* not to stray from the list because I want to save money and not waste food. Clearly, though, these sale priced tomatillos were a sign from the food gods--who, incidentally, have NOT been giving me any clear signs as to how to use this southwestern pasta blend that has been sitting in my cupboard forever. So, I threw them in my cart, had Tom grab a poblano pepper for...something, and thought about what to do with them later.
Which, as you have probably guessed, is where the southwestern pasta came in. I never knew how to use this pasta because I was always afraid the sauce would overpower the noodles. I decided to make a relatively mild sauce that is similar to a salsa verde to complement the flavors in the pasta. I threw in some tequila-lime flank steak for protein and there you have it. This was pretty damn delicious and of course it would be great on regular ol' pasta. I am going to submit this over to the lovely Ruth who runs Presto Pasta Night.
On a semi-related note, what do you, dear reader, consider "light?" You see, I tag healthy things in this blog as "light" but I have a really hard time making a judgment call on some things. Like this dish for example. To me, it's pretty low cal for a meal that just needs a salad as a complement. But do you think 14g of fat is too much? Does the carb-o-rificness of this dish negate its healthfulness? I am torn. Please weigh in (no pun intended). But not just on this dish, in general. For now, I am leaving the light tag off this one.
Southwestern Pasta with Flank Steak and Tomatillo-Poblano Sauce
Serves 4
1 poblano pepper
1 Tbsp. canola oil
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. tomatillos, cored and quartered
1/4 cup chicken broth
3/4 tsp. cumin
juice of 1/2 a lime
1/3 cup light sour cream
1/2 cup black beans
4 cups cooked southwestern blend or other pasta
Tequila-lime flank steak (recipe follows)
Cilantro (optional)
Shredded cheese (optional)
Directly over a gas burner or in the broiler, char the poblano on all sides until it blisters. Put it in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap until it is cool enough to handle. Peel it and dice it.
In a large sauce pan, heat the oil. Add the onions and cook until translucent, then add the garlic, poblano, tomatillos, cumin, salt and pepper. Saute for a minute and then stir in the chicken broth. Cover, turn the heat to low or medium-low and let simmer while your steak marinates (about 20 minutes). Take the pan off the heat and add the lime juice. Season to taste if necessary. Then, put the mixture into a food processor, along with the sour cream and pulse process until well combined. Put the sauce back in the pan and add the black beans, stirring to warm them through.
Toss the sauce with the pasta and the flank steak. And that evil cilantro, if you want ;)
Tequila-Lime Flank Steak
1/2 flank steak (about 10 oz.)
2 Tbsp. tequila
1/2 Tbsp. canola oil
juice of 1/2 a lime
cumin, oregano, salt and pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients and let marinate at room temperature for 20 minutes. Grill or broil the steak to your desired doneness. Let rest under a foil tent for a few minutes before slicing.
Nutritional Information Per Serving: Calories: 453 / Fat: 14g / Saturated Fat: 4g / Carbs: 51g / Fiber: 5.6 / Protein: 24.5g
If you use whole wheat pasta (always encouraged!) you will up your fiber and protein.
When it comes to delicious and easy to make condiments, chimichurri is right up there with another favorite of mine--pesto. I guess I have a thing for garlicky, oily sauces with fresh herbs. Makes sense, right? How can you not?
A couple weeks ago we went out to eat at an Argentinian steakhouse that serves many of its dishes with chimichurri and I was reminded how much I love it. So, I set out to make some last week to accompany our flank steak. The jury's out on what authentic chimichurri is, but from my understanding (and as confirmed by the all-knowing Wikipedia), it's fresh parsley, dried oregano, olive oil, and garlic. Paprika can be added (but I opted for chili powder) and so can lemon juice & vinegar (I opted for both). I do know a lot of places put cilantro in their chimichurri, but not me. Cilantro is offensive to my tastebuds, after all. But if you are one of those people who doesn't think cilantro tastes like aluminum foil, you could definitely substitute some of the parsley in my recipe for cilantro.
One bite of his steak and Tom said, "Well, you nailed the chimichanga sauce!" He was right. Okay, maybe not about the name of the sauce, but about the flavor. This was some delicious stuff. We like garlic, so I made this quite garlicky (4 fat cloves), but of course reduce the amount if you don't like too much raw garlic.
I seasoned the flank steak very simply with salt, pepper & a little oregano. I used aleppo chili powder in this recipe because I recently picked some up at the Spice House and wanted to use it, but any chili powder will do. We had this with a salad and some red quinoa.
Chimichurri
Serves 4
1/2 cup parsley leaves
3-4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup cup red onion
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. aleppo (or any other) chili powder
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
Break up the garlic in a food processor first, and then add the parsley, onion, oregano, chili powder, vinegar & lemon juice to the food processor. Put the mixture into a bowl.
Stir the olive oil into the bowl (more or less, to the consistency you desire) and adjust seasonings to taste.
As I was sticking this into the oven, I decided this would be something Giada would make. Doesn't she put sundried tomatoes and basil in pretty much anything? Of course, she would probably use mascarpone instead of the goat cheese. Not that I am knocking her, at all, because these are some fantastic ingredients and usually make things taste pretty darn good. Where Giada stocks her mascarpone, I stock my goat cheese. It's one of my favorite kinds of cheese and I think it goes well with pretty much anything. In fact, just today I had some on a salad for lunch, and then stuffed into a flank steak for dinner. Mmm, tangy, creamy goodness.
I have said it before and I will say it again: stuffed meats = delicious. Even when you are low on groceries you can inevitably find something to stuff into a chicken breast, pork tenderloin, flank steak, etc. that will give it a little extra oomph and some more elegance (although if you are trying to make it look elegant, I suggest slicing it a little prettier than I did today :)
To make sure we don't overeat, I usually package and freeze our meats into 2-person portions (or sometimes 4, making enough for lunch leftovers). I mention this because the piece of steak I used for this was roughly 8-10 oz big so if you are planning on using an entire flank steak, you will have to double or triple the amount of stuffing, as flanks tend to be around 1.5 lbs. each. We both LOVE this. It's one of our favorite stuffings for flank.
Here's a tip: it turns out that, even though the pan is sitting on the stovetop when you make the pan sauce, it's still hot as hell from being in a 400 degree oven. So, try not to grip the handle at this time. Not that I have any experience with that or anything...
My pictures didn't turn out too great, due in part to the not-so-pretty slices of flank steak pinwheels and also because I couldn't keep a steady hand tonight for some reason (I'd imagine it could have something to do with the 2nd degree burn to the left palm, if I were admitting I did in fact have a burned palm).
Flank Steak Stuffed with Sundried Tomatoes, Goat Cheese and Basil
Serves 2
10 oz. (ish) flank steak
2 oz. goat cheese, brought to room temperature to soften
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes, drained and chopped
3 Tbsp. fresh basil, chopped
salt and pepper
1 Tbsp. olive oil
Optional pan sauce:
1 clove garlic, minced
3 Tbsp. white wine
Preheat the oven to 400.
Butterfly the flank steak, and then pound is to flatten it slightly. Sprinkle both sides of the steak with salt and pepper.
In a bowl, combine the softened goat cheese, sundried tomatoes, basil, a few grinds of pepper. Spread the mixture on top of the flank steak, and then roll it up to form a log. Secure the steak with kitchen twine or toothpicks.
Heat a large, ovenproof skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the flank steak and brown it on all sides. Place the flank steak in the oven to finish cooking to your desired level of doneness (about 12 minutes for me). Place the steak under a foil tent to rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing.
If you want to make a pan sauce, put the same pan you cooked the steak in over medium heat on your stovetop. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant. Add the wine and deglaze the pan, scraping up all the browned bits (and, whatever you do, don't touch the handle without an oven mitt). Reduce the sauce slightly and then season to taste with salt and pepper if necessary. Strain and serve over the flank steak.
Nutritional Information Per Serving: Calories: 340 / Fat: 21g / Carbs: 4.2g / Protein: 29.3
Tom and I love flank steak but it's been ages since we've had it. What used to be a very inexpensive (but still tasty) red meat has shot up in price lately, I guess due to its popularity. But, I found flank steak quite cheaply last week, so I decided to buy a few pounds.
Last night, I made a really simple (but really good) rub for the flank steak and broiled it. This keeps the calories really low (no oil for pan frying or marinating) without sacrificing taste.
Since I used some Mexican flavors in the steak, I wanted to complement it with some Tex-Mex-y sides. I decided to make some corn cakes, layer those with a black bean saute (probably my favorite way to make black beans), the flank steak and finally some salsa.
This doesn't LOOK all that appetizing, but I promise you it's good stuff.
Sugar and Spice Rubbed Flank Steak
1 (1.5 lb.) flank steak
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground pepper
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
Preheat your broiler and spray the broiler pan lightly with cooking spray.
Combine the brown sugar, chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper and cayenne. Rub the mixture onto the flank steak, coating it completely and pressing firmly to make sure it adheres. Let the meat rest with the spices (at room temperature) for about 15-20 minutes. Broil for about 4-5 minutes per side, for medium rare. Allow to rest under an aluminum foil tent for 5 minutes or so before slicing against the grain.
Nutritional Information for just the flank steak (per 4 oz. serving): Calories: 206 / Fat: 9.2 / Carbs: 6.7g / Fiber: 1.2g / Protein: 23.6g
I had some peppers leftover from last night's hash, so I decided to make a pepper steak.
Here's the thing: I have never had pepper steak. We don't go out to eat often, which means we eat Chinese food out even less often. So, when we do, I eat one of my 2 or 3 "go to" dishes...none of which are pepper steak.
But there is a first time for everything right? This is pretty similar to my beef stir fry recipe and I thought it turned out pretty well!
Pepper Steak
Serves 2
1/2 lb. flank steak, cut into strips against the grain
2 Tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce, divided
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/3 cup beef broth
1 Tbsp canola or vegetable oil
1/2 onion, sliced
1/2 red pepper, sliced
1/2 green pepper, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes, or to taste
salt and pepper
In a bowl, marinate the flank steak strips in 1 Tbsp soy sauce and some ground pepper as you prep the veggies, rice, etc.
Make the sauce: In a small bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in the remaining 1 Tbsp. soy sauce. Add the beef broth and some salt and pepper to taste.
Over moderate heat, cook the onion in a little oil until tender.
Increase heat and add remaining oil. Add the beef and red pepper flakes. Cook beef in hot oil until no longer pink. Add pepper slices and garlic to pan and stir fry for 1-2 minutes or until peppers are crisp-tender.
Stir in sauce and cook until thickened. Season to taste if necessary.
Serve over rice.
Since I only cook for two 99% of the time, one of the ways I try to save money...or, at least, not waste money, is to make different meals with the same ingredients. So, if I buy a container of sour cream for enchiladas I will probably plan to make stroganoff the same week. This week I bought cabbage, ginger, and some other vegetables, so I planned to make a couple meals utilizing these ingredients to be sure we didn't waste them. And, since I opened a package of wonton wrappers earlier this week, you can be sure those will make a reappearance here soon :)
Tonight, we had an Asian-themed dinner. We had brown rice, steak that was marinated in Soy Vay (my favorite) teriyaki and grilled...nothing terribly new or exciting there. What I did make that has not yet entered the blog is a quick Asian veggie stir fry.
1 tsp. canola oil (or spray oil)
1/3 cup onions, sliced
1/2 cup mushrooms (shiitake makes the most sense but I didn't have those :), sliced
1/3 cup carrots, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp. fresh ginger, minced
1/2 cup peapods
1/3 cup bean sprouts
1 cup napa cabbage, shredded
1 Tbsp soy sauce
splash of rice or white wine vinegar
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 tsp sesames
Heat a skillet over moderate heat and add oil.
Cook onions, mushrooms and carrots until tender.
Add garlic and ginger and saute until fragrant, about 30 or 40 seconds.
Add peapods, bean sprouts, cabbage, soy sauce and vinegar and saute about a minute or two until vegetables are tender-crisp. Season to taste.
Drizzle with toasted sesame oil, sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.
This pizza was inspired by many things, including the following:
1. Julie's individual goat cheese pizzas
2. My love for goat cheese
3. A balsamic steak and caramalized onion pizza Tiffany made a week or two ago
4. My favorite salad which is baby spinach, steak, roasted red peppers, goat cheese and balsamic vinaigrette
5. My love for goat cheese
There are people in this world who do not like pizza, and I just cannot understand this. There are 1809430 ways to make a pizza and, really, pizza is just amazing. I have come to the conclusion that maybe these people have only eaten pizza at Domino's or their school cafeteria. This is the only reasoning I have. They have not made their *perfect* pizza.
This pizza started out with half a package of Trader Joe's refrigerated whole wheat pizza dough. I made two flatbread-esque individual pieces from that. I prebaked the dough for about 5 minutes this time because the last couple times I have used this dough it has taken longer to crisp up than I had hoped/wanted. This worked out well.
Each pizza was topped with the following:
- 1 oz of goat cheese
- 2 Tbsp mozzarella
- some fresh herbs and ground pepper
- about half of a roasted red pepper
- 1/4 cup sliced mushrooms
- a handful of baby spinach
- 3 oz. of cooked flank steak, marinated in balsamic vinegar, a splash of soy sauce, a little olive oil, a sprig of rosemary and a couple smashed garlic cloves
We just ate this with some grape tomatoes and fresh basil drizzled with balsamic vinegar (hey, I had to get those antioxidants somewhere, since this pizza remained sauceless :)
Apparently the lighting in my kitchen has somehow gotten worse so I apologize for the dark pics as of late.
Per serving (the ingredients above plus 2 servings of the TJ's dough): Calories: 500 Fat: 19g / Carbs: 35g / Dietary Fiber: 9g / Protein: 34g
Surprisingly, I have never made a beef stir fry. I have made chicken stir fry and I have made flank steak teriyaki, but never a beef stir fry. I had the fixins for a stir fry so I decided to make one. I must say, it was SO delicious.
Unfortunately I didn't realize until about 4pm that I didn't have any fresh ginger, and I really didn't feel like picking up any after work. To sort of compensate, I used a little five spice powder. If you have fresh ginger, you should add it the same time you add the vegetables and garlic to the wok.
Serves 2
1/2 lb. flank steak, cut into strips against the grain
2 Tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce, divided
1.25 tsp. sugar, divided
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. sherry
1/2 tsp. Chinese 5-spice powder
1/3 cup beef broth
1/2 Tbsp. oyster sauce
1 Tbsp canola or vegetable oil
2 cups fresh veggies you prefer (I used red and green bell pepper, snow peas, mushrooms, carrots, baby corn, bean sprouts, broccoli)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes, or to taste
salt and pepper
In a bowl, marinate the flank steak strips in 1 Tbsp soy sauce, 1/4 tsp. sugar and some freshly ground pepper. Let sit for 20-30 minutes.
In the meantime, make the sauce. In a small bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in the remaining 1 Tbsp. soy sauce. Stir in the five spice powder, beef broth, remaining 1 tsp. sugar, sherry, and oyster sauce.
Heat wok or skillet over high heat. Add oil and heat until it begins to smoke.
Cook beef in hot oil until no longer pink, just a minute or two. Add vegetables, garlic and red pepper flakes (and more oil, if necessary) to wok and stir fry for 1-2 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender.
Stir in sauce cook an additional 1-2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve over rice.
I haven't quite figured out where the best place to take a picture is yet in our new place. Of course natural light is the best but I rarely have that come dinnertime...let alone on a gloomy day like today. So, this is a little dark, but I tried to compensate by sticking it on top of a hot pink dishtowel. LOL
Well, we are almost settled into our new place but we still have plenty of unpacked boxes and my computer is currently sitting on 2 of them since we haven't bought a desk yet :)
Unfortunately, the kitchen is not nearly as nice as the one in our old place. (Well, in general it is a slightly smaller/older apartment but hopefully one that will let us buy a house sooner since it's much cheaper than our old place). The worst part is the oven/stove. It is really old and practically impossible to cook anything over a low flame without the flame going out completely. I cannot tell you how many times (already) I have left something simmering and come back a few minutes later to find it...well, definitely not simmering. Oh and it sits crooked, which we need to fix before I start having food that is half raw and half overcooked!
I'm still working on making my kitchen functional. I can't seem to find the right place for the trash can, or the garlic, or the prep site. It is definitely going to take some getting used to.
I just went on a wild goose chase so I could find my USB plug in thingamajig to my camera, so I could update the blog. Not a particularly exciting update, but an update nonetheless.
With the weather finally getting nicer, I have been craving salads. So tonight I decided to make a salad topped with sliced flank steak. Not exactly a recipe, but I marinated the steak in an olive oil/balsamic/garlic/Italian seasoning/s&p mixture and ended up broiling it (about 4-5 minutes per side for medium rare).
The salad had baby spinach, toasted pine nuts (which I almost burned, thank you crappy stovetop!), asparagus (cut it into 2" pieces and blanched, boiling for about 2 minutes before putting into an ice water bath), herbed goat cheese, grape tomatoes and roasted red peppers.
I had a little Italian focaccia with it...not homemade. The breadmaker is in one of the aforementioned unpacked boxes :)
I actually went by a recipe (err, as closely as I "go by" recipes) two days in a row. Whoa!
This started out as a Cooking Light recipe but I think it's probably better my way. Heh. Personally, I think CL should just hire me to create/test recipes. What do you think? :)
I made this wish mashed potatoes. I was supposed to roast asparagus, too, but I totally forgot until I was whipping the potatoes. Oops. OK maybe I should not be hired, afterall.
Steak:
teaspoon salt
teaspoon black pepper
(1-pound) flank steak, trimmed
Olive oil
Sauce:
1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
garlic cloves, minced
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
sprig of fresh thyme, or pinch of dry
cup beef broth
cup sherry
tablespoon balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
(original recipe calls for green onions to be added in at the last minute but I don't like green onions)
Preheat broiler.
To prepare steak, rub with olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper evenly over both sides of steak. Place steak on a broiler pan; broil 5 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Remove the steak from oven; loosely cover with foil.
To prepare sauce, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Melt butter in skillet. Add onion and a little salt; sauté 2 minutes.
Add mushrooms, garlic and thyme; sauté for 4 minutes. Add a little more salt to draw out juices.
Add broth, sherry, and vinegar. Bring to a boil and cook until reduced to 3/4 cup (about 8 minutes). Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Slice steak diagonally across the grain into 1/4-inch slices. Serve steak with mushroom sauce.
Yield: 4 servings
