Flank Steak Recipe – Marinated, Grilled and DELICIOUS

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Flank steaks on the grill

 

It’s grilling season y’all!…well in the south its almost always grilling season, especially this past winter which was really no winter at all, but I digress.  Yesterday we put the grill to good use by cooking up some flank steak and some squash ( yes, squash again. When I told you yesterday that there was a ton of squash at the farmers market I was not kidding).

The flank steak was marinated for two days in the fridge, which was overkill but we had a huge electrical storm roll through on the original day I was going to cook it.  The extra day didn’t hurt it at all, but I wouldn’t go longer than that.  You don’t want your meat to break down in the marinade before you cook it. Here’s the recipe:
Marinated Flank Steak
1 flank steak
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup canola ( or vegetable) oil
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Score the flank steak on both sides. Put all the other ingredients into a ziplock bag and mix. Put the flank steak into the bag. Seal and refrigerate for  4 to 8  hours.

Remove the flank steak from the fridge and get your grill going. Build the fire to one side of the grill creating a hot zone and a cool zone. Remove the flank steak from the marinade a pat the steak dry. Cook the flank steak on the cool side of the grill for about five miunites on each side. The time depends on how hot your grill is so just watch it so it doesn’t over cook.  This will slowly bring your meat to the desired temperature. I like my flank steak cooked to medium, so when it gets close to medium I move it to the hot side of the grill, directly over the fire an let it brown for just a minute on each side.

here’s a quick snack to make with flank steak

I sliced the flank steak thin,  made a quick guacamole and served it as an open faced little sandwich with some serrano pepper, cilantro, red onion and sour cream.  The flank steak would be great in a lettuce wrap with white rice or as a taco with some slaw….I’m gettin’ hungry again just thinkin’ about it.

When the flank steak was done the fire was still roaring so why let it go to waste.  I took some of the squash from the farmer’s market, sliced it about 1/3 inch thick, drizzled it with olive oil and seasoned it with salt, pepper and fresh thyme.  Over direct heat it only takes a few minutes for it to soften and it was delicious.

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Squashed

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Seared Patty Pan Squash

I love this simple vegetarian dish, I’m using patty pan squash ( I don’t know the specific varieties) that I bought from the farmers market this weekend.  They were so beautiful that I almost couldn’t bring myself to cook them….actually I didn’t cook one of them, it’s just too pretty.  When you make this, cut the squash so that you show off the beautiful flower shape.

Seared Patty Pan Squash Steaks

2 Patty Pan Squash (about 2 1/2 inches in diameter)

1 teaspoon of canola or olive oil ( I used canola oil for it’s mild flavor)

1 Tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Slice the squash into 1/3 inch steaks ( see the picture attached to this note for an example)

Coat the patty pan squash slices in oil and season with thyme, salt and pepper

Let this stand (or sit) at room temperature for about 5 minutes

Heat a frying pan over high heat…let the pan get really hot.  Sear the patty pan squash slice quickly over high heat for about 1-2 minutes per side..until beautifully browned

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“Krab”

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I’m a sucker for “krab”. I love it. I love it in fake krab sushi, in krab salad with cucumber and carrot,spicy  krab dip, as a krab appetizer stuffed into tiny tomatoes, krab and pasta, krab in coleslaw (that’s what’s in the picture over there krab with shredded cabbage, carrot, cucumber, sriracha, mayo, rice wine vinegar and sweetfish roe) ….KRAB I love it. Well, I only love one brand, the one from Sam’s Club. It’s a little dryer with a firm, flaky texture that I prefer to what I find in the regular grocery store. All of the other brands I’ve tried seem very mushy to me.

OK, it is a  processed item, ground up fish meat and such, probably some MSG, and it doesn’t really taste like crab (crab is a miracle from God and can not be duplicated) but it is sweet and fishy and tasty.

That’s it really. I just wanted to tell you that I love Krab.

Thanks for listening

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so wrong, but soooooo right

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Just  a quick post about what I cooked for dinner tonight…pork chops crusted in maple brown sugar flavored Cream of Wheat ( got the idea from Lucky Peach Magazine) and braised string beans, soooooo GOOD!

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Oatmeal cookie dough bites

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Raw cookie dough in nearly irresistible.  Many people (mostly teen aged girls) buy pre-made cookie dough just to eat it raw.  But that’s a bad idea. Salmonella we all know about, but recently the CDC has reported that a pathogen in raw flour may make you sick as well.  So don’t eat raw cookie dough, instead eat this egg-less, flour-less delicious snack.

Oatmeal cookie dough bites

4 ounces of softened fat free cream cheese

2 teaspoons of honey

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 cup quick cooking oats

optional mix ins

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened

2 teaspoons cocoa powder

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1/2 dried cranberries

Mix it all together (the more stuff you add in the more cream cheese you have to add to make the mix mixable) roll into balls about 3/4 of an inch in diameter. Roll in cinnamon sugar, shredded coconut or sweetened cocoa powder. Store in the refrigerator for about a week.

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AIM for Healthy Choices

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I am so honored to have been asked to speak to a group of middle and high school students at the AIM for Healthy Choices Conference this weekend. The conference, presented by the Greater North Atlanta Chapter of Jack and Jill, is an opportunity to mentor young people and in return I hope to gain new enthusiasm for my work.  Below  is the outline I plan to go over during our lunch discussion, some recommendations  and links that I hope they find useful in the coming years.  If you know anyone considering a culinary arts career please feel free to  pass this along.  The list  is not all encompassing, I’m sure there are some things I’ve missed so feel free to mention them in the comments, thanks.

A.I.M.

Luncheon topics

I       Culinary career options

  1. Chef ( restaurant, hotels, markets, catering, pastry, corporate,  chocolatier,  baker, personal, private, craft services)
  2. Food writer/blogger, recipe tester
  3. Restaurant management
  4. Food science
  5. Nutrition and diet
  6. Sales, marketing and PR

II       How to get there

  1. Cook and document your work (Cook often and start a blog with pictures and descriptions of your projects)
  2. Cook for every one you know (church, school, friends, friends parents and family)
  3. Read
    1. BOOKS: Culinary Careers: How to Get Your Dream Job in Food, with Advice from Top Culinary Professionals-Rick Smilow, What Einstein Told His Cook-Robert L Wolke, On Food And Cooking-Harold McGee, Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking – Michael Ruhlman, CookWise: The Hows & Whys of Successful Cooking, The Secrets of Cooking Revealed-Shirley O. Corriher, The Professional Chef-The Culinary Institute of America, Larousse Gastronomique: The World’s Greatest Culinary Encyclopedia, Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work-Aki Kamozawa), H. Alexander Talbot)
    2. Magazines: Food Arts, Cooks Illustrated,
    3. Web sites and blogs: http://www.foodarts.com/  http://blog.ideasinfood.com/  http://www.foodrepublic.com/  http://eater.com/  http://clatl.com/atlanta/food-and-drink/Section?oid=1222716 (Creative Loafing Food Section) http://food52.com/  http://www.chow.com/

III       Schools

  1. Atlanta: Art Institute of Atlanta (Art Institutes are nationwide) http://www.artinstitutes.edu/atlanta/ Le Cordon Bleu-Atlanta (also nationwide) http://www.lecordonbleu-atlanta.com/Home
  2. New York : Institute of Culinary Education http://www.iceculinary.com/  French Culinary Institute http://www.frenchculinary.com/ Culinary Institute of America (several campuses nationwide) http://www.ciachef.edu/
  3. North Carolina: Johnson and Wales ( also other locations nationwide) http://www.jwu.edu/college.aspx?id=30676

Mexico: Culinary Arts School (you probably should learn Spanish) http://culinaryartschool.com.mx/

 Reputation is everything

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JAM! ooooooh JAM!

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Jams and jellies (wait, did anyone get my obscure “80’s musical reference in the title of this blog post?)  where was I…OH YES!! Jams and jellies are pantry staples in my kitchen. They are great in desserts like thumbprint cookies or between layers of cake but I also like to use them in savory dishes.

Last summer I was fortunate enough to get a bushel of ripe peaches and I made peach/rosemary jam for my first canning project. It was a beautiful thing. One night I needed an hors d’oeuvre  for a casual party and the peach/rosemary jam was the perfect answer. I roasted chicken wing sections with a little salt and pepper and at the end of cooking I coated the wings with the jam and broiled them for a few minutes just to get a bit of char on  them. They were a huge hit; guests were licking the sweet sticky jam from their fingers ( I guess I should have given them napkins…oh well, hindsight is 20/20).

I needed a quick solution for dinner  the other night and I needed to cook some chicken drumsticks I had in the fridge.   I remembered that delicious party dish, but unfortunately I was out of the homemade peach/rosemary jam.  I did , however, have some store bought apricot jam that I bought at a half price sale a few weeks before. I roasted the chicken drumsticks just as I did the chicken wings, but I sprinkled a bit of dried rosemary on them along with the salt and pepper. Delicious, easy and pretty darn quick.

fresh summer peach and rosemary jam with brie

Peach, guava and apricot jams go really well with turkey, pork and cheese;  for beef dishes blueberry and blackberry jams would make great sauces with red wine reduction and pan juices.

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Disconnected

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It was one of those days. Everyone was doing their own thing. The kids were in the same room watching some foolishness on TV, The Man was working on our new budget and I was “Pinning” and watching “Bizarre Foods, America” and then….STATIC.  Cable is out, internet is down,  WiFi disconnected. So now what?  This was a good excuse to get outside and get a little dirty.

I had some raspberry and blackberry plants that needed to get into the ground so the kids and I went outside and dug some holes. I think it was my son who got the idea to start a fire in the fire pit…and where there’s fire there are  hot dogs. One trip to the grocery store later we were impaling the hot dogs on skewers and roasting them ( and our knuckles ) and talking and laughing and sipping sweet tea and having a really great time. The Man was even inspired to make some chili for the hot dogs. It was a good day

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Brisket! It’s what’s for dinner….again

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I knew it was going to be a ridiculously busy week.  Three extra kids staying over and lots of activities to participate in. So how do you feed all of those hungry people night after night without wearing yourself out?? BRISKET! that’s how.  With a little advanced planning you can slow cook a 5 pound flat cut beef brisket (seasoned with salt and pepper) at 300 degrees on a bed of sliced onions, and a half cup of water in a roasting pan tightly covered with foil for  about 4 hours and feed your family a variety of different meals for days.

The first night was taco night. We just heated some sliced brisket  and served it with chunky salsa, shredded cheese, fresh leafy salad greens and a choice of flour or corn tortillas….not to shabby.

The second night we had ramen noodles (yes, the cheap stuff) but instead of using the awful seasoning packet we served the noodles in a pool of the brisket broth with sliced brisket, green onions and a boiled egg, not authentic but it was deeeelicious!

We skipped one night and had chicken instead, but the next night we sliced the brisket and glazed it with tangy, sweet barbecue sauce. That was the family favorite hands down.  You can take a peek at that in the picture over there served with some buttered egg noodles with broccoli and garlic.  We still have a big hunk of brisket and some broth left.  Not bad for about $4.50 a pound.  The flat cut of brisket is usually sold with a layer of fat about 1/4 inch thick on one side, cook it with the fat on and trim it before you eat if you like.

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