Here’s a picture of my delicious MEGA CRUNCHY fried chicken sandwich with coleslaw, pickles and tomato….so tasty and easy to eat while watching the big game
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Flank Steak Recipe – Marinated, Grilled and DELICIOUS
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.
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.
Waiting for Mr. (or Mrs) Right
so wrong, but soooooo right
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!
AIM for Healthy Choices
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
- Chef ( restaurant, hotels, markets, catering, pastry, corporate, chocolatier, baker, personal, private, craft services)
- Food writer/blogger, recipe tester
- Restaurant management
- Food science
- Nutrition and diet
- Sales, marketing and PR
II How to get there
- Cook and document your work (Cook often and start a blog with pictures and descriptions of your projects)
- Cook for every one you know (church, school, friends, friends parents and family)
- Read
- 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)
- Magazines: Food Arts, Cooks Illustrated,
- 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
- 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
- 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/
- 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
Disconnected
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
Just getting started
I’ve got pictures and notes and thoughts…now I just need a minute to get it all sorted out. I’m going to play around with templates and fonts and all that cool stuff, then I’ll post some pics and articles.
In the meantime, have some beignets for Fat Tuesday
Have a DELICIOUS day