Flank Steak Tacos

This past Sunday, I had a few friends over for a little shindig.  I was kind of worried because there was a forecast that it was supposed to rain all day, but you know what?  It didn't rain a drop!  And it was great because for the first time this year, we got to eat out back on the patio.  It was the perfect weather, the perfect company, and some damn delicious food!

We've been on a healthy kick this week, and this was a perfect way to start it off.  The simplicity of the salsa and the lean cut of meat made for a delicious meal!  Even mocha was happy about it -

Ingredients:
Adapted from Food & Wine's recipe

3 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
4 scallions, chopped
small handful of cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup mint leaves, chopped
1 jalapeno, halfway seeded (I like the heat) and minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
juice from 1 lemon
salt and pepper, to taste
1 large flank steak (about 1-2 lbs.)
olive oil, for rubbing
warm flour tortillas, optional
sour cream, optional
1 onion, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced

Light a charcoal grill under medium high heat.

Take a medium sized sheet (12 by 12 inches) of aluminum foil and place onions and both bell peppers in the middle.  Drizzle a little bit of olive oil over vegetables and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Gently toss and fold over edges of aluminum foil to loosely enclose ingredients.  Place on indirect heat on the grill and allow to cook for about 20-25 minutes or until softened, but still somewhat crisp.

In a medium bowl, combine tomatoes, scallions, cilantro, mint, jalapeno, garlic, and lemon juice.  Mix well and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Rub the flank steak on both sides with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Grill over high heat until charred and cooked to about medium rare to medium, about 8 minutes per side.  It really depends on the size of your flank steak on this one, the timing can vary. (I think I had a steak a little under 2 lbs.)

Transfer steak to a cutting board to rest for about 5 minutes before cutting. 

Warm your tortillas on the grill for about 30 seconds, if you want to.

Now I know this may be blasphemy, but I first cut the steak in half, along the grain.  I wouldn't normally do this, but the steak was so wide and I didn't want huge slices in my small tortillas.  Then slice against the grain and transfer slices to a platter.

Place about 3-4 steak slices in the tortilla shells and top with salsa, grilled vegetables, and sour cream. 

We served this with a side of rice and black beans.  It was seriously the perfect springtime meal.  We couldn't have asked for better weather (the breeze was light, the warmth was perfect!).  So next time you're in a rut for what to make... let this be it!  You won't be sorry!  Enjoy your Wednesday guys!

Korean Flank Steaks

Many of you know of the wonderful dish Korean BBQ right? Well, my first experience of it was this past summer. I was at a friend of mine's BBQ and another couple that was there, brought some Korean BBQ over. Being the Asian cuisine lover that I am, I was intrigued. The aroma itself was enough to sell me on the dish. Sam, the griller, is a pharmacist for Kroger and happened to be good friends with the butcher. He said that he would get the guy to cut the ribs across the bone instead of along side the bone. It made the pieces of meat thin and grilled fast. He said he marinated it in soy sauce, ginger, and garlic... the holy trinity of most Asian cuisine in my opinion. So since then, I've always wanted to try to make my own, and this weekend, I had a couple friends over and had to give it a try.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons chardonnay, or other white wine
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
2 & 1/2 lb. flank steak, sliced across the grain
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

The marination is pretty much where most of the "cooking" or work is done in this dish. Combine all ingredients (except for steak, cornstarch, and vegetable oil) in a somewhat deep glass dish (like a casserole dish would be perfect). Make sure sugar dissolves and ingredients are well combined. Add in steak strips and coat well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Ideally, you would want to grill these, but since it was bloody cold outside, I opted to cook these over the stove top. Once again, ideally, if you were doing this inside, a grill pan would be best, but I don't have a grill pan, so I just used my skillet.

Heat skillet (or whatever else you want to use) under medium high heat and add vegetable oil. In batches of about 4 or 5, brown both sides of the steak, about 30 seconds to a minute for a nice medium-rare to medium.

Continue with remaining flank pieces and tent the cooked steak with foil to keep hot.

If you want to make a quick "gravy", if you will, using the leftover marinade, just add it to the same skillet used for steak and scrape up brown bits. Heat until bubbling and then bring to a simmer. Combine 1 teaspoon cornstarch with 1 tablespoon water and mix until dissolved. Add mixture to "gravy". Increase heat and allow mixture to thicken while constantly stirring. Pour gravy on top of steaks! I served this alongside some simple roasted sweet potatoes!


This was definitely a great take on meat and potatoes. The sweet potatoes brought out the sweetness of the marinade, while still maintaining the savoriness of the steak. This is really not close to the Korean BBQ I talked about before hand, but more of a "distant cousin". I know that they were both really frickin' delicious though! Enjoy!

Vaca Fritas - Cuban "Fried Cow"

This past weekend, to give us a last hoorah before the fall semester of school starts, Andy and I went out to West Virginia with a group of friends and went white water rafting. I was the only one who had ever been before, and just like before, it was an AMAZING time. With car break downs, over 150 beers, and pretzel pong, we made it through the weekend. The feeling of being back home from the wilderness was a great joy. So to celebrate coming home, I made Vaca Fritas, a traditional Cuban dish of crispy beef.


Ingredients:

1 & 1/2 lb flank steak, cut into 4 pieces
1 green bell pepper, roughly chopped
2 large onion, 1 cut in half, and the other thinly sliced
1 bay leaf
2 garlic cloves, smashed
salt
juice from 1 lime
3 tablespoons olive oil
freshly ground black pepper

Adapted from Food & Wine May 2009 issue

In a large pot or saucepan, combine steak, green pepper, halved onion, and bay leaf. Cover with water and simmer under medium to high heat for about 20 minutes. Take steak out and let rest on cutting board. Strain the broth and you can either pitch it or save it for another dish. I always take the opportunity to save fresh stock as opposed to buying bouillon cubes or stock/broth. It keeps for a fairly long time if you freeze it or keep it in the fridge.


When steak is well rested, shred it up and place in a large bowl. I used a fork and just starting going at it. At some point I think I was using my bare hands and pulling it apart, but it's some work.

Take smashed garlic and mix with salt. Mix garlic in with beef and add lime juice, olive oil, and sliced onion. Mix until well combined. Let marinate for about 30 minutes.


Next heat pan to very hot. In batches, line pan with thin layer of beef mixture and season with salt and pepper. Cook over high heat until crispy in spots, about 6 minutes or so.

I served this with some spicy black beans and basmati rice. It was a humble and simple meal, but packed full of flavor. Enjoy!

Flank Steak Enchiladas with Tomatillo Green Sauce

Before anything, let me first say, that I am super stoked about being chosen to participate in this week's Foodie Fights: Battle Eggplant/Wine. This is definitely a tough one because I've only really used eggplant a few times in my culinary adventures, but with a little research I think I might be on to something. And the competition is fierce, kinda makes me feel like a little fish in a VERY huge and advanced pond. But more updates on that later...

I was checking out Food In My Beard's blog the other day and there was a recipe for flank steak enchiladas that I just had no reason not to try. For 1, we never cook mexican/spanish food at home. 2. i love flank steak. 3. after making avacado salsa verde a few weeks back, i fell in love with the tomatillo. So I just couldn't pass it up. For complete recipe check out the blog, there's always something delicious and entertaining there.

First things first, preheat oven to 450 degrees and roast 1lb cored tomatillos, 3 halved and seeded jalapenos (i didn't seed them all the way, because i like a little punch), and 2 halves of an onion. Drizzle with some olive oil and salt, then roast until they're a little brown on the edges, I think it took maybe 10-15 minutes.


After that, I let them cool for a little bit and then pulsed all the veggies in the blender. Depending on how you like it, you can make it chunky or smooth, but that's up to you. Add some garlic and cilantro and whatever else you might have laying around that sounds good. I was going to add some cream cheese, but forgot, so it never happened. But it turned out like this...


Had a little kick to it, that's for sure!

And instead of using 8 New Mexico dried chiles, I used about 4 because I had them on hand and didn't feel like buying more at the store. I then soaked those in about 2 &1/2 cups chicken stock and 2 & 1/2 cups water mixture under medium to high heat. I let them soak for maybe 20-25 minutes.

Next step was to blend the liquid and peppers in a blender. Since hot liquids in a blender don't really go together well, I let the mixture sit out for a little bit to cool. (an immersion blender could have solved this problem, but that's on my christmas list) Then, I put the chiles in first and blended those up first, added the slightly warm cooking liquid and just pulsed so it wouldn't all blow up. Worked well and had a minimal mess to clean up.

Set that mixture aside and get the flank steak out. Sear on both sides, I did mine for about 3 minutes each side, then set aside on cutting board/plate.

Chop up some onion and a few more jalapenos (once again, i left some seeds in) and cook in a pot for about 10 minutes. Add some garlic and cook for a couple minutes longer. Then bring back the pepper juice from the blender and mix in to pot. Add the flank steak. I grated a couple cloves in, pinch of cinnamon, tablespoon of cumin, and a shake or two of cayenne pepper. Then I covered pot and let sit on stove on low for about an hour and a half. About 45 minutes into it, add some diced potatoes.

I had some masa harina laying around and also made homemade tortillas just like Dan. Honestly, I've only just used it in tiny amounts to thicken things up - sauces, soups, etc. Never used it for it's actual intended purpose, to make tortillas. But it was really pretty easy though, just add water, basically. My tortillas didn't turn out quite as circular and perfect as Dan's did, but it was my first time and I was a tad bit clumsy. The authenticity and effort was there though.

Back to the steak and pepper mixture, take steak out with tongs and let sit on cutting board/plate a few minutes to cool. Then shred. I got tired of trying to shred thinly, so I ended up with half shred, 1/4 chunks, and 1/4 strips. Made for a good mix. Return shredded/chunked/stripped steak back to liquid and stir.

Put oven on broil. Fill tortillas with steak/potato mixture and fold in and place tortillas, crease side down in baking pan. I put shredded cheese in the tortilla first, then placed steak in. Add cheese on top of tortillas along with tomatillo sauce. Can put more cheese on if you wish. Place in oven and broil for about 5 minutes, until cheese is melted, and enjoy!

Everything was so tasty and great, thanks Dan for the idea!