These last few weeks have been really kind of crazy busy. With the Continuing Ed classes I had to take, my work schedule and community work, I barely had time to breathe. With all that I discovered I am not great at multi tasking, that I am the type that does one thing at a time and when there is too much to do instead of going with the flow and tackling the multitude of tasks I become flustered and end up not doing anything well. During all this hoopla I felt bad about not blogging and made a cake which was a HUGE flop, so bad it ended up in the trash. At that point I decided to concentrate on my courses and I neglected not just my blog but all of yours as well and I am sorry about that. I had to focus and thankfully it paid off I finished the course and some of the planning for a big community meeting, as well as scheduling a block association meeting (another group I neglected). I feel like I am getting back on track, Percy is a dream dog, so well behaved and such a sweetheart, because he is so easy going it allows me time to do the things I need to do.
I don’t eat a lot of meat, I am not vegetarian but my choice of food for the most part is meatless, however when I want meat this is one of my favorites. The chimichurri is taken from a recipe I developed for Food52 back when I first joined their site. It was my first contest win and this recipe was added to their second cookbook. I made a sandwich using thick cut brioche buttered and grilled, marinated flank steak, tomato, mayo mixed with chimichurri. It’s a really good sandwich, big and juicy and thick, my Flank Steak On Texas Toast With Chimichurri was what I wanted but I did not want the calories/carbs from that thick bread so I just made the steak marinated in chimichurri and served with mashed potatoes and salad.
I like to let the steak rest in the marinade overnight, the flavor is pretty incredible when it sits that long in the chimichurri. My steak was uneven in thickness, thin in some parts and quite thick in others. I let it cook almost 5 minutes on each side. The thickest part was a nice medium rare.
The chimichurri and flank steak:
1 1 1/2 to 2-pound flank steak
1 cup flat leaf parsley cleaned and large stems removed, finely chopped (by hand or use food processor)
1/2 cup baby arugula, finely chopped (by hand or use food processor)
2 cloves garlic, minced (you can add to parsley and arugula in food processor)
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
For chimichurri, place the parsley, arugula, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, olive oil and red wine vinegar in the bowl of the food processor, pulse until everything is chopped and somewhat homogenous, when done scrape into a bowl. Cover both sides of the steak with some of the chimichurri, put in ziplock bag and refrigerate for one or two hours or overnight. Cover and refrigerate the rest of the chimichurri.
Remove steak from refrigerator approximately 30-45 minutes before you are going to cook it. Scrape off some of the chimichurri, salt the steak and let rest. To sear the steak: First with a paper towel pat the steak to remove any excess moisture. In a very hot fry pan lay steak, let it sear without disturbing it. Cook approximately 3-5 minutes on each side for a medium rare steak. (You will have to judge exactly how long to sear based on the thickness of the steak.) Remove from pan, lay on cutting board, pepper the steak now, let rest 5-10 minutes.
Mashed Potatoes
4 large yukon gold potatoes peeled and cut into thick slices
sour cream- full fat (approximately 1/3-1/2 cup)
Butter (approximately 4 tbs)
Snipped chives to garnish optional
salt and pepper
Place potato slices in cold salted water and bring a boil. Continue to boil until the potatoes are fork tender. You can mash however your preferred method is. I use a food mill scooping out the cooked potatoes and grinding in the food mill using the finest disc. I don’t like lumps unless I choose a rough mash. Add the butter first to the potatoes stir to make sure butter is melted, now add the sour cream. Season with salt and pepper. I keep the potatoes in a warm oven covered with foil until ready to serve.
Spoon some of the chimichurri that you didn’t used for the marinade onto the steak and enjoy!!
apuginthekitchen 