Not Vegetarian Friendly!

I'm giving you all a fair warning now. This is a big, fat, beefy, meaty mess. If you avoid meat and/or beef, turn away now. I don't want you to see the carnage that will ensue.

OK, meat eaters, thanks for staying. This is tasty and a great alternative to a traditionally grilled steak. Also, it's a great, maybe even for me, preferred, alternative to stir-fried beef!

Soy-Marinated Flank Steak

The marinade. Soy, cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, red pepper flakes, brown sugar and some Dijon mustard. Mix it all together and let the steak marinate for 1-2 hours. The recipe calls for flank steak. As is the case, 99% of the time, I can't find flank steak in my various markets, so I used a large steak...of which I don't know the cut.

120 minutes later...fire up the grill. Before you go to cook the steak, SAVE the marinade. We're going to turn it into a glaze for later.

It's finally summertime in Washington, DC. That means one thing to me. It's too damn hot & humid outside. So this time, I fired up the grill pan. I also had no vegetables, so I sliced up some potatoes...this is really a pantry/freezer meal, so again...it's all meat & potatoes!

Over medium high heat, my steak took 6 minutes per side and after 3 minutes on one side, I turned the steak 90 degrees to get nice grill marks.

While the steak is cooking pour the marinade into a sauce pan and bring to a rolling simmer over medium heat. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until the marinade is reduced by half. Be careful not to have the heat too high, or the sauce could overflow your saucepan. I used a pan that was a touch too small and came close a few times. Stir frequently and watch closely, or you'll have a hell of a mess to clean up.

Allow the steak to rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Cut into strips for easy serving.

Spoon the soy marinade/sauce over the beef and serve hot. This would be great with some rice and even some spicy/garlic broccoli. Sweet. Little tangy. Touch spicy. All sorts of crazy savory!

Soy-Marinated Flank Steak
from Everyday Food

1 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
3 TB cider vinegar
1 TB Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp red-pepper flakes
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1 flank steak (about 2 pounds)
Vegetable oil, for grates

Directions

1. In a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, whisk together soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire, mustard, red-pepper flakes, and pepper. Place steak in dish and cover dish tightly with plastic wrap. Swirl dish so that marinade coats the top of steak. Refrigerate 1 to 2 hours, turning steak occasionally.

2. Heat grill to high. Remove steak from marinade, letting excess drip off. Pour marinade into a saucepan and simmer over medium-high heat until reduced by half, about 10 minutes.

3. Clean and lightly oil hot grates. Grill steak, covered, 6 minutes; turn, brush with glaze, and grill until medium-rare, 6 minutes more. Let rest 8 to 10 minutes before slicing.

Yogurt Curry Chicken

This was a fun recipe to make. And for me, super affordable! I have to admit that all the ingredients you see in the marinade, I had on hand. Except for the yogurt. Everything else was in my pantry. If you don't have an addictive spice habit, this could be more expensive if you decide to buy all the spices I've used. But it was fun and I really love this photo:

There's the ingredient list. Add some boneless, skinless chicken breast, allow to marinate for 30-60 minutes, put in the oven for 15 minutes, then under the broiler for 5 minutes.

1 cup Greek yogurt, or plain yogurt strained over night (instructions at the end of this post)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 TB olive oil
4 cloves garlic, grated
2 tsp ginger, grated
1/2 jalapeno, finely diced
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
1/2 tsp ground fenugreek
1/2 tsp Tandoori seasoning
1/2 tsp hot curry
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 heaping tsp garam masala
2 tsp sweet curry
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro (if you have it/like it. I do, but didn't have any and the store shelf was empty)

Mix. Add up to 2 pounds chicken (boneless skinless breasts, thighs, other parts...whatever you have, it just changes the time it takes to cook).

Here's the marinade ready to be used. I had 1 pound of chicken and there was plenty for another pound of chicken.

Earlier this week, I bought a pack of chicken and cleaned and cut it all at once for the three meals. For this meal, I decided to do chicken strips.

After 15 minutes at 350 in the oven, then 5 minutes under the broiler set to high.

Dinner is done. I served with some garam masala spiced rice, topped with toasted almonds and strips of roasted bell pepper seasoned with salt, pepper and olive oil. Delicious meal. Now, the yogurt marinade made for some spicy chicken. I had to improvise to help the burning mouth. So I took 2-3 TB of sour cream and mixed some more garam masala (sweeter flavors) and lemon juice. This worked really well in cooling my mouth. I wish I would have had saved a little of the yogurt and had some cucumber to make a nice, bright sauce, but either would have worked.

PS: Make sure you cover you pans with foil, it'll save you the time of cleaning up a nasty mess at the end...

OK, the yogurt. I'm thrilled that I'm able to find Greek yogurt at my Giant. This hasn't always been the case. It used to be I'd have to go to Whole Foods to get it. If your store isn't carrying Greek Yogurt, look for plain, full fat yogurt (not vanilla!) and strain it. Take a fine sieve and line it with 2 layers of cheese cloth. Place this over a bowl and pour in your plain yogurt in, cover and place in the fridge overnight. What will happen? The yogurt will leak excess liquid, making for a thicker yogurt, perfect for use as a marinade, or even for dips and sauces.

Grilled Shrimp

A few weekends ago (2?) we went to Lord & Lady B's for a gathering with some friends. We had a great time and great food. Lord & Lady B served some grilled shrimp that were really great. A recipe that came from Lady B's Uncle Jay*.

*which might be a Williams Sonoma recipe?

Here's the recipes:

3 TB olive oil
2 TB tomato paste
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt
1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined

* Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl. A whisk helps to blend the ingredients quickly.
* Add the shrimp and mix until the shrimp are completely coated.
* Put a covering on the bowl and refrigerate for about an hour before you intend to grill.
* Thread the shrimp on skewers. If you use wooden skewers, soak them in water first so that they do not burn.
* Grill 6-10 minutes turning two - three times or until the shrimp are pink all over.

Simple Pork Marinade

Last night was a strange night. Nothing really out of the ordinary, just strange. I think the panic hit that I have a ton to do over the next two days and Thursday is out as I'll be at work until late for a performance. Which leaves me just 3-4 hours to accomplish a whole lot on Friday night.

And among that panic was...I GOTTA GET DINNER STARTED...which is funny because dinner couldn't have been any easier. The only reason for the panic; I needed to devote 5 minutes


We get started by making a marinade for some pork chops I had. The other day I was reading through Anne's Food and saw two tasty looking marinades. I went with the first one...for now. I'll try the other one later.

This marinade guideline is virtually the same as Anne's. One additional ingredient and approximate measures of the others.

To get us started we had the juice of 1 lemon, 3 TB soy sauce, 2 TB honey, 1 tsp chili powder (Chimayo in this case), 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, sliced and 1/2 tsp of Chinese Five Spice.

Whisk all together and add the pork (chops or loin). Cover and walk away for at least an hour, four or more if you have the time.

Back to the panic of dinner and getting everything else done. I didn't have time to stop at the store to get any additional ingredients or side items. I used what we had. 1 green bell pepper, diced. 1 onion, diced. 2 potatoes, diced. Hash Browns it is! Saute the potatoes in some oil until they begin to take on some color. Season with salt/pepper or your favorite seasoning blend. Add the onions. When your potatoes are nearly tender, add the peppers. Saute until they are tender, but with a tiny crunch. Finish with a small pat of butter for additional flavor is you like.

Completed dinner. The chops were great. Juicy and tender with some good flavor. The marinade doesn't get all the way into the meat when you only give it an hour, but the flavor is there! Next time I pan to do this, I will make the marinade the night before, then the morning I plan to make the chops, add them to the marinade. This will give them a good 8-10 hours of flavor time. The hash browns didn't really "go" with the chops, but they were delicious!