Steak Dinner!

Do you remember when the term “Steak Dinner” meant something? When I was younger, going out for Steak Dinner was such a special occasion it was mentioned by the dish’s name. Everything else was just dinner. It was a celebration to anticipate and plan for. Then, as often happens in our society, it went from being a “sometimes and something special” food to an “if a little is good then a lot is great” food. Why do we do that?

As my food philosophy has evolved, I’ve tried to cut back on the quantity of meat in my diet. I’m nowhere close to the plant-based diet ideal that so many nutrition experts discuss – I’m looking at you Michael Pollan, but I do try to incorporate as many vegetables and whole foods as possible. Honestly, I often fail at this. Do I get points for good intentions? I’ve been doing the Green Smoothie Challenge this month with the ladies over at Simple Green Smoothies and have to admit – I feel better and have more energy than I have had in a while. It has helped curb my sugar cravings too and allows me to brag to you that I’m on the green smoothie bandwagon. Clearly I’m lobbying for the moral high-ground here.

Seriously, I won’t even pretend to be perfect – perfect is boring and unattainable, but one area on which we have chosen to focus is to reduce our red-meat intake. In part because I choose to only buy high quality meat and that is expensive, and in part because I know I don’t feel good when I eat too much. So, I get excited and creative come steak night.

One side bar benefit of this reduction is that when we make steak, it becomes a special occasion. I go to the butcher and pick out my steak and then look forward to enjoying it with my family all day. When it’s ready, we take the extra time to enjoy our meal and savor our family time together. “Steak Dinner” means something again – at least in our house – and it can in yours too.

This, about, once a month meal still needs to be easy to prepare and put together because, well, I still live in today’s real world. I once followed a recipe once from America’s Test Kitchen where they marinated the meat after cooking. They had all of these sciency reasons that made a ton of sense that I can no longer quite relay to you, but the take-away was a delicious steak. I’ve applied this technique here. It feels a little like you are breaking the rules, but that might be part of why I enjoy it so much. I used a tri-tip, but this works well with flank or skirt steak too.

I usually serve this with oven roasted potatoes that are simple and easy to pull together. I sprinkle them with some salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil and let the oven do all of the work. I cut the pieces small because the more surfaces that come in contact with the pan, the more crispy edges you have and crispy edges are delicious. (The Recipe is below)

One note about the marinade – I use Braggs Liquid Amino’s for this recipe – If you’ve never tried it – do yourself a favor and go get some. If you can’t locate any, Tamari (Gluten Free Soy Sauce) will work and regular Soy Sauce is fine if you are not avoiding gluten. But honestly, just order a big bottle of Braggs – you won’t be sorry.

Marinated Grilled Beef Tri-Tip

Cook Time: 15-20 min. depending on thickness
Prep Time: 5 min.
Inactive time: 10 min.

Ingredients

1 ½-2 lbs. Beef Tip or (Flank Steak or Skirt Steak work too)

½ c Braggs Liquid Aminos (or Tamari)

½ c Rice Vinegar

¼ c Sesame Oil

1″ Knob Fresh Ginger (chopped)

1 Tbs. Sesame Seeds

1 Garlic Clove

Salt & Pepper

Instructions

Remove the steak from the refrigerator while the grill is heating to allow it to come to room temperature.
Sprinkle the meat with salt and pepper.
Sear on the grill over high heat for 4 minutes per side
Lower the heat to medium and cook to an internal temperature of 135º (about 20 min).
While the steak is cooking, put the remaining ingredients into the blender and blend on high until combined.
Remove the steak to a baking dish and pierce several times with a sharp knife.
Pour the marinade over the cooked steak and cover loosely with aluminum foil.
Allow the meat to marinate/rest for 10 minutes, flipping halfway though to allow the other side to sit in the marinade.
Remove the steak to a cutting board and pour the marinade and drippings into a small saucepan and reduce by 1/3-1/2 to use as a sauce.
Slice the steak and pour the sauce over it.
Garnish with sesame seeds if desired.

Notes

We use a Thermapen to test done-ness. It is hands down the best instant read thermometer.

Oven Roasted Potatoes

Prep Time: 10 min.
Cook Time: 30 min.

Ingredients

1lb. Bag Mini Potatoes (mixed)

1lb. Yukon Gold Potatoes

3 Tbs. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 tsp. Salt

½ Pepper

1 tsp. Dried Parsley

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425º
Slice mini potatoes in half and larger potatoes into 8 pieces each (about the same size as the mini halves) and place on a foil lined rimmed baking sheet.
Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat.
Sprinkle with seasonings and toss again to insure even coverage.
Make sure the potatoes are in a single layer on the sheet.
Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and stir the potatoes. You may want to use tongs (or carefully use your fingers) to turn them as they may stick to the foil and you don’t want the crispy crust to come away from the potato.
Put back in the oven and bake for 10 minutes more.
Turn off the oven and leave in the oven util ready to serve.