Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Flank Steak & Buttercream Icing

And before you ask, no, not together. We invited a friend of Eli's over tonight for dinner. I tried a new recipe and finally perfected another. The menu consisted of Marinated Flank Steak, Roasted Asparagus, Mashed Potatoes, Chocolate Cake, and Tres Leches Cake. It was all very yummy. The steak and potatoes were new recipes to me. The potatoes were very good. Seriously, how can you mess up mashed potatoes? The steak was different. I think I liked it. I would certainly tweek the marinade recipe a bit next time. But we all agreed it tasted pretty good. I had the hardest time finding a grocery store in my area that carries flank steak. I actually had to drive 20 minutes north for it. But considering it was just over $10 and enough steak to feed three adults and a child, I'd say the drive was worth the deal. I homemade everything but the chocolate cake. My view on it is, when Betty Crocker has the perfect Chocolate Devil's Food cake from a box, why bother baking one from scratch? I have constantly fought with my buttercream icing over the years. It is at times too thick, too sugary, too...something. Anyway, tonight it was divine! Eli made the comment that it tasted like ice cream. The difference this time was the amount of sugar I used and the whipping cream I drizzled in at the end on a complete whim. The icing was a bit thin and I didn't want to add more sugar. I knew that adding the cream while the mixer was on such a high speed would make the cream thicken the icing. Anyway, here are the recipes.

Marinated Flank Steak (This was a hodge-podge of recipes I found online for flank steak)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup evoo
1/4 cup honey
2T sesame oil
1 1/2T Worcestershire sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
2T ginger, minced

Mix together and add trimmed flank steak, coating well on both sides. Cover and let marinate 4+ hours.

When ready to grill, remove the steak from the fridge and let sit while you heat a grill pan over high heat. You want the pan to be really hot when you lay the steak on it. When the pan is hot enough, place the steak on the pan and leave for 1 1/2 - 2 minutes. Turn 45 degrees (for grill marks) and let cook another 1 1/2 - 2 minutes. Flip and repeat on other side. It should cook 5-8 minutes total for medium rare. Be sure to turn on your exhaust fan (and open a door or window if you have an old fan like I do). Remove from heat, cover loosely with foil and let rest 10 minutes. Slice on an angle (for thicker slices) and against the grain to serve.

While cooking steak, pour marinade through a sieve and bring to boil in a small sauce pan over high heat. Let boil about 10 minutes until it reduces. Serve with steak as a dipping sauce.

(On a personal note, I added a lot more soy sauce and Worcestershire. The sesame oil is a very strong flavor. I think next time I will halve the amount of sesame oil and honey and then adjust for taste.)

Mashed Potatoes

2 lbs potatoes
2 sticks butter
1/4 cup sour cream

Peel and dice potatoes. Put in a pot and cover with enough water to come 1 inch above potatoes. Heat over high heat and boil until fork-tender. You want them nice and soft. Drain and place in mixing bowl. Add 2 sticks butter (I sliced it into pads) and sour cream. Mix well and beat on high speed. I let them do laps while I worked on other things, stirring them occasionally. The longer the potatoes do laps, the fluffier and creamier they are.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing
2 sticks butter, room temp or melted
5-8 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup milk
heavy whipping cream

Add butter, 4 cups sugar, cocoa, vanilla, and milk to a large mixing bowl. Mix together on low speed first to avoid a cloud of powdered sugar, then cream on med-high speed. Add more powdered sugar by half-cupfuls until slightly thinner than desired consistency. (Mine was just thin enough to be a bit runny had I tried to ice with it.) Drizzle in a little heavy whipping cream (sorry, I didn't measure - it was probably about 1-2 Tablespoons) and cream until desired consistency is reached. Add more cream if necessary.


All-in-all a very good dinner. I think Mike will come back. :)
(Sorry for any typos...I'm too tired to proof.)

1 comments:

plumharvest said...

Is that the positively delicious steak you made that day I came to your house for dinner?