Here are two delicious ways to cook, and re-cook flank steak. Flank steak comes from the belly of the cow and since its a muscle that gets used a lot, say for walking, its best when marinated for a while to tenderize the meat. Dinner #1 is grilled, so make sure you have charcoal. Dinner #2 is made in the slow cooker, so you’ll need one of those if you want this dinner to be basically hands-off. You could do it in a pot, but it won’t be as good. And, don’t leave your pot unattended, like you can with a slow cooker. Read all the way through to make sure you have everything you need on your shopping list.
Where exactly did that come from?
Grilled Flank Steak
1 large Flank Steak.
Buy the biggest one you can find.
For Marinade:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup sesame oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup orange juice
5 cloves garlic, smashed
1 small onion, chopped
3 T salt
1 tsp sugar
Put all the ingredients for marinade into a large zip top bag. Rinse the steak, pat dry with paper towels, and put in the bag with the marinade. Seal the bag, and squish the steak around until its well-coated in marinade. Put the bag in a bowl (to catch any drips) and place into refrigerator. Let the meat marinade for at least an hour, squishing it around again halfway through. If you can marinade it longer, awesome, but an hour will do just fine.
Fire up your grill. I prefer natural lump charcoal to gas, and never ever use chemically toxic briquettes. When the coals are glowing red and super hot, remove the steak from the marinade, and throw the meat on the heat. Cover and let cook about 4 minutes. Flip, let cook until desired doneness. The time will vary depending on the thickness of your steak and how well done you like it. I like my steak rare, so just a few more minutes is plenty. Pull the meat from the fire and put it on a plate. Loosely tent with aluminum foil and let it rest 10 minutes. Slice across the grain only as much as you need for dinner, leaving the rest of the steak intact. Serve with potatoes and a green veg.
When the remaining steak is room temperature, wrap in foil and fridge overnight.
Ok, so this next step takes a little planning. If you don’t have the ingredients in your house, make sure you buy them the day before so that when you wake up in the morning, you have everything you need.
Slow Cooker Meat Sauce
3 T olive oil
2 large cans crushed fire-roasted tomatoes with basil
1 large onion, chopped
leftover steak
In the morning, put the olive oil, tomatoes and chopped onion in the slow cooker. Chop the steak into large chunks and nestle them into the tomato sauce. Cover and turn the heat on low. Go to work. Come home 7-8 hours late and inhale deeply. Smells like you’ve been in the kitchen all day.
Turn off the heat and open the cover. Using two forks, find the chunks of steak and shred the meat. It will pull apart with no effort at all. Taste and add salt, only if necessary. For us, it wasn’t because the marinade on the steak was salty enough. Serve sauce over pasta with crusty bread.
