.
From our Food Goddess, TaMara:
These were fun. Not as much effort as it looks. Although I save them for special occasions. The steak can be prepped the day before, just wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Makes it great for a date night, anniversary or small dinner party. I pan-seared and finished in the oven because with the cheese, I thought grilling them wouldn’t work as well. The reward was great pan drippings when I was finished, which I drizzled over the potatoes before serving.
If you’d like something with a bit less work, how about a Spicy Grilled Flank Steak? (Recipe here)
JeffreyW works his magic on Flat Iron Steak with various recipes and lots of pictures. (click here)
How about you? When you want to make an impression, either for a special dinner for two or a small dinner party, what’s your go-to recipe? What’s more important, foolproof or dazzling on the plate? Hit the comments with your ideas.
Now tonight’s featured recipe:
Flank Steak Pinwheels
1 large flank steak, butterflied
salt and pepper
crushed garlic (at least 2 cloves)
8 oz sliced provolone cheese
1 bunch washed and dried spinach leaves
8 wooden skewers
olive oil
Cast iron or oven proof skilletYou can ask the butcher to butterfly your flank steak, which is what I did. But it’s fairly easy to butterfly. You want the grain running up and down in front of you and then you’ll slice it in half, NOT slicing all the way through. When you’re done you’ll lay it open, flat, basically making a larger, thinner steak.
Once you have it laid out flat in front of you with the grain running left to right, you’ll want to tenderize it, pounding it flat. I use my pronged tenderizer, so I add the spices first and use the tenderizer to help infuse the meat.
If you haven’t already, once it’s pounded, add salt, pepper and garlic evenly over the meat. Layer the spinach over the meat. You want it to be several leaves thick, because it will reduce as it cooks.
Next layer the provolone cheese slices, two to three slices thick, over the meat.
Now it’s time to roll. Roll tightly in the direction of the grain. Add a skewer every 2 inches and then slice between the skewers, so you have 2-inch thick pinwheels.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Heat 1/2 to 1 tbsp of oil in large skillet, reduce heat to med-high and add pinwheels, flat-side down. After a minute, using the skewer (you may also need a metal spatula to get all the cheesy goodness) flip over, sear additional minute. The usual method of waiting until the meat moves easily to flip will not work with this because the cheese is sticky. So just do one minute each side, it will be fine.
Place the skillet in the oven, turn the oven off and let the steak finish for 10-15 minutes for medium rare. These are thin and don’t need a lot of cooking time and you don’t want the cheese to burn.
Remove to a plate, cover with foil and let rest 10 minutes. You can then use the great juices in the skillet to make a gravy if desired. I just drizzled them over the steak and potatoes right before serving.
My steak made 4 pinwheels. If you have more, you may need to finish cooking on a baking sheet after searing them in groups.
Just Some Fuckhead
That looks tasty.
Redshirt
You tryin’ to make me not a Veggie?
It’s a good attempt – wow!
schrodinger's cat
Grilled for the first time this season. Chicken thighs with tandoori marinade, potato salad with olive oil, cilantro and grilled red onions and grilled tomatoes. Plus bread from TJ to mop up the juices. $3 wine from Whole Paycheck.
rikyrah
man, that looks good
Juju
I have a bunch of go to menus for entertaining, but my favorite flank steak menu is ginger, soy marinated flank steak, onion slices baked with butter and lemon, glazed carrots and buttered orzo with Parmesan cheese.
J.W. Hamner
Very nice pics!
I’m trying to do carnitas sous vide tonight… the theory is sound but I’ve not found a recipe for it online so I’m sort of winging it off of Kenji’s recipe. Just cut up 2.5 lbs of pork shoulder and put it into one of those gallon hand pump ziplocs with some onion, garlic, OJ, cinnamon, and bay leaves… topped off with 3-4 tablespoons of lard (bacon butter!). Gonna leave it at 176 degrees F for 12+ hours and hope it comes out well. Assuming it does I’ll shed it up and fry it up in it’s on fat and make me some tacos.
NotMax
Pinwheels, you say? Nidi di Roundine
Very attractive (I like to add chopped spinach on top of the ham to get some more color involved). Have also made these with sliced turkey, and quite tasty that way, too.
Obviously easy to make a meatless version, for example using cooked, mashed eggplant in place of the meat.
Yutsano
@NotMax: I’d have to add the spinach just to get over the feeling I was eating death on a plate. It does look lovely though.
The only cow I have right now is the stuff my parents gave me. Beef is just too flipping expensive right now for me to indulge. I’m waiting on the supposed pork belly shortage though. Maybe it happened while I wasn’t looking, because I can still get pork for next to nothing.
NotMax
@Yutsano
Made this one time as a special thing for a large group.
40 lasagna cooked noodles. Took over an hour-and-a-half to lay out and roll up that many.
Dinner was a bit later than had planned. :)
TaMara (BHF)
@Redshirt: For you I shall post a Guacamole Salad tomorrow on the blog.
Persia
@Just Some Fuckhead: There’s a place near where I work that pre-makes these. Also pinwheels with provolone and mushrooms. Damn those are good.
Wag
Butterflied leg of lamb rubbed with olive oil, garlic, fresh rosemary, and kosher salt, grilled to medium rare. Serve with penne with sautéed kale or spinach and more garlic
The Reverend Lowdown
One of my go-to dinner party favorites is this great little appetizer. I take some holoumi, which is a grilling cheese. I cut it in smaller rectangular wedges and then brown in a pan with oil. Use some paper towel to get rid of excess oil and then plate with a small bed of arugula. Next, I make a sauce to drizzle on top of it all. The sauce is composed of raspberry jam, red onion, garlic and a splash of red wine. It sounds a bit weird but it is absolutely delicious.
NotMax
Yum. Asparagus. Garlic.
In fact, double yum.
Allen
Or if like me you’re lazy about cooking, Wegman’s often has those pre-made in the meat department. Just take them home and bake them. And they are delicious.
However, primarily because of all the state laws prohibiting going undercover to film at ranches, farms, meat plants, etc., we are trying to cut back significantly on all types of meat except fish.
Tim in SF
Instead of using greens and cheese, try a mixture of chopped onions and mushrooms, cooked on low for a very long time in butter. Splash some sherry and some beef stock (chicken stock works just as well) every couple of minutes, let it evaporate, then add some more. You’ll have a sticky paste in fifteen or twenty minutes. Then add a few crushed garlic cloves to the mix. Spread that over the flank steak instead of the greens and cheese.
You can also use this mix in a fillet – first butterfly the loin so it lays flat, spread the paste on one side, roll it up, tie it, bake it, then cut off 1.5 or 2″ fillet pieces.
I saw this recipe in Cooks Illustrated a couple years ago. It’s a great recipe.
chris y
One of my go to recipes is a pot roast which has the advantage of requiring more or less no work:
Put a piece of brisket in a bowl with a bottle of red wine,a generous amount of juniper berries and some onion, carrot and celery and marinate for 24 hours, turning when you think of it. Then seal the meat in a little olive oil and butter, pour over the wine and vegetables and simmer for as long as you can bear it. Eventually, take the meat out, blend the wine and vegetables to make a thickish gravy, season to taste. Serve the meat sliced thickly with the sauce to pour over.
OzarkHillbilly
I can’t wait to try this one.