Hope you all had a fabulous Memorial Day Weekend! I had an amazing one -- from a mini bachelorette party, which I will definitely tell you all about soon, to a day of shopping with my future mother- and sister-in-law.
I really didn't do any cooking this weekend, but a couple weekends ago, I found a great new recipe for the grill (in Food & Wine magazine). On these hot, hot days we've been having lately, I've been so grateful that Jeff's parents' have a grill for us to use. It's so nice to be able to hang outside and make dinner instead of being stuck in a hot kitchen. And even better that Jeff helps out with a lot of the grilling so we spend more time together, as opposed to our usual arrangement of me cooking and him cleaning. (Of course, this means there's one downside: I have to help clean sometimes. It's worth it though.)
This particular recipe was for flank steak marinated in a homemade balsamic dressing. The picture of the perfectly grilled flank steak caught my eye, and when I showed it to Jeff, he was interested as well.
I started by making the marinade: I mixed garlic, fresh rosemary, dried oregano, mustard, and balsamic vinegar in the blender and then drizzled in olive oil until the mixture was creamy. Then I seasoned it with a little salt and pepper.
I poured the marinade over the flank steak, turned the steak to make sure every bit of it was coated with the flavorful mixture, covered it, and refrigerated it for about 4 hours.
Then I had Jeff take the steak out of the marinade (simply letting the excess drip off) and throw it on the grill.
While he grilled the steak, I lightly oiled some baguette slices, zucchini halves, and scallions and added those to the grill. I also wrapped some halved grape tomatoes in foil with a little olive oil and salt and pepper, and let those warm and soften on the grill.
When the steak was ready, we let it rest for about 5 minutes, and then Jeff thinly sliced it against the grain.
I plated it with the grilled bread and veggies, and we dug in. I had reserved a bit of the marinade to serve with dinner, and it really added a lot of flavor to the steak and veggies. Flank steak isn't the most tender cut of meat by any stretch, but not overcooking it and thinly slicing it helped with that.
While this dinner had a lot of components, the whole thing came together very easily, and we were able to make everything on the grill, so there were no pots and pans to clean.
Have you been enjoying any easy meals lately?