Spicy Asian Marinated Steak

My bff and college roommate gets a subscription to Cooking Light.  She rips out the recipes she likes and then passes the magazines on to me.  Lucky for me, she doesn't eat the same things I do!

Anyways, I love this recipe.  You will too.  Just a heads up that it calls for a day of marinating.  So plan ahead.  It's ridiculously easy.

Spicy Asian Marinated Flank:

• 2 tablespoons less-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
• 1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple in juice, drained
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 (1-pound) flank steak, trimmed

Throw your steak into a ziploc bag, add all of the ingredients and close.  Give it a good mixin' and a shakin'.  Place in the fridge.  Pour yourself a glass of hard earned wine.  Maybe throw up your kicks on the coffee table and get to some DVR-ing.  Life should always be this easy.

At some point, be sure to flip over your ziploc bag and give a good shake.

The next day, take out the steak and discard the marinade.  I know, all those ingredients just to be thrown away!  I actually used my leftovers on some pork, so I got two uses out of my mine.  Now, if you have a grill, heat it up and grill away.  Now if you live somewhere where your grilling is limited due to it being buried under snow or you don't have access to a grill because city living entitles you to zero outdoor space, then it's time to pan sear it. 

Heat your pan, then add a tablespoon or so of EVOO.  I did mine about medium high.  Once the oil is HOT, add your steak.  

 

Remember the golden rule when searing:  DO NOT TOUCH.  Let it sear.

 

I'm serious!  Don't touch!  As you can see in my pictures, my oil is starting to smoke.  I'm worried about ruining by best IKEA frying pan.  (insert sarcasm and gift ideas here)  But I soldier on.  There's searing to be done.

 

After five minutes or so, flip.  As you can see, I was hoping for a better sear, but the meat was not flat on the bottom. 

And, at this point, I definitely set off the smoke alarms in my apartment.  Again. 

Five minutes on the other side and PRESTO:  Sear has been achieved.

 

Once your steak is done, let it sit for five minutes or so.  This allows the juices inside to set.  If you slice right away, then will drain all over the plate and you'll miss out. 

I served mine with the world's easiest side.  I cut up a red pepper, purple onion, sugar snap peas and some garlic.  Saute the garlic very briefly, add in your vegetables and saute until soft/crisp.  I LOVED this side dish.  It doesn't need anything fancy, the vegetables just do right by each other. 

 

Slice the meat and serve.  Check out that perfectly seared steak.  I was very impressed with my skills!



Those are homemade sweet potato fries in the back. Amazing.  Recipe to come later.



 

 

The Most Amazing "Salad". Ever.

My favorite restaurant in Boston is Houston's.  I think it's now called Hillstone, but to me, it will always be Houston's.  Nearly four years ago, I went to dinner with a few coworkers and ordered their Thai Beef Noodle Salad.  I was probably trying to watch my weight, hence the salad order (even though any good calorie counter knows that salads are disguised  caloric terror attacks), but what came out to me didn't even contain a single piece of lettuce. 

Instead it had thai noodles.  And mango.  And avocado.  Juicy cherry tomatoes.  Delicious pieces of fillet - perfectly seared. Cilantro.  And was that Mint?  Swooooooon.  All mixed in a sweet dressing, with just the right amount of spicy-ness.  Every bite was an amazing flavor party in my mouth. 

I have never felt the need to order anything else from Houston's since.  Why bother?  I've tried their ribs, sushi, fish - but nothing will ever come close to their Thai Beef Noodle Salad.  This dish singlehandedly gets me in the door every time I think about having a fabulous meal out.  I have been there on first dates, birthday dinners, parents in town dinners, random weekday nights.... sometimes the craving call just needs to be answered.  Sometimes you just need to make up a reason to go and "celebrate".

The dish costs a $18 so it is clearly not an everyday purchase.  I have searched high and low for a copycat recipe to make at home.... and finally, I stumbled across it on Epicurious.com.

And it was pretty freaking amazing.  I share it's glory with you:

Dressing:

3 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon water
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons Sriracha or similar chile paste
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons canola or grapeseed oil (I subbed vegetable oil with success)

Salad Ingredients:
1/2 pound filet mignon, cut into chunks
1 ounce Chinese egg noodles, cooked al dente
1 1/2 cups shredded cabbage
1 shredded carrot
1 diced mango
1 avocado
1/3 cup diced tomato
2 sliced scallions
2 tablespoons crushed peanuts
1/2 cup combination of chopped cilantro, mint, and Thai basil
 
This salad is a labor of love, as there is a ridiculous amount of chopping involved.  Best to have a sous chef with you in the kitchen to do some of the manual labor.  (Besides, then you have someone to help with all the dishes.  I am learning this the hard way.) 
 
Chop up all your salad ingredients, keeping in mind that precise measurement isn't all that crucial.  At the same time, throw a pot on the stove and chef up those chinese egg noodles.  I went to Chinatown to purchase mine, but if you can't find them, I think angel hair pasta would substitute as a "good enough".  Once they are cooked al dente, strain through cold water to chill.  Set aside.
 



A little work goes a long way in the prep of this dish.

  
Once all your ingredients are prepped, fire up either a hot pan or the grill and chef up some steak baby!  Simple is better here - some salt/pepper and high heat.  I like my steak medium rare.  Once the steak it ready, you're ready to make the final step:  The Dressing. 
 
Throw all your ingredients into a bowl.  Noodles should be light, cabbage should be plentiful.  Tomatoes, avocado, mangoes away to your hearts content.
 
Let the pictures do the talking......
 



The colors.  The freshness.  Yum.

  

 
This was worth every bit of effort and every dime spent in recreating.  Utterly Fabulous.

Steak Bun

It's my blog and I can brag if I want to right?  Clearly.  That's what self promotion is all about.

Tonight, I made one of the tastiest things I have ever cheffed up in the kitchen.  It's so tasty that I can't wait to make it again in the near future and play with the recipe!  Until then, I have a party sized serving that I get to eat for every meal until I head home to Minnesota in 36 hours.  I went out for a glass of wine tonight with a few coworkers, but I am not going to lie, I was pretty excited to come home and try out this recipe.  (And was rewarded!)

I had a recipe to follow, but I merely used it as a guide rather than the law.  It's call Steak Bun - which is a Vietnamese noodle dish typically made with rice, crispy vegetables, a tangy sauce and thinly sliced meat. My recipe is below, the official Eating Well recipe is below. 

Official Steak Bun (by Kelley).

1/2 pound beef round (stripped for stirfry - about $3.50 in MA grocery store)

3 tbsp teriyaki (for stir frying meat)

6 ounces wheat spaghetti (thin or angel hair)

1/2 cup rice vinegar

2 tbsp fish sauce (smelly)

2 tbsp sugar

7 1/2 cups napa cabbage (shredded in bag)

1 shredded carrot

1/2 cup green onions/scallions

1/8 cup unsalted peanuts, crushed.

3 tbsp teriyaki into a hot pan on medium high heat.  My hope was to infused some flavor.  My reality was that the teriyaki served as a healthy alternative to oil, rather than any delicious flavor reduction.  Meh, sometimes your most grandiose ideas in the kitchen fall flat.  I did about 3 to 4 minutes on each side.  I wanted the middles pink and the meat not over cooked.  Set aside to cool.

All these ingredient might seem overwhelming at first, but they are things I have on hand.  Fish sauce and rice vinegar have been around for a while (purchased both at Kam Man in Quincy, saved both from Garbage Bound fates in numerous fridge cleanings - I knew they would come in handy... someday!)

Also, one of these things is not like the other.  Bud Light Lime!  How did that get in there?  C'mere... let me drink you. 

Start boiling water for pasta.  Boil and then rinse with cold water.  Noodles taste best semi chilled for this recipe.

Oh, Holla! Are those BBQ Pop Chips?  YES!  oh wait.  Must.  Resist. All Temptation.  To. Have. Beer. And. PopChips. Dinner....

After I polished off both the Bud Light Lime AND the remainder of the PopChips, I mixed the rice vinegar, fish sauce and sugar in a bowl together.  Whisk.  Set aside.

I mixed the cabbage, shredded carrots and scallions in a bowl.  Add chilled pasta noodles.

Added me some of the cool beef that I sliced (along the meat grain of course!) and the peanuts that I crushed with a random can of baked beans.  (Feel free to use food processor to grind up OR use whatever heavy item you might have.  I wrapped mine in a semi ghetto bag fashion out of generic plastic wrap to crush.)

I'm don't need fancy brand names to make awesome meals!  So there!

If you're cooking for one, like me (code name: leftovers three days in a row), then portion out salad mixture into containers. Do not add the dressing mixture until you're ready to eat, otherwise the cabbage will get all soggy and lose it's delicious crunch.  Once you're ready to eat, spoon a few tablespoons of dressing into the salad mixture and mix around.  Be liberal, but not overly liberal.

That's it! Up close!  Droll over those fabulous colors and crunch.  Delishhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!  Am very, very much looking forward to healthy sized portions for lunch and dinner tomorrow.

Next time I make this, I am going to use mint instead of scallions and add mango pieces.  You could also use pork or chicken.  You could also scratch the teriyaki and use EVOO or canola or peanut oil.  Additionally, you could use sub rice noodles (as the recipe calls for), but I thought a skinny wheat noodle worked just as well.

I'm in quite the single girl predicament:  I am unexpectedly heading home to MN on Thursday for my aunt's funeral.  Yet I have probably $15 worth of brand new produce that probably won't last until I get back on Saturday.  I need to look into creating some sort of spinach, asparagus, scallion and mushroom creation tomorrow night and freezing it for future use.  

Calories - (3 portions) - 550 calories each

Steak Bun: (official recipe from eating well)

1 Tbsp - canola oil

1 pound sirloin or strip steak

6 ounces rice noodles

1/2 cup rice vinegar

2 Tbsp fish sauce

2 Tbsp sugar

4 cups shredded napa cabbage

1 1/2 shredded carrot

1 cup thinly sliced radishes

1 cup fresh sliced basil or mint

1/2 cup chopped peanuts

Prep same as my recipe above.