Soy-Sesame Flank Steak
With the busy lives we all live, there are times that you just want to get something on the table without much thinking. One of the easiest dinners I can think of that does this is grilling a steak and serving a simple side. The problem is that sometimes a grilled steak is kind of boring – especially if the only recipe you have to prepare a steak is to season it with salt and pepper.
I grew up with this recipe. When I was a child, my brother and I would devour flank steak whenever it was prepared this way. Today, my daughter loves eating it too! It’s flavorful, quick to put together, and is an absolute crowd pleaser! Perfect for busy parents!
Hands on time: 10 minutes
Total time: 20 minutes (not including marinating time)
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup sesame seed oil (found in the international aisle of the grocery store)
- 1 or 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 1/2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
- 1 flank steak
Directions:
- Place the soy sauce, sesame seed oil, green onions, garlic, and ginger in a plastic ziplock bag. squish the bag to mix the ingredients and set aside.
- Score the flank steak.
- Place flank steak into the ziplock bag with the marinade. Close bag and wiggle marinade and steak until marinade has coated the steak.
- Let the steak marinade for at least 1 hour or for as long as 24 hours.
- Set your oven on broil or heat grill. Cook flank steak for about 5-7 minutes on side for medium-rare or until flank steak is done to your preference.
- Serve with your choice of side like baked potato, quinoa, couscous, or wild rice.
Caramelized Onion, Shiitake, and Portabella Mushroom Soup
Doing this blog, I’ve come across some really great recipe inspirations. This one came to me from Kitchen Convival.
I love caramelized onions – there are few flavors that blend sweet, savory, and comfort than a nicely caramelized onion. And I love the earthiness of mushrooms. When I read Dave’s recipe for Shitake and Caramelized Onion Soup I fell in love with the idea of making this soup. Lucky me, the next few days were going to be chilly compaired to our abnormally warm Spring in the DC area.
I loved his little tip about cooking the ginger in tinfoil so that it softens but doesn’t burn or caramelize in the pan.
When we tried it, my husband absolutely loved this soup – one of the best ones he has ever had! So for this household it’s definitely a keeper recipe.
So here’s my version of his soup. I made a few changes to his recipe – like adding a carrot, cream, and some dry sherry.
Hands on time: 40 minutes
Total time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 1/2 yellow onions – thinly sliced
- 1 carrot
- 1 1/2 tsp of fresh ginger – roughly chopped
- 2 portabella mushrooms
- 1/3 lb shiitaki mushrooms (fresh)
- 1 tsp salt
- pepper to taste
- 4 cups beef broth
- 1/2 cup cream
- 1/4 cup dry sherry
Directions:
- Add olive oil in a large pan on medium-low heat.
- Add onions to the pan.
- Peel and thinly slice the carrot. Add to pan with onions.
- Loosely wrap chopped ginger in tinfoil and add to the side of the pan.
- Clean and roughly chop the mushrooms and add to pan with other vegetables. Reserve the stems of the shitake mushrooms.
- In a pot, add beef broth and shitake stems. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.
- When onions are caramelized, carrots softened, and mushrooms shrunk, remove the vegetable mixture from the heat.
- Take out mushroom stems from beef broth and add vegetables, ginger, salt (to taste), and pepper (to taste) to the beef broth.
- Fill the blender about 1/4 to a 1/3 of the way up with the beef and vegetable mixture. Blend until smooth and put in a separate pot. Repeat this process until the beef and vegetable mixture is completely blended/pureed.
- Keep soup warm on medium-low heat. Add cream and sherry. Continue to cook for another 5-10 minutes (to cook out the alcohol).
- Serve with a garnish of parsley and good quality bread.
Quick Tip – Dicing VS. Grating Onions
Do you ever add onions to your meatloaf, meatballs, or burger patties? Do you ever find that the diced onion parts make it difficult to shape the meat into whatever shape you need it to be and that the onions aren’t as evenly spread throughout the dish as you might like? My suggestion is to grate the onion.
Grating an onion breaks down the onion so that what you have left is onion pulp and juice. I’ve noticed that if you combine the grated onion into ground meat dishes that the flavor consistency is better and because you’re using pulp, you’re not ending up with random large pieces of onion that may or may not be completely cooked and soft.
To grate an onion, first remove all the loose peel and root. Then, cut the onion in half. Grab a cheese grater and slide the onion halves up and down like you would when grating cheese. Add the onion pulp and juice to whatever dish you’re making and thoroughly combine. You’ll be surprised at how much of a difference grated onions can make!
