Thursday, July 8, 2010

Sunday Dinner: Steak

If you have grass-fed beef steaks in your freezer, or if you buy the cheap tough cuts of steak, or if you are nervous about making steak, I can help you!  My friend Rebecca gave me a recipe for a marinade with every known tenderizing agent and tons of flavor to boot. 

Daddy's Margaret Dilling's Steak Marinade
1 1/2 c. oil
3/4 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. worcestershire sauce
1/3 c. lemon juice
2 Tbs. dry mustard
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 c. wine vinegar
2 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. pepper

This is almost a quart, so marinate steaks in at least a 9x13 pan.  Halve it for smaller amounts of meat. Marinate your steaks for at least 6 hours and even overnight. Grill until done over a hot fire, staying by the grill and keeping a close eye on things. We had a sirloin steak on Sunday and my husband did it 5 minutes on each side and it was just pink in the middle (a restaurant "medium well").



Friday: 
put a really big sirloin steak in fridge to thaw

Saturday:
left messages for 5 different households until I managed to borrow a 10" springform pan
baked Honeyed Apricot Almond Cake
simultaneously baked potatoes and then mashed them with butter/salt
made marinade and put the steak in it

Sunday morning:
made salad with tomatoes, cukes, sweet onion, vinaigrette, basil and parsley

Sunday noon:
splashed a little milk in the mashed potatoes and microwaved until hot, mashing and stirring
slapped steak on grill
set table


The textures and flavors were so wonderfully balanced.  No one actually wanted cake at the time, so later, when the house was quiet, I had a piece.  Alone.  With a deliciously iced green tea latte.  I know it's supposed to be gross to have milk in green tea, but I followed my instincts as I am wont to do on Sunday afternoons.  Then when everyone woke up wanting cake, I had some with them.  It's a superb cake.

P.S. I don't know why I forgot to post about Sunday dinner until now.

P.P. S. The leftover cold steak went into tortillas the next day with cheese and a version of this salad on top.  Super.

6 comments:

Jennifer Jo said...

So glad you enjoyed the cake! It's pretty set atop the yellow checkered tablecloth.

And that steak looks mighty fine, too.

Deanna Beth said...

A friend foisted basil on me from her garden while I was foisting zucchini on her from mine. I don't really know what to do with basil. Pesto? Never had it. Do I need a tablespoon or a bushel of basil to make pesto?

Rebecca said...

Where at did you get your steak knives? If we're going to be steak people I'll be needing a set.

Margo said...

Deanna Beth, PESTO all the way. You need at least a handful plus a food processor to make pesto. Here's a link to a recipe that looks like mine: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/fresh_basil_pesto/
I definitely use walnuts for more flavor. I also add a sprig or two of parsley.
Use the pesto sparingly on hot pasta - we usually do it individually at the table, but some people toss a batch of pesto with a whole batch of pasta. Leftover pesto keeps fine in the fridge - it's great in sandwiches. Or you can freeze it. Let me know how it turns out!

Reb, I don't even remember where. I think most housewares sections have them - like you needed an excuse to browse there.

Christian - Modobject@Home said...

I always enjoy your Sunday dinner posts. I'm making note of the marinade recipe. Do you ever use flat iron steaks? They're inexpensive and great for grilling then slicing for tacos/fajitas.

I cooked from Simply in Season tonight and thought of you. :)

Margo said...

Christian, I use whatever comes in my 1/8 of a beef steer we buy from a farmer friend :) But I have heard very good things about flat iron steaks.