I may have to coin Summer 2011 the “summer of change” for Angie Pangie. I no longer have any children in elementary school, I bleached my hair completely blonde (major props to all my friends who stuck with me through the “orange phases”) and Katie went to live-away school in July. We all miss her terribly, even though she’s only an hour away and comes home nearly every weekend.
When we broke the news to Katie’s sisters that she was moving, Babs asked with big, sad doe eyes “Can I have her stereo?”
We’re all adjusting to having one less person in the house.
No, no really. We do miss Katie!
Something really interested happened after her first week away. I never it thought it would happen to me. But it has. I found myself sounding like an old Italian Grandmother – “Ohmigosh! You look SO skinny! Let me get you something to eat!!”
I spend the entire weekend cooking, baking and trying convince her that she really does have room in her duffle bag to take back some mashed potatoes and an apple dumpling (or two.) *sigh*
Katie’s never been a big eater and I truly am hard pressed to convince her to take food back, so instead I just feed her while she’s here. This weekend I made one of her favorites – grilled steaks with chimichurri sauce. I don’t make it very often, because we don’t really eat steak all that often, but I knew she would enjoy it. My understanding is that the food at school, is, um. Well. Bad.
This steak, however, is so delicious and delightfully simple that I decided to bust out the old camera and share my super secret grilling recipes with you. Because you look a little skinny, too. I’m pretty sure there is room in your bag for one of these apple dumplings …
There are essentially two recipes you’ll need for these steaks; a rub, and the sauce. Take the steaks out of the fridge and let them sit at room temperature for 15-30 minutes. In these photos, I used New York Strip steaks, but you can use whatever cut you like. If you use a 3/4″-1″ thick cut of meat while you’re grilling you’ll be able to following my timing pretty closely. Warm the grill up to about 400 degrees and mix up the rub you’ll need to sprinkle over the steak.
Mix together
2 Tablespoons of kosher salt 1 teaspoon (each) ground black pepper, dill weed, minced dehydrated garlic 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper 1/4 teaspoon (each) paprika, celery seed and cumin
I put mine into a little shaker bottle and keep it around (there’s usually enough here for about 8 steaks), but feel free to just use your fingers to sprinkle it on. Both ways work.
After the steaks have warmed up a bit, drizzle a little olive oil over each steak and sprinkle the seasoning mix over each side of the steak.
Put the steaks on the grill, close the lid and set your timer for 5 minutes (assuming you have a 3/4″-1″ cut of meat.)
In the bowl of your food processor place one full bunch of Italian flat leaf parsley. I like to remove the really big stems, but you can leave them if you’re in a hurry or have a super duper food processor that leaves no stems behind (mine does.) Pulse the parsley until it’s chopped up a bit.
While pulsing the food processor, add in 3/4 Cup of extra virgin olive oil, 1/4 Cup of red wine vinegar and mix until you have concoction that looks a little like basil pesto.
Peel and smash 8 cloves of garlic, dice a chunk (about 1-2 tablespoons) of red onion and add these to the bowl. Also add in 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of dried oregano and black pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt. Now turn that blade on until you have a smooth green sauce that looks like this.
As soon as the 5 minute timer goes off, grab your umbrella (because it ALWAYS starts raining when you’re grilling Angie Pangie style) and head out to flip over those steaks. Shut the lid again and set the time for another 4 minutes. At the end of the 4 minutes you’ll have a rare-medium rare steak. We prefer ours more on the medium side, so I usually leave them on for an additional 7 minutes (total cooking time is 12 minutes.)
Remove the steaks from the grill, cover them with some foil and let them rest for a few minutes. Top them off with some of the green sauce (chimichurri) and enjoy! Oh, and don’t forget to turn off the grill (if it’s gas.) That seems to be an ongoing problem here, too. I’m just trying to help you out – we’ve refilled our propane tank a few too many times to mention this summer.
Jeez, doesn’t this photo make you glad you aren’t a vegetarian?
Well, just be warned. If you do decide to take the leftovers the next day and slice them up and serve them on top of your salad for lunch – you might get called a swine by your husband when he realizes you just ate the last of the steak.
I can honestly say that is the first time I have ever heard him call me something of the pork persuasion. (I’m also quite sure it will be the last. Because my Momma taught me well the art of “Remind him every chance you get.”
To be fair. It is a really, really good recipe. Go try it. You’ll see. And he was completely kidding.
: Chimichurri
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I really love this part of your’s, “‘remind him every chance you get.’”
Men are really the weakest in terms of steaks. The one you have posted here is really the best. Easy to follow and I am sure my husband loves this.
Other thing too, the gas thing is what most people tend to forget to turn off. For precautionary measures, just have presence of mind.
Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and having this served is what I am going to do come romance day!
__
Myrna
Myrna´s last [type] ..onion juice for hair loss