Grilled Flank Steak with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

What goes well with long evenings, sunshine, and patio drinks? … you guessed it, BBQ! With the daylight slowly creeping into the evening hours, the grill is ‘screaming’ at me to be used; after a long, cold, dormant winter, it’s finally that time to bust out the propane and fire-it-up!

There is always something nostalgic about the first few barbecues of the season; I become transported back to hot summer days of years past, beers, patios and great company. Without getting into too much detail about the definitions of BBQ vs. that of GRILLING, let’s be clear on what we’re doing: In the ‘City of Vancouver’ we grill. I have building by-laws telling me that is what I have to do! So although sometimes we use BBQ and grilling synonymously, make no mistake about it they are very different. Call grilling, BBQ in either, Texas, the Carolinas, or Kansas and you’d be likely to get shot! Anthony Bourdain, explains the art of Southern style Barbecue in his hilarious A Cook’s Tour episode, The BBQ Triangle.

After a gruelling Sunday bike ride to Deep Cove and back, my husband and I were ravenous come dinner time. We wanted/needed something quick and of course delicious; no slow cooking tonight! I grabbed a large flank steak and fresh cherry tomatoes from the grocery store knowing that a quick but tasty meal was soon to follow. Flank steak, although not always the first choice of meat-cuts, is great: You can get a pound of meat without breaking the bank, but the best part is, is that it cooks extremely fast (5 -7 min / side) on the grill. One thing of note is that with flank steak, it is always best to be served on the more rare side, so if you don’t like the sight of pink in your beef, you may want to sit this one out.

My husband and I are still students when it comes to mastering the “test of doneness”. With all of these new cuts of meats that we’re cooking the ‘standards’ for each meat type are slowly but surely being established. Most experienced meat masters test the ‘doneness’, using the poke method: Start by gently poking the steak at the thickest region with your index finger, if the meat doesn’t spring back then the meat is usually considered uncooked or rare. If the meat rebounds from being prodded, then you likely have a medium rare piece of beef. Now finally if the meat is firm when poked, well… you have well-done. Simple? Unfortunately it’s not quite this easy, but practice makes perfect! Although we’re still learning the finer details of this method, we’ve had some pretty good luck thus far. Fortunately for us we usually are under shooting then overshooting the doneness of our meat. It is better to throw the steak back on the grill, rather than settling for an over-cooked piece of meat.

To compliment tonights grilled steak, I prepared a Chimichurri sauce with a twist – I added basil and avocado. I am not sure if this still qualifies as a Chimichurri sauce by definition, but regardless it is delicious and paired great with our steak. Chimichurri sauce is a sauce that was created to marinate or pair with steak and originated from Argentina. The traditional version uses fresh parsley, oregano, garlic, oil and vinegar and a little bit of chili pepper, but there are endless possibilities. Now, if you’re a cilantro ‘hater’, and I know that there are many of you out there, don’t run away from this delicious sauce: This particular Chimichurri that I created is super cilantro heavy, but feel free to play around with the ratios of basil and cilantro to your liking.

Now get out there and start grilling!

{Grill Prep}:

Before you start preparing your food, first things first… Clean that grill! I come from a long line of what I would call ‘master’ grillers. My father, my grandfather, uncles, aunts… they all tell me the same thing. You MUST start with a clean grill. Nothing ruins a beautiful cut of meat on the grill more than the flavours of burnt grease from previous cooking. Make sure you empty the fat drip trays semi-regularly so that they aren’t clogged with stale flavours from a few dozen meals before.

 

{Grilled Flank Steak}:

1 lbs Flank Steak
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil

Preheat Grill to medium-high

Coat steaks with oil, then sprinkle with pepper and salt, set aside as you prepare the Roasted Tomatoes and Basil Avocado Chimichurri

Barbecue steaks, covered, 4 to 6 min per side for medium-rare. When steak is done, let stand 5 min, then thinly slice across the grain this will result in a juicy, tender steak. Place on a platter and top with tomatoes and dressing.

{Roasted Cherry Tomatoes}:

1 pint cherry tomatoes (red, orange, yellow or a combination)
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp Basil
Salt

Pre-heat oven to 400ºF

Cut cherry tomatoes in half and toss with olive oil. Sprinkle in a tablespoon of fresh chopped basil. Add to a parchment lined baking pan and season with salt. Roast, shaking pan occasionally, until tomatoes are just wilted (about 20 minutes).

{Basil Avocado Chimichurri}:

½ Avocado
1 lemon, juice only
1 cup fresh cilantro
⅔ cup basil parsley
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup red wine vinegar
⅔ cup olive oil 1
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
salt to taste

Add oil to a pan and once hot added in the garlic and onions. Cook for 5 minutes on medium heat until the onions become translucent. Remove and set aside.

Add all ingredients except the olive oil into a food processor or high speed blender. Start to blend slowly and then drizzle in the olive oil. Season with salt and red pepper flakes.