My kids and I were headed out of town for Father’s Day weekend for five days to visit family in Washington, D.C.  The hubby was unable to come with us because of work so this left him home alone for Father’s Day weekend….not an entirely bad thing for a Dad to get five days of peace and quiet for his Father’s Day gift.  None-the-less, the girls and I decided to give Dad an early Father’s Day celebration before we left.  We are not huge gift givers for these types of holidays, rather we prefer to celebrate with a great meal.  My husband eats just about everything and loves a wide variety of foods but when it comes to cooking his traditional “favorite meal,” I always go for some type of steak, potato and Caesar salad.  This marinade is great on any cut of beef, chicken, pork tenderloin…I’ve been making it for years..  I love the sweet tanginess of the balsamic vinegar paired with the earthy woodsy flavor of the rosemary.  Flank steak is an easy cut of beef to work with and relatively low fat.  Because it doesn’t have much fat, marinade it for a long while to tenderize. Grill it hot and fast for best results.

Grilled Balsamic Rosemary Marinated Flank Steak (Serves 4)

Ingredients:

2-2.5 lb flank steak

1/4 cup olive oil

4 cloves garlic, chopped or use 2 tsp minced bottled garlic

2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

3 tsp. worchestire sauce

2 tsp dijon mustard

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped

Sauce:

Leftover marinade plus 1 Tbsp cherry or raspberry preserves (optional)

Directions:

Whisk together all ingredients in a bowl.  With a fork, poke steak in a few spots on each side so marinade can do it’s job!  Put flank steak and marinade in a large zip lock bag and marinate in refrigerator for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours.  Take steak out of refrigerator approximately 30 minutes before grilling to bring to room temperature.  Preheat grill to med-high heat. Grill 6-8 minutes per side or until cooked to your liking.  Let sit for 5 minutes.  For sauce, put leftover marinade in pan and bring to a boil.  Boil for 5 minutes.  The sauce will be pretty savory so to add a little sweetness, add a tablespoon of cherry or raspberry preserves, jam, jelly or some honey and simmer.  Drizzle on steak.

This steak goes great with a baked potato and Classic Caesar Salad (see next post).

***There is ongoing debate about whether you can turn a marinade into a sauce.  Most restaurants and professionals would not do this for obvious worries of cross contamination but my opinion is that it is perfectly fine to do in your home as long as you boil the marinade long enough.  In addition, I would never do it with a chicken marinade.