Eliot's Eats

A life well read and well fed

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Marinated Grilled Flank Steak for C.L.U.E.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July!   Last year we hosted over twenty people, grilled burgers and brats, had a fireworks extravaganza in the back yard and had a heck of a time.

This entire summer has been spent with The Hubs and I traveling; however, our traveling has been separate and in opposite directions most of the time.   We have managed to meet up in Dallas (where he was working and I was at a conference) and to spend some time with family prior to the holiday.

A Fourth of July spent with just the two of us on the patio was the goal this year.  Our quiet holiday also allowed me to complete the C.L.U.E task for this month.

clue

Cook, Learn, Undertake and EAT (also known as the C.L.U.E. Society) is a similar to the board game of CLUE.   It involves secrecy, fun, challenge and cooperation with the other game playing members. But don’t be alarmed, there are no murders in our society.  Each month our members receive the name of a food blog and a theme. We lurk and hunt through our assigned blog to find a recipe that we adore and that fits the month’s theme.

Kathy, the creative talent behind A Spoonful of Thyme, was my assigned C.L.U.E project for July.   July’s theme was to be all about BBQ and Grilling.  It was really tough to complete this assignment because it is hard to grill just for one (and, truth be known, I am sort of banned from the grill.  Just sayin’.)

I almost settled on Kathy’s Turkey Meat Loaf Sliders with Cranberry Sauce and White Cheddar and I was going to play up the whole “Christmas in July” theme.    This recipe was still in my bag of tricks until the Fourth rolled around and I wanted something a little simpler (read less prep) to slap on the grill.

What I found was a keeper of a recipe.   It is so good that Kathy has featured it twice on her blog:  Marinated Grilled Flank Steak.

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Kathy’s Marinated Grilled Flank Steak
(My changes and comments are in italics.)

Juice of one  lemon
1/2 c.  Lite soy sauce
1/4 c. or more dry red wine (I used a sweet red and it worked out just fine.)
3 T.  vegetable oil (I used extra virgin olive oil.)
2 T.  Worcestershire Sauce
1 large clove garlic, sliced
Pepper to taste
Chopped green onion or chives (optional)*
Chopped dill weed (optional)*
Celery Seed (optional)*
1 1/2 lb. flank steak, trimmed (I used an almost 2 lb. cut.)

Mix all ingredients in the pan in which meat is to be marinated.  Marinate flank steak, turning occasionally, for 2 to 12 hours in the refrigerator.  Cook meat over hot coals for 5 minutes per side for rare meat.  Removed from grill and let set for ten minutes.  Slice meat on the diagonal across the grain and serve.

*I would make these items NON-optional.   I used fresh chives and fresh chopped dill flowers.   I threw in a dash of celery seeds.  This really made the difference.   The dill really came through in the finished product.

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I used recently harvested garlic in the marinade.

This marinade is delicious and I will use it on many other cuts of beef.

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Don’t mind the weeds—I chopped some dill flowers for the marinade, too.

We had slices of the flank steak with grilled corn on the cob (slathered with sage butter), fresh watermelon, and a fruity drink (more about that soon.)    It was a simple yet delicious meal.

Thank you, Kathy, for a great marinade that I will be sharing with family and friends.

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To end today’s post, I would like to offer you this garden tip.   Although I have many chives growing throughout the gardens, I love how they look in patio pots, especially when they begin to flower.   I can also have chives throughout the winter as this pot is easy to move into the greenhouse.

One final note:  We enjoyed the leftover marinated flank steak as fajitas the next night!

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Please check out the other C.L.U.E. bloggers this month.

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