Best Quick Steak Marinade

 I found this marinade on-line and I gave it a try.  Oh my goodness, is this a great marinade for beef.  I marinated a boneless sirloin steak and the results were amazing.  I wanted to add this recipe to the Cafe.

Ingredients:

- 4-6 8 ounce steaks (or a Sirloin steak)

- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

- 1/3 cup soy sauce

- 1/4 cup olive oil

- 2 T Worcestershire sauce

- 1 T honey

- 1 t dried Italian seasoning

- 1 t garlic powder

- 1 t dried mustard

- chopped parsely (for garnish)

Instructions:

1.  In a bowl, whisk together our balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, honey, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and dried mustard.

2.  Add the steaks and the marinade to a zip lock bag, tossing the steaks a few times to coat the meat with the marinade.  Press out the excess air, seal the bag, and chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours.

3.  Prepare a grill.  Remove the steaks from the marinade and discard the marinade.  Grill the meat to desired doneness and remove from the grill.  Place the meat on a cutting board and cover with aluminum foil.  Allow the meat to rest for 5-10 minute, then serve.

Cook's Notes:

The original recipe said to only marinate for "15-30" minutes, but I marinated the sirloin steak for 2 hours and the results fantastic.  What I like about this marinade is that the ingredients are all fairly common to most kitchens.  Please give this a try the next time you grill a steak.  You won't be disappointed!

Tri-tip Sirloin Steak Marinade

A few weeks ago, my oldest friend shared a trip-tip sirloin marinade recipe with me, and he urged me to try it.  I told my friend that I would make it that night as we had a sirloin steak with us at our cottage.  I made the marinade, and we had a lazy day at our place.  We eased into the evening, and I did not put the steak on the grill until almost 7:30PM.  We did not finish dinner until almost 8:30PM and we were not disappointed with the result of the marinade.  My friend sent me a text message just as we finished dinner asking me if we liked the marinade, as he was concerned that he had shared a bad recipe with me.  Well, I am happy to report that we loved the marinade.  It has just taken me some longer than I thought it would to post it.  So, here is the recipe for the marinade:

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup garlic salt
- 5-6 crushed or minced garlic cloves
- 1/4 cup dried onion
- 2 lb trip-tip sirloin steak

Directions:
Place all of the ingredients into a bowl and mix well.  Once well mixed, place the sirloin in a zip-lok plastic bag and pour the marinade into the bag.  Force the air out of the bag and seal the bag.  Place the bag in the fridge and let the meat marinate for 4-6 hours.

Prepare a grill.  When your grill is ready, remove the steak from the bag and discard the marinade.  Cook the steak to desired doneness.  Once the steak is done, remove it from the grill, place it on a slotted cutting board and cover the steak loosely with aluminum foil.  Allow the steak to rest for 8-10 minutes.  Slice and serve.

Cook's Notes:
This marinade was fantastic!  I would use it on virtually any tender cut of steak.  I used Lawry's Garlic Salt for my first attempt at the marinade and I was very happy with the outcome.  

Tri-Tip Sirloin Steak Marinade

Last weekend I visited an old friend and he made a marinated tri-tip sirloin steak.  The steak came marinated from a local butcher shop.  I decided to try to make my own marinade and use a tri-tip steak that was in the freezer from our cow purchase last fall.  Here is there recipe I made (it was a combination of a couple of recipes I found):

- 1 T kosher salt
- 1 T ground black pepper
- 1 T garlic powder
- 1 T oregano
- 1 t cayenne pepper
- 1 t dried rosemary
- 1/2 t dry sage
- 2 T olive oil

In a bowl, combine all the dry spices.  Transfer the mixed spices to a zip-lok bag, and add the olive oil.  Mix well.

Place the steak in the bag and rub the bag to that the marinade coats the steak.  Place the bag in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours.

Prepare a fire in your grill.  When the grill is ready, cook the steak until done, flipping the steak once.  When done, remove the steak from the grill and place on a cutting board.  Cover the steak will aluminum foil and allow to rest for 8-10 minutes.

Serve with a hearty red wine.

Cook's Notes:  I cooked the steak for just over 11 minutes.  The steak was a perfect medium rare throughout.  You need to monitor the cooking closely, because if you over cook the steak, the meat will be very tough to chew.  We served a 2011 Zinfandel (Rock Wall) from California with the steak, along with green beans and a Caesar salad.  It was a wonderful meal.

Post-Ex on the Yummy Honey Chicken Kebobs

I made the Yummy Honey Chicken Kabobs last night and I am happy to report that this recipe was a home run. I marinated the chicken for about 24 hours, occasionally shaking the Tupperware container that was holding the chicken and the marinade. I cooked the kabobs for about 14 minutes and they were done. One thing I will probably do differently the next time I make this recipe is to place the chicken and veggies on their own kabobs. The chicken needs to cook a lot longer than the veggies need to cook. This recipe is a keeper.

Grilled Flank Steak with Rosemary and Vinegar Marinade

Grilled Flank Steak with Rosemary and Vinegar Marinade

6 servings

1 cup red wine vinegar

1 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard

2 tablespoons dried rosemary

2 cups olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

3 pounds flank steak

1. In a large bowl combine the red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar,

Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, mustard, rosemary,

both olive oils, and salt and pepper to taste. Whisk together until

thoroughly blended. Reserve once cup of marinade for later use.

2. Add the steak to the remaining sauce in the zip-lok bag and

marinate for at least 1 hour or overnight.

3. Prepare a fire in the grill. Cook the flank steak to desired

doneness. 4-6 minutes per side for medium rare.

3. Remove the steak from the grill and place on a cutting board.

Loosely cover the steak with aluminum foil and allow the steak to

rest for 5-10 minutes. Slice the steak along the grain

into half-inch slices. Serve at once with the reserved sauce.

Cook's Notes: I made the marinade on Friday night and placed the steak and the marinade in a zip-lok bag. The steak marinated overnight and cooked it last night for dinner. The marinade permeate the steak and I will definitely make this again. I drizzled a little of the reserved marinade over the sliced steak and it complimented the meat well.

GINGER AND ORANGE MARMALADE MARINATED FLANK STEAK

I made the recipe below for dinner last night. If you like flank steak, ginger and soy sauce, you owe it to yourself to make this recipe soon.

GINGER AND ORANGE MARMALADE MARINATED FLANK STEAK
- 1 flank steak
- ¾ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 3 tablespoons orange marmalade
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- ¼ cup fresh ground ginger, finely chopped
- 5-6 green onions, finely chopped
- ¼ cup soy sauce for the reduction (optional)

1. In a bowl or a zip-lock bag combine all the ingredients together and mix.
Place the flank steak in the bag and push all of the air out of the bag and seal.
Place the bag in the refrigerator and allow to marinate for at least 4 hours
(over night is recommended).

2. Prepare a fire. Remove the steak from the marinade and save the marinade.
Place the steak on the grill and cook to desired doneness (6-7 minutes per side
for medium rare). Brush some of the marinade over the steak while it is cooking.

3. When the steak is done, remove it from the grill and place on a cutting
board. Loosely cover it with foil and allow the meat to rest for 10 minutes.
After resting, slice the meat across the grain and serve.

4. (Optional) While the meat is resting, pour the remaining marinade and ¼ cup
of soy sauce into a small sauce pan. Reduce the marinade and soy sauce for
6-7 minutes over high heat. Spoon the reduction over the sliced steak.

Cook’s Notes: I made this recipe last night and it was nothing short of
fantastic. I used my food processor to finely chop up the ginger and the
green onions and that really brought out the ginger flavor. I marinated
the steak for 24 hours and the meat was incredibly tender. I also made
the reduction while the meat was resting and I spooned it over the sliced steak.