Grilled flank steak with herb salsa verde is an easy dinner right from the BBQ. With a flavorful, fresh and tangy sauce, it’s the perfect main dish.
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The best meals are from the grill. Can I say that? I’m not sure I can claim that when there’s delicious meals from the oven, made on the stovetop and fresh from a salad bowl. But this one is a winner!
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The best steak marinade:
If you’re burned out on the same old burgers and chicken from the grill, this marinated and grilled flank steak will take dinner to a new level! One of the secrets to cooking flank steak is a great marinade. I packed this marinade with tangy acidic ingredients, aromatic seasonings and herbs.
- A great marinade will impart flavor to your meat, but not over power the natural beef flavors.
- Flank steak is a lean and flavorful cut of beef, so it benefits from acidic ingredients to help tenderize the muscles. I included lemon juice and vinegar and flavorful acids to make a delicious and effective marinade.
- I added garlic and shallots to the marinade to pump up the flavor. Flank steak benefits from stronger flavors that won’t cook off, because it cooks for a short amount of time on the grill.
- Dried herbs add an earthy flavor to a marinade. I chose hearty ones like oregano and rosemary.
What is the best steak to grill?
Really any steak is great for grilling. Marbled, tender steaks like T-bone, NY Strip steak and Ribeye are all fantastic on the grill because you want them to cook and caramelize quickly on the outside and stay juicy on the inside. The flames of a grill are perfect for that.
If you’re burned out on the same old burgers and chicken, grilled flank steak with an herb-loaded, tangy sauce is genius!
Lean cuts of beef like flank steak are great cooked on low heat slowly or quickly over an open flame. If it gets cooked low and slow it will shred into strips and be a great taco or burrito filling! When quick-cooking it like this recipe you want to make sure to not over cook it so it doesn’t become tough. And slice it across the muscle grain to get tender pieces of meat like in my pictures.
I love the Certified Angus Beef website for details on the right temperature to cook each cut to. Make sure to have a meat thermometer handy near the grill for the best way to check for doneness.
Adding a salsa verde (green salsa!) to the meat takes this simple marinated flank steak meal to the next level. Again I packed in the flavor with lemon juice and vinegar and even added anchovies. You can’t taste the anchovies themselves, but they add an umami (a category of taste in food, yumminess!) that balances out the entire sauce.
Grilled flank steak is perfect with this herb-loaded, flavorful condiment. You’ll want to eat the salsa verde on the steak, slathered on grilled bread, over veggies and even on rice. Yum! Enjoy.
Grilled flank steak with herb salsa verde is an easy dinner right from the BBQ. With a flavorful, fresh and tangy sauce, it's the perfect main dish.
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- 3 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
- 3 cloves chopped garlic
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 lb flank steak
- 1 anchovy fillet (or 1/4 tsp anchovy paste)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 cups packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
- 4 tsp chopped thyme leaves
- 1/2 cup olive oil
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In a zip-top bag, combine lemon juice, white wine vinegar, shallots, garlic, olive oil, dried oregano, dried rosemary, black pepper and kosher salt. Add flank steak, seal bag and marinate in the fridge for 2 to 3 hr.
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Remove steak from marinade (discard marinade) and grill over direct high heat for 5 to 6 minutes on each side for medium rare. Let steak rest about 10 min before slicing.
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In a blender or small food processor, blend anchovy fillet, garlic, kosher salt, lemon zest, lemon juice and red wine vinegar. Scrape down sides of blender and add packed parsley leaves, chopped thyme and olive oil; blend until just smooth and drizzle over flank steak.
• For the most tender steak, cook to no more than medium (better: medium rare) and cut across the grain into thin slices.
Recipe Tara Teaspoon. Food styling Cyd Raftus McDowell. Prop styling Paige Hicks. Photography Peter Ardito. Originally published in LHJ 06/10.
