Chimichurri Steak Sandwiches

We ended up having enough Pepper Crusted Steak leftover that we decided to make sandwiches out of it for dinner the next night. As I googled ideas on what to make, chimichurri came to mind, even though I've never tasted it. Then I found a recipe on the Food Network website and decided it could easily be adapted to what I wanted.

These sandwiches turned out great, but almost a little overpowering with the parsley. I don't know how, but Rainbow was out of flat-leaf parsley so I ended up with curly parsley. I made the sandwiches on what we had left of the Roasted Garlic Ciabatta bread from Costco, and they were definitely a mouthful!

Chimichurri Steak Sandwiches

Source: Adapted from Food Network

Ingredients:

1 cup flat-leaf parsley

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 Tbls olive oil

3/4 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. pepper

Provolone cheese slices

Directions:

Pulse parsley and garlic in blender or food processor until finely chopped. Remove to a bowl and stir in lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Let sit until ready to assemble sandwiches.

Spread parsley mixture evenly over both sides of bread; place sliced steak evenly over bottom half. Layer provolone cheese on top (use as much or as little as you want). Place open sandwich in broiler until cheese is bubbly and top half is crispy.

Enjoy.

Pepper Crusted Steak with Shallot, Mushroom and Wine Reduction

Today, Andy and I wandered around Costco, finding samples and contemplating dinner. I finally settled on buying some boneless top sirloin, 5 lbs of it to be exact. I got home and could not figure out what to do with it, and steak is never one of my top choices for dinner. I knew that I had heard of pepper crusted steak before, so I decided on that, but figured I should have a sauce for it so I went to google. I read through quite a few sauces and reductions and decided to write up one of my own.

For envisioning this on my own, it actually turned out really well. And the best part was, Andy helped me out in the kitchen! I really can't remember many meals we have cooked together, so it was really fun to be able to be together and work on this meal together.

We served this with awesome roasted garlic ciabatta bread from Costco, and some parmesan mashed potatoes. Someday I'll get better at serving veggies with every meal, probably not until I have children's health to worry about though:)

Pepper Crusted Steak with Shallot, Mushroom and Wine Reduction
Source: Kitchen Escapes original
4-6 servings

Steak:
2 lbs. boneless top sirloin ( or any cut of steak you prefer)
1 Tbls. peppercorns (or coarsley ground pepper, use more if you prefer more zip)
1Tbls. butter
1 Tbls. olive oil
salt

Shallot, Mushroom and Wine Reduction:
1 shallot, sliced
1 cup sliced button mushrooms
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp. dried Thyme
1 Tbls. butter
1 cup wine
1 tsp. cornstarch

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

If using whole peppercorns, grind in a spice grinder or using a mortar and pestle. Season steaks with salt and rub one side of each steak with pepper.

Heat 1 Tbls. each of butter and olive in large skillet over medium-high heat. Place steaks pepper side down and cook for about 5 minutes. Flip and cook second side 5 minutes. Transfer steaks to oven proof dish and bake until internal temperature reaches 140 degrees for medium-rare (because our steaks were huge, this took about 15 minutes). Take steaks out of oven and tent with aluminum foil to continue the cooking process and to allow juices to settle back into meat.

While steaks bake in oven, melt 1 Tbls. butter in empty skillet. Add shallot, mushrooms, garlic and Thyme. Saute roughly 5 minutes until shallot and mushrooms are soft. Combine cornstarch and wine; add to skillet. Simmer, scraping up brown bits from bottom of pan, until sauce is reduced and thickened. Season with salt to taste.

Serve sauce over steaks.

Mongolian Beef

Chinese take-out is one of my ultimate comfort foods. Unfortunately, I have never really ventured out past sweet and sour chicken and lo mein. Also very unfortunate is that I have never had Mongolian Beef before. Sad, I know. So when I saw this recipe at elly says opa! I immediately saved it.

This dish is amazing. It tastes just like take-out but is a lot healthier and cooks up in a matter of minutes. I'm not sure if it really tastes like take-out Mongolian Beef, but I'm ok with that because it's still awesome. I think this recipe will make many repeat appearances in our kitchen.

I didn't change anything from this recipe, but next time I might add more water. My sauce thickened up a lot and didn't really leave any 'sauce' in the end. I also added in a bag of frozen vegetables (asian medley) right at the end and served this over brown rice. Also, it says it serves 2 but we had at least 2 servings left over. This could be because I added vegetables, or I may have used more than 2/3 lb steak. I would love to have a kitchen scale to help me out with issues like this, so maybe I will add that to my Christmas list:)

Mongolian Beef
Serves 2

Adapted from Pink Bites

Ingredients

2/3 lb. flank steak, sliced across the grain

3 Tbsp. corn starch

3 tsp. canola oil, divided

1/2 tsp. grated ginger

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce

1/3 cup water

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp. (heaping) red pepper flake

s2-3 large scallions, sliced

Pat the steak pieces and make sure they’re dry; then, toss the steak and cornstarch together. Be sure all pieces are fully coated, but shake off excess corn starch.

Mix together the soy sauce, water, brown sugar and red pepper flakes.

Heat half the oil in a wok or large saute pan at medium-high heat and add the ginger and garlic. Once fragrant (30 seconds or so), add the soy sauce mixture. Cook for about 2 minutes and transfer to a bowl.

Turn the heat up on the wok and add the remaining oil. Add the beef and cook, stirring until just browned. Pour the sauce back in and let it cook with the meat. (This is where I added in some vegetables, already steamed in the microwave.) Let the sauce thicken to your liking, and then add the green onions in just before plating.

Serve with rice. Enjoy.