Grilled Marinated Beef with Caramelized Onions

I find any time of the year is perfect for grilling. Lucky for me, I have my grill strategically placed so I can get to it anytime of the year. I guess not having access to a grill for many many years while living in NYC, I feel compelled to grill whenever I can. Check out my Grill Tips for information on grilling and check out my Tools & Gadgets for some great grill tools that are a must for any serious Griller.

Grilling beef over fire goes back a long time and may still be the best way to cook it. Maybe it's the smoky flavor, or maybe it's the sound of the sizzle while cooking, but eating a steak right off the grill is definitely one of my favorite ways of preparing beef.

There are many different cuts of beef and each should be prepared in it's own way to bring out the maximum flavor. Generally, lean steaks should be marinated and cooked quickly so they don't overcook and become tough. Fattier cuts like the tenderloin and filet mignon can be lightly oiled, seasoned with salt and pepper and thrown on the grill. For this recipe, I used a lean flank steak marinated in soy, sherry, and Dijon mustard.

For your information, I originally posted this recipe with a mistake. I said to marinate the beef and then use the same marinade later to baste the beef while grilling. It was brought to my attention that this is not wise because "Surface bacteria, including all the nasty ones, propagate in the marinade. When you smear them back onto the surface of the meat, you re contaminate the meat with bacteria." So I changed the recipe to as follows. RG

Reluctant Gourmet’s Tips
1. Be sure your grill is hot enough before starting.
2. Grill meat and veggies about 4 inches from heat source.
3. To add more flavor, try adding pre soaked chunks of natural hardwoods like Hickory.
4. Make sure grill is clean before cooking.
5. To prevent sticking, brush or spray a light coating of oil on grid.
6. If your grill has a top, close it to allow smoke to add it's flavor.

Grilled Marinated Beef with Caramelized Onions

Grilled Steak with Peppercorn Sauce

The first time I made this dish, I was trying to impress my girlfriend (now my wife) with my cooking skills. I would like to think this dinner contributed to our getting married.

This was not the first time the Reluctant Gourmet has made his kitchen an arena for romance...... but that's another story. So, what did I cook for her?

One of my favorite restaurants in NYC is Raoul's; they make the best Steak au Poivre (peppercorns) in the city. So I decided to reproduce this dish. Since I am a city apartment dweller, I grilled the filet mignons on my anodized aluminum reversible range top grill.

Just beware they can be a little smoky if you don't have good ventilation. In addition we had mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, and a tossed salad. I also served a wonderful California Cabernet Sauvignon. The result? Well, we had another date.

My Tips for Preparing Steak au Poivre Prepare what you need before you start. It’s how the pros do it and it simplifies the process when you are scrambling to put it all together. Make sure the grill is hot, really hot. This will sear the outside of the meat and keep the juices in. And don’t use a fork to turn the steaks, use tongs or a spatula to prevent juices from leaking out. If you are using a broiler, you want to preheat it to get it hot for the same reason as above. Buy yourself a potato ricer for mashed potatoes. It a great gadget to have in your kitchen, it looks like a giant garlic press, costs about six bucks, but there’s nothing better for smooth airy mashed potatoes. A folding steamer platform that sits in almost any pot works great for your steamed veggies. Important, be careful not to overcook the broccoli, you want it to be crisp but tender. Invest in a salad spinner. They’re inexpensive and work great. There’s nothing more unappealing than soggy lettuce. And speaking of lettuce, you may have grown up on iceberg, but try some red or green leaf lettuce for a little diversity.

Steak au Poivre (Peppercorns)
Serves 4
Cooking Techniques: Grilling

If you enjoy this recipe for Steak au Poivre, you will want to check my Steak with Wild Mushrooms.

INGREDI

Stuffed Flank Steak

I am always thrilled when I find a recipe that allows me to take an inexpensive cut of meat and transform it into an incredible meal. That’s what you’ll find with this recipe for Stuffed Flank Steak that I found in one of my favorite cookbooks, The New Basics Cookbook. Although I’ve made some additions to their "cooking procedures", the recipe is basically the same.

Flank steak is a boneless cut of beef that is long and fibrous and comes from the cow’s lower section. Typically you tenderize flank by marinating it before grilling. Or you can slow cook it (braise) in broth and vegetables.

In this recipe we take another approach. Have your butcher butterfly or split the meat down the center so it lays flat and then break down the tough fibers by running it through his meat tenderizer. You can also tenderize it at home with that funny looking mallet with the ridges on it or as my daughter is doing with a meat pounder.

The only other time-consuming ingredient is preparing the roasted red bell peppers. They are easy to do and are explained below, but if you really don’t want to be bothered, you can purchase them at one of our fine food establishments. That done, you are ready to turn an ordinary piece of meat into a delicious steak stuffed with spinach, roasted red peppers, prosciutto, and parmesan cheese. We served this dish with rice pilaf, sautéed asparagus, and a salad. The next day I had the beef cold for lunch and it was delicious.

Cooking Videos - Be sure to check out these two quick but informative cooking videos from Cuisine at Home and check out all my favorite cooking videos here.

How to Butterfly a Flank Steak

How to Slice Flank Steak

Chicken Thighs with Sausage

Chicken Thighs with Sausage
& Braised Fennel

Every once in a while I find a recipe that is perfect to my tastes and I want to immediately share it with everyone I know. I call them "As Good As It Gets"

This is one of those recipes. Actually, my wife found it in a recent Fine Cooking edition and we prepared it for some friends who felt the same as I did after tasting it and requested the recipe. We prepared it again for a friend recovering from surgery but this time we made a triple batch. Some for her dinner, some for our dinner, and some for the freezer for a later date. She loved it and requested the recipe and asked me to send a copy to her sister. So now I'm thinking this is a winner and I should share it with you.

It's not a difficult recipe but there are a lot of steps and takes your full attention. Like making risotto, you have to be there the whole time it's cooking. But the effort is well worth it. The recipe in Fine Cooking calls for using skinless bone-in chicken thighs, but the first time I made it I used boneless/skinless thighs. The second time I prepared it, I could only find bone-in chicken thighs with skin so I removed the skin myself. Which was better? I found no difference in taste with the bone-in or boneless but the latter was sure easier to manage while eating.

Chicken Roasted with Tomatoes, Potatoes and Olives

A good friend from Park City, Utah who does not spend a lot of time in the kitchen gave me this recipe. It is quick and easy and was absolutely delicious.

Reluctant Gourmet’s Tips

• 1. You can substitute 1 tbl. of fresh rosemary leaves with 1 tsp. of dried, but fresh is better in this dish.
• 2. Try using a spray olive oil to coat your roasting pan.
• 3. Any brine-cured black olives can be substituted for Kalmata and remember to tell your guests there are pits so they don't break a tooth.

Chicken Roasted with Tomatoes, Potatoes and Olives
Makes 4 servings

Chicken Marsala , Chicken Piccatta

I remembered this little restaurant across from the Port Authority when I lived in New York City that was a pasta store in front and a restaurant in back where they served great chicken Piccata. I think it was called Supreme Macaroni and was where they shot the album cover Billy Joel's Scenes from an Italian Restaurant but I'm not sure of the latter.

I knew it was basically a flour, lemon and butter sauce but I wanted to find a recipe to refresh my memory before jumping into it. After looking through a bunch of my favorite Italian cookbooks for chicken or veal piccata recipes without success, I finally gave up and found a recipe for Veal Piccata in my New Basics Cookbook.

What's going on here? I started thinking that maybe these aren't Italian dishes but a quick check in my Food Lover's Companion proved to me that yes, these are indeed from Italy. When I looked in my refrigerator, I realized we didn't have any lemons and this is not an easy dish to make without a lemon and I didn't feel like running to the grocery store.

Here's where it gets interesting. Since I had already pounded the chicken breasts thin, I lucked out when I looked at the recipe right next to Piccata on the same page.Veal Marsala.

Hey, this calls for flattened veal cutlets so my chicken breasts will work and I have all the other ingredients so here we go. For the record, this recipe calls for 4 boneless veal cutlets. I had six chicken breasts already flattened so I cooked all six and used only three of the breasts for Chicken Marsala and decided to buy a lemon the next day and try my hand at Chicken Piccata.

There would be leftovers for a delicious quick and easy meal the next night (which is a good thing with two little ones to take care of) and I would recreate that delicious Chicken Piccata that I remembered from my life in New York City. Life is good.

The New Basics recipe below for chicken Marsala is good, but I wanted the real thing, a classic Marsala sauce like you get in your favorite Italian Restaurant. So I called my friend, Chef Ricco, who has forgotten more about cooking than I will ever know. He learned how to make a classic chicken Marsala from his mother who happened to be Frank Sinatra's family cook for a number of years.

Chef Ricco gave me step by step details on how to perfect your chicken Marsala at home which I turned into my first 23 page mini eCookbook called Chicken Marsala Perfected. It's more of a cooking lesson on how to saute and make a pan sauce than just on recipe. It also shows you how to make Marsala Sauce for steak and veal.

Chicken Maxengo-Revised

I say revised because this is one of my earliest Reluctant Gourmet recipes and after making it for 10 people recently I realized I would prepare Chicken Maxengo differently from the original recipe. This new version is a lot easier because of some shortcuts added and clearer descriptions.

This is a great recipe to practice how to saute and braise since both techniques are used. I tripled the recipe and served it to ten people at a dinner party, but this recipe is for four to six people depending on what kind of eaters they are. My wife and I wanted to prepare something that we could prep ahead of time with very little fussing once our guests arrived. Once everything was prepped and in the pot, you can relax and spend some time with you friends.

If you have any qualms about serving chicken at a dinner party, get over it. My friends all loved it and said would be delighted if served this in a restaurant, my test that the dish is a hit. We "gourmeted" the diner up by serving crab cakes as an appetizer and fancy fresh green beans (haricots verts), rice pilaf and sautéed spinach with roasted pine nuts.

The original recipe comes from GatewayGourmet.com, a site about making restaurant quality soups and sauces at home. They also promote some of my favorite stock reductions including a product called Glace de Poulet Gold which is basically a roasted chicken stock reduction. You make your own Glace at home by reducing chicken stock in half but I do recommend checking out these products.