Caribbean Dreamin'

It's snowing again (why this is a big surprise to me since this is winter in Montana, I have no idea) and I just keep seeing commercials on tv for vacations.

I found this beautiful flank steak, and just knew that I had to grill that beauty.  Of course, I have no grill and no oven.  I do, however, have my cast iron skillet and my induction burner.  I was very happy to discover that cast iron works on the induction burner, and even happier that I still have my skillet. I still miss my cast iron dutch oven every day.  I had to give it away along with several other items, or pay an additional $200 that I didn't have, when we were moving our stuff.  One day, when we are settled again, that is going to be one of my first purchases. But I digress.

Flank steak is a great (and delicious!) piece of meat, that is less expensive and cooks very quickly. The cut is a long, flat steak that comes from the abdomen of the cow, and is usually sliced thin across the grain to cook and serve. Because we live in a small room, and with the lack of an oven, grilling meat or burgers is not usually an option due to lack of ventilation because of the smoke. Maybe, that wouldn't be an issue when the weather is warmer where you can open the windows, but then again, you could grill outside when it's warmer. But in February in Montana...? Let's just say grilling outside is not going to happen, so you find a way of making it work.

Having been born and raised in the Bronx, I grew up around Puerto Rican food. If you've ever tasted Latin food, you know how good food can be, and one of the things that makes that food so good is a condiment called sofrito.

 Sofrito is a base used for flavoring in many Latin and Spanish foods for soups, stews and marinades. While recipes and ingredients will vary from region to region, sofrito is basically a mix of garlic, peppers and onion. Sofrito is so easy to make, and adds so much flavor, you will never look at meat the same way again.

To really get the taste into the meat, I rubbed the sofrito into the flank steak and left it to marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

When you are ready to cook, place some butter in your cast iron skillet, and set it on the induction burner (level 5) until the butter is sizzling and the pan is hot. Wipe of any excess sofrito from the steak and sear the flank steak on each side for 3 to 5 minutes, depending on the thickness of the cut. as you can see from the photo, I had to cut the steak into three pieces to fit it into the pan

Enjoy!!

  

 Sofrito

Equipment

Blender, food chopper, or food processor

Ingredients

1 bunch cilantro, remove stems

1 medium onion, peeled

6 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 green bell pepper, ribs and seeds removed

1 red bell pepper,ribs and seeds removed

Place all the ingredients in a blender or food processor (My little food chopper only has a 1.5 cup capacity, so I had to make this in batches), and process until everything is finely chopped. Place into a strainer over a bowl to drain any excess liquid. Whatever is not used can be frozen for two months.

Makes about 1 pint.