Grilled Marinated Flank Steak

One word might come to mind when you think of grilled flank steak: 'Why?' 

Trust me, I had the same feeling, as my husband suggested it for dinner week after week. It just seems sort of lame. Of course, anything that is incredibly cheap, lean, and easy to prepare seems like a waste of time to me. But then I make something like this, a real winner, and I leave the kitchen feeling like I really accomplished something - an economical and effortless meal I could make for our future family of 8 while my husband picks everyone up from soccer practice. Just kidding, we would put them in gymnastics.

I think flank steak has to be marinated. It's a very lean meat and highly benefits from the marinating process, giving it lots of juicy flavor. I'm in love with this marinade - you might see it on my next 6 posts. On chicken, on pork, on pizza, on ribs. I guess that's just 4.

I marinated the steak overnight, but I think you could get away with just a few hours. I also made mini slits on the top of the steak to help the flavor really get in there.

Recipe

• 1 lb flank steak (serves 3-4)
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• couple dashes Worcestershire
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Mix all the marinade ingredients in a large ziploc bag, add the steak, and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Heat your grill to high (450-500 degrees). I ran into a loooot of problems here. Texas is hot right now. So hot that I think grilling season might actually be over for the summer. I heated our grill to MEDIUM, and it was at 550 degrees within 3 minutes. It made our steak just a little more done than we would have liked (flank steak is best medium rare - ours turned out medium), but if you don't live in Texas this shouldn't be a problem.

Remove the steak from the marinade, and sprinkle with kosher salt and black pepper. This will help form a nice crust on the steak. Grill the steak for about 4-5 minutes on each side, then remove and tent with foil for about 5 minutes before slicing. The next step is very important.

SLICE THE STEAK CROSSWISE AND AT A SLIGHT ANGLE IN VERY, VERY THIN PIECES.  If you don't, you run the risk of my husband running into your kitchen and crying, 'What are you doing??!!' like you are burning down the house or something. I actually may have been better off burning down the house. I had no idea such rules applied to flank steak, so I am warning you ahead of time to save you from any future ridicule. I gladly handed over the knife to my husband for a 'proper slicing,' and I can even admit that his was better. It tastes good thin like that. Enjoy!