Flank Steak with Garlic Parsley Sauce and Grilled Romaine

I am in a broccoli rut.  When considering side dishes I have a tendency to start repeating myself.  Focusing on the main dish and leaving the vegetable to the... well... side.  But the vegetable can take center stage and really as I remind myself- it should.  So tonight I decided to try grilled romaine.  At first glance that may not sound even possible, but romaine can take the heat.  Just for approximately 2 minutes, but it can take it.  It comes out slightly charred and ready to roll.  Reviews tonight included... Refreshing!  Dad.  Easy and good for you!  Mom.

I knew I was making flank steak with an Italian flare.  I wanted to try out a new parsley garlic sauce recipe from Cooks Country.  I was thinking broccoli, but a girl does get a little tired of broccoli after a while.  I happened to have some romaine on hand... grilled romaine with red wine vinegar ice shavings sounded intriguing.  For this I turned to Alton Brown.  My favorite for food science.  He has the best homemade marshmallow recipe that I made exactly once.

   

I started with the Parsley Garlic Sauce.  This did triple duty.  First it flavored the steak after it was grilled and then I served a bit more drizzled on the steak.  I also used it to toss with some small red potatoes that I started in the microwave and finished in a grill basket outside.

Parsley Garlic Sauce

1/2 c minced parsley

2 cloves garlic

1/4 c red wine vinegar

1/4 c olive oil

1/8 t red pepper flakes 

salt and pepper to taste
Just whisk all ingredients together

Prepping the grilled romaine was easy.  To make it fun you can plan ahead and freeze 1/2 cup red wine vinegar in a shallow pan, then use a fork to make ice shavings to serve on top of the lettuce when it is done.  Once you have the steak on the grill you can quickly make the romaine, just slice and rinse, pat dry.  Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with pepper.  Then grill face down for about 2 minutes.  I served mine with some parmesan cheese and the red wine vinegar shavings.  If you look closely at the photo below, you can see the pink vinegar shavings. 

Week in Preview

Tuesday:  Greek salad with cucumber, tomato, pine nuts, and feta.  I'll grill some chicken to go with it and make extra for Wednesday.

Wednesday:  BBQ naan pizzas with salad

Thursday:  Breakfast for supper with fruit salad

Friday:  Salmon with broccolini and lemon bulgar salad