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Monday, November 30, 2009

Flank Steak With Fennel, Pear, Ginger, Mushrooms and Peppers



I had a flank steak in the fridge last night and I was thinking of a making a steak dinner that was easy but incorporated the ingredients we love plus some new ones we've never tried. Hubby enjoys steaks with mushrooms, Mom loves pears, Teen wants lots of peppers, and I like to cook with new ingredients.
When Mom and I went shopping at Food Pyramid, we were enticed by the fresh, gorgeous-looking fennel bulbs. I've never cooked with fennel before so this was going to be exciting. They also had various kinds of pears at the produce section so Mom picked out a couple of Japanese nashi, Korean Shingo pear, Bartlett pears and Apple pears. Shingo pear is similar to Nashi pear but is sweeter and jucier. Korean sceintists believe that pears keep cancer at bay by helping flush out carcinogens from the body.
I found some baby Portabellas, candied ginger, Fresno red peppers and Anahaeim for Hubby and Teen. I thought the best way to cook all of these together was to marinade the veggies and fruits in zesty Italian dressing spiked with chipotle and ginger powder and season the huge slab of flank steak with salt, pepper and liberal amounts of chipotle seasoning. That's exactly what I did and the result was DELICIOUS! The steak was perfectly grilled, the combination of candied ginger and pears was delightfully sweet and contrasted with the savory, spiciness of the steak and peppers. One of the biggest revelation was the fennel. It was so good grilled and got me all excited ----I'm sure I will be cooking more with this ingredient!

If you want to try this, here's the list of ingredients:
2 lbs flank steak
1 Tbsp canola oil to coat the steaks
chipotle seasoning, salt, pepper to taste (for the steak)
2 bulbs of fennel
2 pears (combination of Bartlett and Korean pear or Japanese Nashi and Apple pear)
5 slices of candied ginger
1 pck Baby Portabellas, sliced
2 Fresno red peppers, sliced
1 Anaheim pepper, sliced
1/3 cup Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp chipotle powder

Coat the steak with canola oil and season with salt, pepper and chipotle seasoning. Cut cup the fennel bulb and pears lengthwise and combine with the candied ginger, Fresno red peppers and Anaheim Pepper. Mix ginger powder and chipotle powder with the Italian dressing. Pour dressing over the veggies and fruits. Marinade for about 15 minutes. Grill steak, pears, fennel, candied ginger, mushrooms and peppers. ENJOY!

This is my entry to the Leftover Queen Royal Food Joust.

http://www.foodista.com/food/PTT77YW5/food/widgets?src=bo_2_a

7 comments:

Thistlemoon said...

Very creative use of ingredients! I love it! Good luck with the Joust!

Anonymous said...

I love your pairing of the joust ingredients with the steak, super delicious! I'm finally cooking something for the joust, a dish that'll have to be finished tomorrow so I hope I can get it in before the noon deadline :)

Anonymous said...

WOW! This sounds GREAT! What a great combination! Best of luck in the Joust!

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

What a lovely steak with all of those great ingredients. Very creative. Pears are so much fun to use this time of the year.
Sam

Karine said...

That is an amazing way to enjoy flank steak! Thanks for sharing :)

Chef E said...

I love this too...Flank steak has been sparse in my area, and I read that Japan has had such a demand, but I bet if I were back in Texas I could find it and wooo all my friends with your tasty recipe here!

momgateway said...

JennDZ, 5 Star Foodie, cantbelieveweate, My Carolina Kitche, Karine and ChefE:

Thank you so much for your kind words....coming from very creative and highly respected foodies, they mean so much to me.

Flank steak is so versatile and cooks in a few minutes, it's one of my all time fave meat to prepare.