Fire It Up - Andrew Schloss [37]
4 small carrots, trimmed and peeled
4 slices bacon
1 thick flank steak (about 2½ pounds), butterflied (see Know-How, below)
1 teaspoon coarse salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
2 cups Chimichurri Sauce
4 ounces baby spinach leaves
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 Smoked Eggs or hard-cooked eggs, peeled and halved lengthwise
½ red bell pepper, seeded and cut lengthwise into thin strips
DIRECTIONS:
Bring a wide saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the carrots and cook until beginning to get tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside. Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 5 minutes. Transfer to paper towels and reserve the drippings.
Light a grill for indirect medium-high heat, about 400°F.
Stand facing your work surface and position the butterflied steak with the grain running horizontally. Gently pound the steak to an even thickness of ¼ to ½ inch. Mix together the salt, pepper, cumin, and oregano, and then season both sides of the steak with the spice mixture. Reposition so that the cut side is up and the grain is running horizontally.
Spoon ¾ cup of the chimichurri sauce into a bowl and stir in 2 tablespoons of the reserved bacon drippings. Reserve the remaining chimichurri. Brush about half of the chimichurri-drippings mixture over the top of the steak. Arrange half the spinach in a narrow horizontal row close to the edge of the steak nearest you. Crumble half the bacon and half the onion over the spinach. Make three more rows above the spinach: a row of carrots, then eggs, then bell pepper. Position the pieces end to end as necessary to create long, horizontal rows. Repeat the rows of spinach/onions/bacon, carrots, eggs, and bell pepper, leaving a 1-inch border of uncovered meat at the top. Drizzle some of the chimichurri-drippings mixture over the stuffing, and then roll the steak from bottom to top into a compact roast. Using kitchen string, tie the roast crosswise at 2-inch intervals. Brush all over with the chimichurri-drippings mixture.
KNOW-HOW: BUTTERFLYING FLANK STEAK
Stand facing your work surface and position the steak with the roughest side up. The goal is to cut the steak through the side and open it up like a book, so that you end up with a larger, thinner square of meat. Using a sharp, thin knife like a boning knife, make small slashing cuts to slice through one of the longest sides of the steak. Lift the top of the steak as you cut and begin opening it up, taking care to keep the knife level with the cutting surface to make an even horizontal cut all the way across the steak. Stop cutting just before you reach the other end of the meat and open up the butterflied steak so that it lies flat.
Brush the grill grate and coat with oil. Grill the roast directly over the heat until browned all over, 8 to 10 minutes total. Use tongs and a spatula to move the roast to the unheated area of the grill, and close the lid. Cook until the internal temperature of the meat registers 130°F, 20 to 25 minutes total. During cooking, turn the roast once and baste once or twice with the chimichurri-drippings mixture.
Remove to a cutting board and let stand for 20 minutes. Cut crosswise across the grain into slices about ½ to ¾ inch thick, removing the string as you go. Serve with the reserved chimichurri. The roast can also be chilled and sliced cold.
BACK RIBS/RIB
Pepper-Cured Beef Back Ribs
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
When you finish a meal of back ribs, you feel somewhat like a caveman or Fred Flintstone facing a pile of cartoonishly large beef bones on the table. No wonder they’re dubbed dinosaur ribs. Don’t be fooled by the prehistoric moniker; back ribs are the most expensive beef ribs you can buy, and their rich, full flavor is worth every penny. They are essentially what remains after rib-eye steaks are made boneless. If your butcher has back ribs, snatch them up for this peppery preparation, finished with tongue-bracing, vinegar-laced barbecue sauce. You can also use short ribs, which