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A meal of grilled flank steak with an herby sauce and a side of roasted peppers and onions has just the right umami for late summer. In this recipe, the Argentine herb sauce chimichurri does double duty as both an overnight seasoning and a finishing sauce. Chimichurri is traditionally a loose spoonable condiment with roughly chopped parsley (and sometimes oregano or mint) and plenty of garlic suspended in olive oil. Vinegar brings a kick to it. It's a great destination for garden herbs.
In this version, I use a combination of parsley, mint, and either cilantro or Thai basil (because I have it in my garden), but a combination of just parsley and mint, or parsley, mint and cilantro is fine. I make the sauce in the food processor, but I take care not to overprocess the herbs – a rough chop is the goal. I leave the vinegar out until I’ve divided the sauce in half. Then I add half of the vinegar to one half and pour it over flank steak the day before (or several hours before) I plan to grill. It acts partly like a marinade, partly like a wet rub that will form a bit of crust when grilled. I stash the other half of the sauce in the fridge and don’t add the remaining vinegar to it until serving time.
The perfect vegetable accompaniment to the herby grilled flank steak is Grill-Roasted Lunchbox Peppers and Onions Agrodolce. With some crusty bread and a salad, you have a beautiful end of summer meal. For a crowd, feel free to double this recipe.
Serves 3
- 4 large or 6 medium garlic cloves, peeled
- 2 cups (packed) parsley leaves and mint leaves (or half parsley, and half any combination mint, Thai basil, or cilantro)
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Kosher salt
- Pepper
- 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, divided
- 1 small flank steak (about 1 ¼ pounds)
- For serving: Grill-Roasted Lunchbox Peppers and Onions Agrodolce (optional)
One day or several hours ahead: prepare the chimichurri and steak
1. Put the garlic cloves in a food processor and pulse until roughly chopped. Add all of the herbs and pulse again, stopping and starting to scrape the sides, until the parsley is roughly chopped. Add the red pepper flakes, a few big pinches of salt, and a few grinds of pepper. Pulse again.
2. With the food processor running, pour the olive oil in and pulse and process just until well-mixed, stopping to scrape down the sides if necessary.
3. Pour and scrape the chimichurri into a 1-cup glass liquid measure. You should have a generous cup. Transfer half to a small bowl and whisk in 2 tablespoons of the vinegar. Cover the other half with plastic (press plastic right against surface of sauce if you can) and refrigerate.
4. Arrange the flank steak in a glass dish and pour the first half (the one mixed with vinegar) over the top side of the steak and gently spread it out to cover the top side. Don’t flip – you are just seasoning this one side. Some of the liquids will pool on the sides. Cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight or for as many hours as possible.
The day of cooking:
1. Bring the steak and the extra portion of chimichurri to room temperature.
2. Scrape the grates of your gas grill and lightly oil them (use tongs and an oil-soaked paper towel.) Heat a gas grill on medium-high for at least 5 to 10 minutes so that the grates are very hot.
3. Put the flank steak on the grill herb-side-down. Leave the steak without moving it for 5 to 6 minutes. Season the top side of the steak with salt and pepper. Using tongs and a large spatula to slide under the steak, flip the steak over and cook for about 4 minutes on the other side for medium-rare meat. Transfer to a cutting board.
4. Let the meat rest for 5 to 10 minutes; then slice thinly. Stir in the remaining two tablespoons of vinegar to the extra sauce. Serve the flank steak garnished with the sauce, and with a portion of Grill-Roasted Lunchbox Peppers and Onions Agrodolce if you like.
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