Flank Steak with Red Wine Sauce

More times than not, my husband requests that I make a dinner of "meat and potatoes."  And, more often than not, I feel rather blasé about the whole thing.  After all, I have a whole kitchen's worth of interesting gadgets and shelves full of cookbooks - why should I settle for eating the standard fare?!  Easily explained: there is one variation of the old standard that is worth settling for. 

Last year, after having bought my first cookbook by Italy's favorite young food maven, Giada De Laurentiis, I ventured into the new practice of making sauces.  Not the typical Chef Boyardee kind.  Rather, sauces that had wine in them.  And special kinds of vinegar.  And exciting herbs I had never before tasted.  They were wonderful new concoctions, similar to experiments in chemistry and potion-making.  I felt so envigorated and inspired.  Her book was a wonderful expansion to my newly-opened culinary world.

With that said, one of the favorite recipes that we discovered from Giada's book was, incidentally, a "meat and potatoes" kind of meal.  Not just any meat, though - flank steak.  Added with an onion-infused red wine sauce on top.  Then a side of rosemary-seasoned polenta.  And, wow!  I must say, not many meals have made me as speechless!

I have served this to my parents.  My husband.  My three year old.  And everyone - EVERYONE - asks for seconds.  It is simply that good!  So, now we (in our family) know that there is more to Italian food than canned Spaghetti O's.  And there is more to "meat and potatoes" than just a hunk of beef and a starchy side for dinner.

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter
• 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 Tbsp. minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/8 cup tomato paste
• 1 1/4 cups red wine
• salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 lb. flank steak or tri-tip steak

Instructions:

1. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt.
2. Add the garlic and oregano and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
3. Whisk in the wine. Simmer until the sauce reduces by half, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
4. Remove the skillet from the heat. Strain the sauce into a small bowl, pressing on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the solids in the strainer and return the sauce to the saucepan and bring back to a slow simmer.
5. Cut the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter into small 1/2-inch chunks and whisk in the sauce a little at a time. Season the sauce, to taste, with salt and pepper.
6. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the steak with salt and pepper and drizzle with the 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Cook the steak to desired doneness, about 8 minutes per side for medium-rare (the steak shrinks as it cooks).
7. Remove the skillet from the heat and let the steak rest in the skillet for 10 minutes.
8. Transfer the steaks to a cutting board.  Thinly slice the steaks across the grain. Divide the steak slices among 6 plates. Drizzle the sauce over the steak, drizzle a little more extra-virgin olive oil and serve.

(This original recipe came from "Everyday Italian" by Giada De Laurentiis)