Cooking with Dr. Monkey

After last week's vintage recipe fail, I decided to try a modern new to me recipe, so I chose Lidia Bastianich's London Broil Steak in Sun Dried Tomato Marinade.

For the marinade you take one cup red wine, three cloves of smashed garlic, one half cup sundried tomatoes in oil with the oil drained off, half a cup of fresh basil leaves (I substituted some petso that didn't have walnuts in it that we made with fresh basil leaves from last summer's garden), a teaspoon of sea salt, and a half a cup of olive oil.  Mix everything but the olive oil in your food processor or blender and when it's all mixed up, pulse in the olive oil.

Next pour the marinade in a plastic bag or a dish that is big enough to allow the meat to be completely covered.  Then put your meat in.  I used a piece of London Broil that was a little under one and a half pounds.  Seal the bag or cover the dish and refrigerate for at least one hour.  I let mine sit for about three hours.

Next pre heat your oven to 425 F and put your marinade covered meat in your roasting pan.  Roast for 20 minutes and then take the meat out and let it rest for five to ten minutes.   Next thinly slice your steak and serve.

That's what mine looked like after I follower her recipe.

The verdict: not bad but Lidia's recipe is seriously flawed.  She claims that cooking this for 20 minutes at 425 F and then letting it rest will leave your meat medium rare, but as you can tell from the last photo, it's very rare, not medium rare.  Also, the London Broil is a very low in fat cut of meat which means unless you cook the shit out of it, it's going to be tough, and this meat certainly was.

What I'll do next time is the following:

• Use a fattier cut of meat, not too fat but enough to give the end product some tenderness.
• I'll cook it longer at a lower temperature.  I'll probably go 350 F for 40 minutes.  Maybe I'll even grill it on the gas grill.

The marinade is a huge win.  I'll use it on other cuts and kinds of meat, it will be good on both chicken and pork.