Roll it Up.

While swinging through Win-Co the other day for party supplies, on a whim I bought a package of flank steak because they had it for a good price.

Flank Steak is on of those things that have really caught on in popularity...as a kid, I remember flank steak being one of the cheaper cuts of meat, in the same price range as chuck, and round.  Now, at my local Safeway, it's usually in the $6.50-$7 a pound range...putting it in the same price range as ribeye's.  It could also be the difference between the East Coast and West Coast...out here, some of the more dominant cultures have recipes that call for this cut of meat, so by shear demand, it's price has gone up.

Anyway...got some flank steak, and decided I wanted to do something semi-fancy, and make a roulade out of it.  I think I had been flipping through the food network a few days ago, and this is what put this particular bug in my ear. 

Some recipes for flank steak roll ups have you just pound the steak flat, some of you butterfly it...I went the butterfly method, and it was really the toughest part of the process.  Flank steak is thick, but not thick, and with the grain, it was just tough to keep my cut even.  In the end, I ended up slightly lopsided, and in some places, I ended up cutting holes in the meat instead of neatly butterflied.

Meat cut, I then gently(so it didn't tear) placed it in a bag, and marinated it a few hours in a marinade made of olive oil, some Lee & Perrins, some BBQ sauce, and a dash of Liquid Smoke. 

After pulling it out of the fridge, I opened it all up again, and made my filling, using some stuff we had on hand: about half a cup of crumbled Garlic and Herb Feta Cheese, half a pound(pre cooked weight) of crumbled bacon, and about 3/4's of a cup of frozen shredded spinach.  Spread that out on the meat, and then begin rolling.  To get the grain going the right direction for you, when you butterfly, cut on the long dimension, then when you roll it, roll it on the short dimension.  Then use some butchers twine to keep the whole thing together.

You can see how badly I gaffed mine butterflying...you shouldn't be able to see the stuffing.

A final rub of oil and some garlic salt/steak seasoning, and it's ready to go in a 400 degree oven.  My flank steak was just over two pounds, and took about 45-50 minutes to reach 140 inside...which was probably about 4 degrees too much, but in this house, I'm the only one who really likes RARE.

My wife really liked it...probably could have used a bit more spinach in my filling, but, the results were worth the effort, which..like I said, other than the mess I made trying to butterfly the steak, were fairly minimal.