Flank Steak with tamarind, honey, garlic and red wine

Well, there’s a mouthful of a recipe title after a silent summer.

And what a summer it’s been.

Your hostess has spent her summer–nay, all year–contending with crippling back pain.

Said pain makes standing for long peroids challenging. Meaning blogging–recipe testing, photographing, cooking–is also challenging. Many were the false starts, the wishful thinking, the hopes on my doctors’ part. And mine.

I won’t lie. I am ten days out from a second cortisone shot into my spine. Neither my physicians–now a staff–nor I are certain it will succeed.

The view from my back specialist’s office. Aptly foggy and dark.

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I made this flank steak prior to the second cortisone shot, freezing it in anticipation of the days afterward, when I’d be unable to cook. Freezing food generally does it no favors, but this is a rare instance where the taste was unaffected. The meat defrosted brightly flavorful and delicious.

Muni, J Chuch Line. Much more attractive than defrosting meat, don’t you agree?

This recipe is inspired by Nigella Lawson’s Tamarind Marinated Flank Steak, which appears in Simply Nigella. Lawson’s recipe uses neither wine nor garlic, and heats the marinade before pouring it over the meat. Nevertheless, it’s important to cite sources. So, consider this source cited.

Tamarind is widely available in the Asian section of most markets. It is sold in chunks, jars, or pods. All keep nearly indefinitely in the refrigerator. Chunks and pods generally contain seeds and thready bits, and these are best strained out before use. To do so, heat a cup of water in the microwave or on your stovetop. Break off two heaping tablespoons of tamarind–it’s pliable, and you need not measure exactly–and drop the tamarind into the hot water. Allow it to soften for fifteen minutes or so. Pluck it from the water, and from here you have two choices: you can either rub the tamarind through a fine mesh strainer, using your clean fingers to brush the strained pulp from the strainer’s underside into the water below, or you can simply smooth the pulp across the waiting flank steak with your same clean fingers. If using your fingers makes you squeamish, a pastry brush also works. I prefer my fingers, as they’re easier to wash.

If you opt for the water option, use about 1/4 cup on the meat. Jarred tamarind has already been strained and seeded. So just spoon two tablespoons over your flank steak.

The honey and soy are mixed and daubed over the meat, nothing fancy. The garlic is minced and flung haphazardly, in my usual style.

I don’t salt this meat, as the soy sauce is salty. Better, in this rare instance, to salt later.

You’ll add your wine at cooking time.

Now marinate the steak. Ideally this will be an overnight marinade, but as always, you can do this for an hour, or four hours, or ten minutes. Life is crazy these days. Really, really crazy. And heartbreaking. And sad. One thing about a bad back is it forces a person to lie around a lot. Meaning there is ample time to listen to the news. And the news, it ain’t good.

You don’t need me for photos of bad news. Above, a variant of the summer side dish we’ve been living on.

A word about cutting the flank steak: you don’t have to. Feel free to marinate it whole, and cook it in one piece. I sliced it because I live with a person who requires assistance cutting his food, and decided to cut the meat before cooking rather than after. Slicing before cooking speeds cooking time in already quick-cooking recipe, so bear that in mind.

Brown food, but delicious, I promise.

Thank you for reading.