We had a flank steak dinner planned for a weeknight menu this week and I was going to make it with an ancho rub.  Then John brought my attention to yesterday's News-Gazette featured recipe for flank steak.  It has a simple marinade and then is topped with pears and blue cheese.  Since I had a couple of pears leftover from Sunday's dinner, I switched up my plans.

This recipe calls for pantry staples of garlic, balsamic vinegar, and peppercorns.  We had the pears and usually also have blue cheese for salads.  No extra trip to the grocery store was needed.

I made a couple of changes to the method from the AP food editor...  I was going to grill but the rain kiboshed those plans.  Alterations were that I let the meat marinade at room temperature rather than in the fridge.  Cold meat does not grill well.  Since I cooked it indoors, I seared it on the stove top in a hot pan for about 3 minutes, then flipped the steak and finished it in the hot oven.  Don't skip the 10 minute rest for flank steak.   

I was planning to make potato planks to go with the ancho steak, so I prepared them differently.  Instead we had smashed potatoes - another favorite.  Boil smaller yellow potatoes until cooked then smash them with your potato masher.  Drizzle olive oil, salt & pepper and rosemary (still available fresh in the backyard herb garden).  Roast on high heat (425 to 450) for about 15 minutes.  Finish with a drizzle of red or sherry wine vinegar.  

Our vegetable was going to be roasted red peppers, but that didn't sound good with the altered menu.  So John went out in the rain to harvest some salad greens.  

Finally, we had a couple of bottles of Gran Touriga Nacional from our wine club that was recommended to drink with grilled meat.  We opened one to go with this dinner and loved it! 

I found the recipe on line at http://seattletimes.com/text/2019476502.htm.  It might be a short lived link.  Cut it out of your Wednesday N-G beofre your recycle day!