Moroccan Grilled Steak

Posted on September 17, 2020 by Our Growing Paynes

We are getting into cool humidity free weather and I’m loving it. It is so refreshing to be outside and not feel suffocated by a blanket of thick air. While I don’t jump on the fad of pumpkin spice, seriously that is out of control, I do love bringing back warming flavours in our cooking. I needed to come up with a dish to use the aubergines in our garden so I made a Moroccan Grilled Steak dish. Perfect for the cooler evenings, though this weekend we are already under a frost warning. I really hope that doesn’t mean winter is too close! We’ll need to bring out the blankets for the veg so we can keep them going.

I made this with steak but this could easily be made with chicken, lamb or even tofu. I also made this with garlic infused olive oil but feel free to throw in a few cloves of garlic.

Technique for the Moroccan Grilled Steak

At least a couple of hours prior to making dinner, prepare the steak and the marinade. I like using steak tips as I’m grilling and they generally come out nice and tender even after the high heat of the grill.

Put the marinade ingredients into a medium bowl and mix well. Add the steak and make sure it’s covered well.

Cover and place in the fridge for at least a couple of hours. When it is time to cook dinner, grill the steak, giving it a nice sear. I grill my steak about 8 minutes, turning it half way through, as I like it on the rare side. Time it with the rest of the meal so it has several minutes to rest.

Technique for the Veg and Couscous

I prefer Israeli couscous over the regular couscous but using the regular couscous will work perfectly well. Just cook it according to the directions. Cook the couscous while the veg is cooking.

Sauté the aubergine and shiitake mushrooms in the garlic infused olive oil for a few minutes before adding the scallions and cilantro/coriander leaves. Then add the remaining marinade to the skillet. If you need more sauce, just increase the ingredients of the marinade equally to keep the balance of the flavours.

Add the cooked couscous and the chopped stems of the swiss chard. Cook for a minute or so then add the chopped leaves of the swiss chard. Cook for a minute until the leaves wilt a bit.

Slice the steak and serve over the veg and couscous mixture. This is a great dish to welcome autumn back and to use up the veg in the garden before the frost hits. Fingers crossed we get an autumn longer than a couple of weeks!

Moroccan Grilled Steak

Moroccan Grilled Steak with Israeli Couscous and Aubergine

Course Main Course

Cuisine Moroccan

Keyword Moroccan Grilled Steak

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

Moroccan Grilled Steak

1 lb steak tips 453g
1 tbsp garlic infused olive oil
2 tbsp plain yoghurt
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamin
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tbsp fresh cilantro/coriander leaves
dash lemon juice
1/2 tsp paprika
sea salt to taste
freshly ground pepper to taste

Couscous and veg

1 cup uncooked Israeli couscous 183g
2 cups aubergine/eggplant cubed 130g
2 tbsp garlic infused olive oil
2 cups shiitake mushroom, chopped 60g
1/2 cup sliced scallions 15g
2 cups swiss chard, chopped 40g

Instructions

Moroccan Grilled Steak

Mix the marinade ingredients together in a medium bowl and add the steak. Cover and place in the fridge. Marinate for at least a couple of hours.
When it is time to cook dinner, heat the grill on high and cook the steak. You want the outside seared well. As I prefer the steak to be on the rare side, I cook it for 4 minutes then turn and cook another 4 minutes. Rest for several minutes.

Israeli couscous and Veg

Cook the couscous according to the instructions on the box or bag.
Heat up the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the aubergine and shiitake mushrooms. Sauté for a few minutes.
Add the cilantro/coriander leaves and scallions and cook for a few minutes. Then add the marinade used for the steak. If you need more sauce, add the ingredients of the marinade in the proportions of the original marinade until you have enough sauce. Do a bit at a time so you suddenly don't have soup.
Add the cooked couscous and the stems of the chopped swiss chard. Cook again for a minute or so then add the chopped leaves of the swiss chard. Cook until they start to wilt.

Putting it together

Slice the steak. Spoon the couscous and veg mixture onto the plate and top with the steak. Serve.

Korean BBQ Steak Salad

Posted on August 23, 2018 by Our Growing Paynes

I am on a serious Asian flavour kick lately. With the sticky hot weather it is great to be able to lean on all the flavours but not be heavy. It also helps me from getting thoroughly sick of salads! But even with air conditioning, the suffocating heat and humidity the idea of pasta and such doesn’t appeal.

I had made this dish a few weeks ago when we had friends over for dinner and I knew our kids would love it so now that camp is over it was time to make it again. Their summer adventures are over and school starts next week so we’re getting back into routine again. Our daughter is applying to universities and our son has four more years left before he flies the coop. It goes by so fast.

I have a Williams – Sonoma cookery book simply called Asian. A lot of thought went into that, obviously. I adapted it based on the ingredients I had on hand.

I made the dipping sauce/dressing and the marinade at the same time. I did this several hours prior to grilling. We’re still working on our bedroom so I knew I also wanted a quick dinner where I do most of the work before we exhausted ourselves painting and installing flooring.

Now I’ve tried the technique that the book mentions twice but without success but I’ll go over it and then just say not to stress or worry about it because you will still get the flavours needed. They say to make a paste of sugar and garlic with the back of your knife. I’ve seen it be successful on shows but for the life of me I couldn’t get it to do as it was supposed to.

Chop up 4-5 cloves of garlic and add a tablespoon of brown sugar. Attempt to make it into a paste. Swear a bit then say to the hell with it and add 2/3 of it to one bowl and the rest to a smaller bowl.

Add 6 tablespoons of soy sauce in the larger bowl and 3 tablespoons of soy sauce in the smaller bowl. A tablespoon of sesame oil in the large and a couple of teaspoons of the oil in the smaller. A tablespoon of rice vinegar in each bowl. A small handful of sliced scallions in each along with a tablespoon of water. In the larger bowl grate an inch/2.5cm cube of fresh ginger. Add a dollop or two of the Gochujang paste to the dipping sauce.

Mix both well. Set aside the dipping sauce for later. I had a pound of steak tips so I cubed them to be about 2in/5cm in size. Toss the meat in the marinade, make sure the meat is well coated and covered.

Cover and chill until it’s time to grill.

Fire up the grill and put the meat onto skewers.

Grill it until the desired doneness. We prefer medium rare for our beef.

Once it’s done, add it to the salad and use the dipping sauce as a dressing.

It is also great as part of an Asian tapas night or over rice. But for now we’re keeping it light until the cooler weather finally arrives. Hopefully that comes soon!

Peach and Jalapeño Grilled Steak

Posted on June 14, 2018 by Our Growing Paynes

While I’m not a fan of the heat of summer I do love the flavours of summer. The shops are starting to have peaches and other stone fruits which means light delicious meals and desserts.

It’s been a busy week but I wanted to make a nice meal for my husband and myself last night. Peaches sparked an idea and jalapeño is one of my husband’s favourite hot peppers. A match is made!

I prepped the corn by soaking the ears before grilling and dusted the steak with chili powder and cumin.

Slice up a quarter red onion. Begin to sweat them in a hot skillet with olive oil. Slice the jalapeño. I removed the seeds because sometimes the pepper can be very hot and I didn’t want to overwhelm the peach. I also started with half a pepper.

Sauté the pepper and onion for a few minutes. I sliced up three small peaches. You can tell it’s the beginning of the season as the peaches were quite small. Add the peaches. Cook for a few minutes. Fire up the grill to start grilling the corn. I grill the corn, unshucked, 5 minutes a side. Season the peach with chili pepper and cumin. Add a splash of lime juice. After tasting I added the rest of the pepper as there wasn’t much heat.

Grill the steak to the desired doneness. We like ours on the rare side. Once cooked, rest the steak for a few minutes then slice. Shuck the corn. Place the steak on salad greens and spoon the peach over the steak.

Bring on summer flavours, just not the heat. Unless it’s in the food. 🙂

Tomatillo Steak Salad

Posted on September 16, 2016 by Our Growing Paynes

Autumn may be flowing in, thank goodness, but I’m not above having a nice salad. Even though it wasn’t intended. How would a salad happen accidentally? It’s easy when you are having a flighty moment.

I definitely knew I wanted to do grilled skirt steak with a tomatillo sauce. I was thinking a rustic type of sauce to act as the veg portion of the dinner. That didn’t work out as you will see.

We didn’t have much luck with growing tomatillos the past few years so we didn’t attempt it this year but luckily the farmer’s market had some. Our garden has produced a bumper crop of hot peppers. I just wish tomatillos weren’t so sticky once you peel the papery covering off. Cut the tomatillos in half and keep the pepper whole. Fire up the grill and roast the tomatillos and pepper until they start to char. You don’t want charcoal veg as a result so keep an eye on this as it will cook quickly.

As I said my plan was to have a rustic meal but I realised a grilled potato and a bit of steak wouldn’t cut it. When I did up the sauce it became more of a dressing rather than a veg side. So salad it was! Using a food processor add the tomatillos and pepper. I kept the seeds to give it a kick. Throw in a couple of cloves of garlic, a teaspoon or so of cilantro, and a few splashes of lime juice and olive oil. Blend.

I kept the steak simple seasoned with sea salt, pepper, and worcestershire sauce. Because it is grass fed be careful on how hot you cook it. Sear then lower the heat. Keeps it tender. Slice the steak and top with the tomatillo sauce. Any leftover sauce can be frozen for later.

Italian Potato Salad

Posted on July 1, 2016 by Our Growing Paynes

My husband and I have been enjoying exploring the bike paths that run through our area. I’m still surprised at how much I love biking. And it’s great along the shady paths with the little breeze we work up. Keeps the humidity off of us. Still tweaking the bike so it fits me better. I found a memory foam seat cover which eases the bumps we go over. Today I’m bringing the bike back to adjust the handle bars. My husband and I tried but damn if we couldn’t shift it.

Of course after doing a ride we don’t want a heavy meal and to be frank I lack the energy to whip up anything complicated. Still building up the stamina! We bought some lovely new potatoes from the farmer’s market this past weekend and a potato salad is an easy thing to make before the ride. As my husband isn’t into things with mayo I decided to make an Italian potato salad.

I made up the marinade first so the sundried tomatoes could soak a bit. I used the ratio 2:1 for olive oil and white balsamic vinegar. Whisk to bring the two ingredients together and add a couple of cloves of garlic chopped, a few teaspoons of fresh thyme, and sea salt and pepper to taste.

Cook up the potatoes until soft, drain and add to the marinade. Some potatoes will soften and fluff a bit with this, more than others. The ones I bought definitely fluffed a bit. Stir to coat evenly in the marinade. Add chopped proscuitto, freshly grated parmesan, mozzarella, and fresh basil. Chill then serve. Though you could have it warm if you prefer.

Prior to the ride I marinated steak with thyme, sea salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil, and white balsamic vinegar. Easy to grill up and dinner is ready in no time at all!

Gorgonzola Risotto with Filet Mignon and Sundried Tomato Sauce

Posted on September 4, 2015 by Our Growing Paynes

Last week I passed the three year mark for blogging. One of the changes WordPress seems to have made is they now make it very low key. Basically it’s “So, yeah, you are another year down, don’t forget to take out the trash” tone to it. I liked how it was before where they gave you a great breakdown on how you are doing, what was a hit, what wasn’t. I’m ok with a little woot, woot!

And with three years of recipes sometimes it’s hard to come up with something new. Things have been somewhat calm this past week which would allow me more time to cook. But then instead of writer’s block, I was having a bit of cooking block. Broke that on Wednesday! I wanted a special meal with flavours that wouldn’t be subtle. We had a couple of filets in the freezer and some sundried tomatoes to use up. Off to the store to get some gorgonzola and oyster mushrooms and I had a very good idea of what I wanted to do.

Prep the ingredients beforehand for everything. To add a bit of crunch to the dish I toasted a third of a cup of pine nuts. Do it in a dry skillet. And keep an eye on it! It can take awhile to toast but can burn quickly.

Remove the pine nuts from the skillet and set aside. In a larger skillet start the risotto. This recipe is for 2-3 people. First by melting 2 tablespoons of butter. Add a finely chopped small shallot and 2 cloves of garlic.

Add 1/2 a cup of risotto and saute for a minute or so. Then add a tablespoon or so of champagne vinegar. Stir well.

This recipe needs about 2 1/2 cups of chicken stock. This current batch I made was the best so far. So much flavour! Add about a 1/2 a cup at a time and allow the risotto to absorb the liquid. At this point, in a small skillet, melt a couple of tablespoons of butter. When it is hot add the filets to the skillet. Make sure they are seasoned well with sea salt and pepper. Baste with the butter as you cook.

Finish the steak off in the oven at 350F/175C until the desired doneness. Allow it to rest while you finish the meal. In the same skillet, add a bit more butter then saute some shallots, garlic, and sundried tomatoes. Saute for a couple of minutes to soften the tomatoes then add a handful of the oyster mushrooms.

Once the risotto is almost done add a third of a cup of crumbled gorgonzola and about the same of mascarpone cheese to the risotto.

Mix well. Just before serving add the pine nuts and a small handful of basil.

Serve with the filet and top with the mushroom sundried tomato sauce.

There were a few strong flavours in this dish but it was balanced and delicious. When I mentioned it to my daughter she said I could make it for them. Anytime. I think I can swing that.

PS. So I started this post this morning but got interrupted by doctors appointments and things. The whole day went pear shaped and I only just remembered I hadn’t finished this when we were walking the dogs. My husband called it postus interruptus. 🙂 As we are getting ready for date night I’ll be further behind on reading posts but I promise to catch up!

Grilled Thai Steak and Ever So Grateful

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Our Growing Paynes

It was a very long week last week but everything went well with my dad’s surgery. Yesterday they discharged him from hospital and now he is recuperating at home. We were all breathing a sigh of relief. Still are if you want to know the truth.

So he’ll be causing trouble for a good long while now and we wouldn’t have it any other way!

As you can imagine I’m a bit backed up with blog posts and getting everything else back on track. Kids are back at school this week so we’re winding down the summer the next couple of days. Making sure they get back into the routine of things.

Last weekend I was in the mood for Thai flavours and decided to do a grilled steak with rice noodles. We have had some success with growing fresh garlic this year and we also had ginger and cilantro on hand.

In a bowl mix 2 tablespoons peanut oil, 2 tablespoons oyster sauce, 2 tablespoons amino acid, 1 tablespoon lime juice, one to two teaspoons of fresh chopped cilantro, a large clove of garlic, finely chopped, and salt and pepper. Add the steak to marinate for at least an hour.

When it is time to cook, heat up a couple of tablespoons of peanut oil. Add a few cloves of garlic, finely chopped, and a couple of scallions, chopped. Saute until the garlic starts to soften. Add a cayenne pepper. When slicing use gloves, saves on burning skin. We keep the seeds but some may find that too hot. Saute for a few minutes.

Add a cup of chicken stock and bring to a simmer. I made the mistake of adding the rest of the veg too soon. I like my veg on the crispy side. If you like them soft then add the peppers and mushrooms when you add the stock. Also add carrots. I added a couple of tablespoons of green curry paste, a tablespoon of oyster sauce, a tablespoon of amino acids, and a splash of lime juice. Continue to simmer. As it cooks adjust the flavour to your liking.

Grill the steak to medium rare.

Take the leftover marinade and add it to the skillet and continue to simmer. While the steak is resting add half a cup light coconut milk. Add a few more teaspoons of freshly chopped cilantro at this stage as well.

While this is being created cook rice noodles according to the package. Toss the noodles in the sauce and serve. Top with the steak and peanuts.

I enjoyed this dish. The heat was mild but you could always add more hot pepper as you cook. Tonight we are doing Pad Thai for dinner. Another one of our favourites!

Tarragon Steak and Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

Posted on July 26, 2015 by Our Growing Paynes

Yesterday was very frustrating. We like to make cheese so we bought quite a bit of raw milk at a local farm. Grand plans were made. Grand plans failed in a spectacular fashion. The cheddar may turn out ok but the camembert I tried didn’t get off the ground. The pH seemed to be too low and the curd didn’t break properly. We had issues with the cheddar as well. Like I said very frustrating.

So being tired and feeling grumpy I needed a good dinner that wasn’t too complicated. And it had to be quick! There was wine to be had at the end of a long day.

We grow tarragon in our garden, though it’s currently getting overshadowed by hops. If you ever grow hops put them somewhere by themselves. We grossly underestimated their takeover talents. So I waded in to find the tarragon and took a handful for this marinade.

Chop up a handful of tarragon and a few cloves of garlic. In a bowl add a few tablespoons of olive oil and one or two tablespoons of white wine vinegar. Shake it up to mix. Season the steak with sea salt and pepper then add it to the marinade. Let it marinate for at least an hour.

For those that follow my blog know I’m a huge fan of roasted potatoes. I thought rosemary and lemon would be a nice touch for this meal. Cube the potatoes and microwave them for 8 minutes. Do not cover them with plastic or cling film. That just leaches chemicals into the food. In a baking dish add a few tablespoons of olive oil and a tablespoon of lemon juice. While the potatoes are in the microwave preheat the oven or toaster oven to 375F/190C with the baking dish in it. Add the potatoes to the hot oil, stir well and season with sea salt and pepper. Stir occasionally as it cooks. Once it is cooked halfway add a couple of tablespoons of rosemary, finely chopped. Heat the grill to medium high. I picked skirt steak which is pretty thin so it cooks quickly.

Given that it’s summer a salad is called for! Make up the salad while the steak is resting. Then slice the steak and top the salad. Drizzle with olive oil and white wine vinegar. Serve with the potatoes.

We were lucky that there was low humidity last night so we had a lovely dinner outside on the porch. The only interruptions we had was when we had to take turns chasing off the rabbits in our back garden. They are showing no fear!

The Lovely Zing of Fresh Horseradish…

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Our Growing Paynes

The fun thing about our local co-op is we can find unusual ingredients not normally found in our box store groceries. This time I found fresh horseradish root. As we are fans of this ingredient when we have roast beef I figured I would branch out a bit and play around with it. If you ever have stuffed sinuses have a bite of fresh horseradish. It will make you stand up and blink!

I planned an easy dinner to make because our plan was to whack some tennis balls back and forth. But it rained. Boo. Now that is is finely warm enough we were looking forward to running around and having some fun. That will have to wait.

I decided to do grilled portobello caps with steak and horseradish sauce.

Oregano is growing like crazy in our garden so I choice to use some to pretend I was making some kind of dent in the abundance of the herb. I made up a marinade of olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, chopped garlic and oregano. The ratio of oil and vinegar is 2 to 1. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well and add the mushrooms.

Set aside. On to the horseradish!

I had some plain Greek yoghurt so I used it as the base for my sauce. In a small bowl add 8 oz of yoghurt, about 2 tsp of fresh thyme, salt and pepper, a few squirts of lemon juice, and grated horseradish. The amount is up to you depending on how much zing you want. I do suggest adding a bit at a time until you hit the level of heat you want.

When I bought the steak, the way it was packaged it looked like two equal pieces which is what you want when serving two people. Does this look equal to you?

Like the moon to the earth! Season with salt and pepper and a dry rub of your choice. We like using the Salt Lick Spicy Dry Rub. Grill the steak and mushroom until cooked. We like ours on the rare side.

After letting the steak rest slice it and spoon the sauce over the meat to serve. Grate an aged Italian cheese of your choice over the mushrooms.

A perfect meal for after an activity like tennis. I hope we get to that soon! Maybe this weekend. 🙂

Steak Marsala – Would Julia Child Approve?

Posted on December 30, 2013 by Our Growing Paynes

My husband got me some fabulous books for Christmas. Volume 1 & 2 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child and a photography reference book to help me with my pictures. The photography book is a great refresher for me and gives me a better idea of what I need to explore more thoroughly. And the cookbooks are wonderful. There are several recipes I want to try.

A few nights ago my son had a friend over who enjoys good food so I thought I’d make the garlic soup from the books. Needless to say despite following the recipe I didn’t like it. More on another post about that adventure but I had to quickly come up with plan B! Fortunately we had bought the ingredients for another meal so I went with that instead.

The inspiration came from Julia Child and her recipe for Filet Steaks with Mushroom and Madeira Sauce. I couldn’t find Madeira wine and I made a few other changes. This meal has lovely deep flavours but is easy to put together. We don’t eat large portions, in fact one person commented on a dish I made saying it was a delicious starter! So I only bought about a pound of steak filet for 5 of us. I also did up roast potatoes, parsnips, and carrots.

Mince half of a large shallot or a whole small one and slice several mushrooms. As I was prepping the meal I played around with settings on my camera. This shot was using the P setting. Came out very different from what I was expecting!

Then I switched back to regular settings:

In a saute pan melt 2T of butter with 1T of olive oil. Saute the mushrooms for a few minutes until they start to brown then add the shallots to soften. At this point I started deviating from the recipe and added some fresh thyme to the dish.

Once the mushrooms are browned and the shallots are softened remove from the heat and set aside. In a skillet melt a few more T of butter and a T of olive oil. You want this to get hot without burning the butter so pay attention to the colour of the butter. Season the steak with salt and pepper then pan sear for a few minutes on each side until you have the doneness you are looking for. We prefer ours medium rare.

Remove and cover to rest. Pour out about half the fat. Again deviating from the recipe I added a cup of veg bouillon to deglaze and set that to simmer. Add a spoonful of tomato paste and begin to reduce a bit. Because I wanted enough to go on the steak plus the roast veg I didn’t reduce down to the couple of tablespoons that it called for. I reduced it about a third.

Add the mushroom mixture and a third of a cup of marsala wine. Simmer and reduce again. Slice the steak and spoon the sauce with mushrooms over the steak.

The sauce was rich and layered in flavour. My son, who’s not a fan of mushrooms, enjoyed it as well.

Thank goodness for plan B and here’s hoping Julia Child wouldn’t mind. 🙂

Our Growing Paynes

A journey about cooking, traveling, gardening, and crafting.

Tag Archives: steak

Moroccan Grilled Steak

Technique for the Moroccan Grilled Steak

Technique for the Veg and Couscous

Moroccan Grilled Steak

Ingredients

Moroccan Grilled Steak

Couscous and veg

Instructions

Moroccan Grilled Steak

Israeli couscous and Veg

Putting it together

Korean BBQ Steak Salad

Peach and Jalapeño Grilled Steak

Tomatillo Steak Salad

Italian Potato Salad

Gorgonzola Risotto with Filet Mignon and Sundried Tomato Sauce

Grilled Thai Steak and Ever So Grateful

Tarragon Steak and Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

The Lovely Zing of Fresh Horseradish…

Steak Marsala – Would Julia Child Approve?