Griilled London Broil

Simple summer pleasures.

I love meals I can prep in advance and finish at the last minute. London broil benefits from long marinating and so yesterday I whipped up a flavorful dressing from a recipe I found online (form Gourmet magazine) of 4 cloves of garlic, 4 TB balsamic vinegar, 4 TB lemon juice, 3 TB dijon mustard, 1 1/2 TB Worcestershire sauce, 1 TB soy sauce, 1 tsp each dried oregano, basil, and thyme, 1/2 tsp crushed red chiles, and 2/3 cup olive oil. I whirled all those ingredients in the blender, put the meat in a zip lock bag, poured the marinade over top, and let it sit in the fridge overnight until it was time to grill.

London broil can be tough and if it isn't cooked carefully (and sliced carefully) chewy too. For advice I turned to the tireless recipe testers at Cook's Illustrated. Some cooks delight in trying new recipes and conquering new dishes, others, like the dedicated folks at Cook's Illustrated will test and tweak and test and re-test until they have achieved the best cooking method, the perfect recipe and then move onto the next. they are the kind of people who are always building a better mousetrap. I knew they would have useful advice. To combat the sometimes chewy texture of London broil, CI suggested cooking the meat over high heat and turning every four minutes (instead of 10 straight minutes on a side) saying it keeps the muscle from seizing up basically and keeps the meat more tender. Sure enough after twenty minutes total on the grill, almost ten minutes resting time and slicing very very thinly (as CI suggested) James had meat tender slices of juicy beef -- prime flavor at a budget price, and grass fed to boot.

On the side I whipped up a quick romesco sauce since I happened to have roasted piquillo peppers in the fridge I had been trying to use up. The Spanish sauce is great on grilled meats and fish, stirred into rice, over steamed vegetables anywhere you need a little extra flavor and couldn't be easer. I piled 2/3 cup of roasted peppers (most people use red but I had roasted green so I used those), 1/4 cup of rehydrated sun dried tomatoes (unusual for romesco but it's the way John Besh does it so why not), 1 1/2 tsp sweet smoked paprika, 2 TB sherry vinegar, 1/2 cup toasted almonds, 3/4 cup olive oil, S&P, into the food processor and hit "on." In seconds I had a jar of tasty, use on everything sauce tucked away in the fridge. It's an easy make ahead party worthy sauce just right for James' dinner.