Month: July 2010

Steve and I haven’t been doing a whole lot of cooking lately.  In fact, we’ve been so lazy in the cooking department, we’re not beyond eating ramen noodles for dinner.  I blame it on the hot weather.  Who wants to slave over a hot stove when it’s 90+ degrees?

This months issue of Real Simple inspired me to try some new things, though.  Digression:  my subscription to Real Simple was a Christmas gift from my sister.  Every month, the address label says “A Gift from Christine,” which of course reminds me of how sweet my sister is.

But back to the food.  The August issue contained a whole bunch of recipes with only three ingredient, which I love because grocery shopping is so much quicker when there is not much to buy, not to mention cheaper.  But it was really one of the week night meals that caught my eye: Cajun Skirt Steak with Creamed Corn.  More than three ingredients, but still pretty simple and quick.

Let’s start with the main course, the steak.  Remember how I said less ingredients make grocery shopping easier?  Well, it also makes it more likely that someone who does not make a list gets all the ingredients right.  For some reason, I had flank steak stuck in my head, so I bought a flank steak instead of a skirt steak.  Both cuts come from the underbelly of the cow, but the flank comes from — surprise — the flank, which is towards the rear, while the skirt comes from the plate, which is more towards the front.  In other words, the skirt comes from the kosher part of the cow while the flank does not.  Both contain a lot of connective tissue and can be tough if not prepared right.   They are both flat pieces of meat, but flank is a little bit on the thicker side.

So we went with the flank steak, since it’s what we bought.  Preparation couldn’t have been simpler.  Preheat the broiler.  Place the steak on a broiler  safe sheet pan and liberally season with Cajun seasoning, salt, and pepper.  Broil 3-4 minutes on each side for medium-rare, then rest for 5 minutes before slicing.  I tend to prefer my meat medium, rather than medium-rare, so we used the longer end of the range, 4 minutes per side.  But, remember how I said flank steak was thicker than skirt steak?  It was still pretty rare.  So I would recommend cooking a bit longer if for some reason you use a flank steak.

In spite of being a little rare for our tastes, it was still delicious.  Sliced on an angle after resting, it was tender and juicy and oh-so-tasty.

On to the side dish, creamed corn made with fresh corn.  The recipe called for 8 ears of corn, but there are only two of us, so we decided to cut it in half.  I cut the kernels off four fresh ears of corn.  This is trickier than it looks.  I find my hands tend to get slippery, and holding the corn up on end is not terribly stable, so be careful here.  We ended up with at least 2 cups of kernels, probably more, actually.

Remember how I bought the wrong kind of steak because I didn’t make a list before I went to the store?  I also bought the wrong kind of onion.  For some reason I thought it called for a Vidalia or other sweet onion, so I bought a Walla Walla onion.  Turns out the recipe just called for a regular yellow onion.  Anyway, I chopped up half of it and sauted it over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes with a tablespoon of butter until it started to soften.  Then, in went the corn kernels, some salt and pepper, and 1/2 cup of half-and-half.  That cooked for another 5-8 minutes or so, until the creamy sauce thickened up.  Even with the wrong onion, the corn was out of this world!  So sweet, creamy, and delicious.

We served this meal up with a mixed green salad.  I am sure we will make this again.  Even when corn is out of season, you can use frozen corn as long as you add a little flour to help thicken things up (frozen corn does not have as much starch in it as fresh), so it won’t be just a summer treat.

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