Friday, August 7, 2009

Thai Skirt Steak & Basil Fried Rice

I had a skirt steak to cook for dinner so the natural ideas that came to mind were either fajitas or steak with chimichurri sauce. But I've done those recently and wanted to do something different. I looked around the fridge to see what I had on hand and this is what I came up with.

Thai Skirt Steak
printable recipe
Ingredients
2 T lime juice
2 T fish sauce
2 T oyster sauce
1 T sesame oil
4 each dried red chile peppers, seeded and chopped
1/4 c peanut oil
15-20 basil leaves, fresh chopped
1.5 lb skirt steak (you could substitute flank or flat iron steak)

Instructions
Mix the first seven ingredients for a marinade. Marinade the steak for 4-6 hours in a zip lock bag.

Remove the steak and place directly on a rocket hot grill. Rocket hot? I was running the Big Green Egg between 550f and 600f. You could also broil in the [cough cough] oven if you don't have a grill at your disposal.

Be careful and use a mitt and long tongs when you first put the steak on, because the marinade will fall into the hot coals and flare up temporarily like this.But closing the lid once you get the steak on will quickly control the fire. That's one of the nice things about a quality grill/smoker. You can control the air flow enough to get the heat up but control flame ups at the same time.

Grill the steak for 4-6 minutes a side until you reach the desired internal temp. On this cook, I went 4 minutes on each side, shut the vents and let it rest in the Egg for another 6 minutes. Next time I'd grill longer and maybe even skip the roast period. The outside of the steak didn't have as much of a "char" as I like and the inside was more done than I like.

Slice thinly across the grain and serve.

Basil Fried Rice
Ingredients
2 ea eggs, whisked together
3 c jasmine rice, already cooked and chilled
1/2 ea onion, diced
1/2 ea red bell pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 c soy sauce
20 basil leaves, cut in half, stemmed.

Instructions (sort of)
Heat a few tablespoons of oil in the wok. Cook eggs like an omelet, remove from wok and dice.

Add onion, pepper, and garlic, cooking until softened.

Add cold rice, stir frying. (Stir, let it sit for 15 seconds sizzling, stir, repeat).

When the rice is browning and appearing close to being done, add the soy sauce/sugar mixture, and toss. When done, remove from heat and add in cooked egg and basil leaves.
For something I threw together it was very good. I was surprised that the meat didn't have more heat so next time I might add more dried chilies or sriracha sauce.

Hope you people have a great weekend!

Thai Skirt Steak