What's on the Grill #233: Stuffed Flank Steak

I'm typically not one to stuff or roll anything, yet as of late, that's what I've been doing.  Strange, I know.  Part of this rolling phenomenon might be the fact Zoe and I like our meat two distinct different ways: dead and alive.  If I have to grill steaks, I start one mega early to make time for Zoe's English understanding that cooked meat is devoid of pink and absolutely all life.  I, on the other hand, prefer a little fight left in my beef.  Now, when it comes to cooking meat several degrees past rare, I make up for the phsilosophical differences in cooked temperatures by having a little detente in the form of…stuffing.  Yes, it isn't a perfect truce, but if it has cheese and garlic, I can be persuaded.

Stuffed Flank Steak
Adapted from  Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Grilling

1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/3 cup grated Romano and/or Parmesan Cheese
1/3 cup chopped salami
3 T coarsely chopped pine nuts
3 large gloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 chopped flat leaf parsley
2 T chopped fresh oregano

1 flank steak, about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 lbs
salt and pepper
olive oil

Prep your stuffing ingredients.  Chop your nuts, chop your herbs and chop your salami.

Add the ingredients to a small bowl and mix.

Next, prep the flank steak.  We want to fold the flank steak open like a book, but before we do we need we need to cut it in half, lengthwise.

The flank steak is thin, so although it sounds easy, even with a sharp knife, it's tough to not cut to deep or shallow.

I found success by stating at the top, working my way towards the "open" side and then back towards the "spine".

With the steak spread open, rub olive oil onto one side of the meat.  Then, lay the oiled side of meat down on a piece of aluminum foil.  The foil should extend past the edges of the steak by at least 3 inches on all sides.  From there, add the stuffing.

Spread the stuffing to within about a half inch of all sides of the steak.

With the stuffing spread, start to tightly roll up the steak.

Once the steak is rolled, wrap it in the aluminum foil.

Twist the sides of the foil to keep the roll closed.  When done, it should look like this:

Prep the grill for indirect medium, about 350 degrees F.  Plan on cooking the stuffed flank steak for approximately two hours, or until a fork effortless pierces the meat.  Flank steak is normally a fairly tough cut of meat if not prepared properly.  Between the filleting, stuffing and slow roasting, there is really no way to get this wrong.

This turned out about ten times better than I was expecting.  The meat was more moist and the stuffing…well, it took it up a whole level.

Although we had enough food for a couple days, it was gone in 24 hours.  Probably the most important part of this meal, acceptable levels of doneness.  Zoe didn't see any pink and I was distracted by the cheesy, herby and garlic-ly goodness.  Good times all around.