FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Stuffed Sirloin: Spinach, Artichoke & Feta

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Spinach Artichoke Feta Stuffed Sirloin Steak 2

Spinach, artichoke, and feta is an all-time favorite combo of mine.  Pizza, pasta, omelets, whatever the vehicle, this trifecta is sure to win me over {and I bet it would win you over, too}.

Spinach Artichoke & Feta

It’s shocking, really, how long it’s taken me to pair meat with such an established love.  But tonight, it happened.  I whipped out the tenderizer and fancy skewers and stuffed, stuffed, stuffed that sirloin.

Stuffed Sirloin Steak

What came out of the oven resembled little, tender meat “tacos” bursting with veggie flavor and a hint of tangy feta.  What’s more, this recipe is easily multiplied for more servings and stores wonderfully for lunch the next day!

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Grilled Sirloin Flap With Chimichurri

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Beef Sirloin Flap with Chimichurri

Last summer, I attended a Texas Beef Council event with the Austin Food Blogger Alliance where I learned that there are cuts of beef other than the tenderloin that I should be exploring.  Months later, a Pinterest post reminded me that skirt steak was once on my list.

Beef Sirloin Flap Meat

Whole Foods didn’t carry skirt steak, but the butcher assured me that flap meat was a similar, but better quality, cut.  I purchased without hesitation, filled my cart with fresh herbs, hit up the bulk spice section, and headed home to heat up a cast iron grill pan {my favorite kitchen possession}.

Steak Cooked in Cast Iron Grill Pan

I luuuved this recipe.  If I didn’t have a newfound obsession with buying bulk spices as needed, almost the entire ingredient list would have already existed in my pantry.  And beyond this recipe’s simplicity, the finished product was bursting with flavor.  And I just couldn’t get enough of the chimichurri sauce.  There was a point after I hit full that I was still eating steak solely to scoop up more sauce.

And the flap meat?  I have a texture thing with fat that I’m not sure will ever allow me to prefer a cut of beef over the tenderloin.  But I’m definitely open to preparing flap meat {especially like this recipe} on occasion.

Summertime Chillin’ & Grillin’

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Grilled Sirloin

Growing up with a veggie mom, grilling wasn’t a thing.  Even when I’d satisfy infrequent meat cravings at my grandma’s house, she was more of a skillet cook than a grill master.  A lifetime of little-to-no experience with propane or charcoal left me a grilling novice, at best.

4-4-4 Grilling

So when I saw that the Austin Food Blogger’s Alliance post a grilling how-to event with the Texas Beef Council, I couldn’t have been more on board.  Right away, Tiffany {pictured above} provided helpful tips for safe {and delicious} grilling.

Megan Charcoal

We learned about the 4-4-4 rule for determining the correct grill heat: holding 4 fingertips, 4 inches above the grill, for 4 seconds.  If you have to remove your fingers before 4 seconds then the grill is too hot, longer than 4 seconds and the grill isn’t hot enough.

And we learned the proper way to test the temperature of the meat – sticking the thermometer into the side of the cut until the notch on the thermometer passes through the meat.  Luckily Tiffany sent us home with a meat thermometer, because the candy thermometer I’ve been using has no such notch.  Oops!

Megan & Beverly Grilling

My grilling partners, Megan and Beverly, stacked the charcoal {a double row of 6 by 6}, lit each of the four corners, and then used the 4-4-4 rule to test the temperature.  And while the flame was doing its thing, we had a lesson on seasoning and cuts of beef

Texas Grilling

We were asked our favorite cut before Tiffany went through each one, describing their flavor, fat content, and best use.  I am also a novice beef eater, so a filet was my cut of choice for any and every occasion.  I kept this to myself as the crowd scoffed at the use of a filet in stir fry {FoodFash filet stir fry recipe here}.

FoodFash Grilling

We seasoned our assigned beef cut with salt, pepper, garlic, and smoked paprika and then placed on the grill until the thermometer read 138.  After everyone’s cuts had time to rest {did ya know this allows the temp to rise and keeps the juices in?}, the Texas Beef Council team sliced all of them up and set aside a bunch of grilled veggies for us to try.

After all was said and done {and stuffed}, I re-confirmed my like of filet, but discovered that I’d be open to a NY strip or flat iron as well.

A big thank you to the Austin Food Bloggers Alliance {and my grilling partners} for such a lovely afternoon – I’ll certainly be of the first to sign up for the next one!