June 16-19 Grilled Skirt Steak for Father's Day

June 16     Dips with pita, cucumber and radishes, california rolls, boccaccini
June 17     spinach cheese ravioli with brown butter and sage
June 18     pre fathers day - grilled skirt steak, horseradish coleslaw, various farmers market veg
June 19     dinner at Jen's - Asian inspired pork tacos, scallibut ceviche and strawberry shortcake

Jen invited us for dinner and cocktails on Sunday so we had our father's day bbq on Saturday. For some reason, Shack woke up at the crack of 7 on Saturday morning and loudly announced that we were going to the market and that all the lazy people in this house needed to get out of bed. The Brickworks isn't open that early, probably for very good reasons, so we went to the St Lawrence Market and found breathtakingly sweet little local strawberries as well as all sorts of beautiful local produce and a nice, big hunk of meat. I was planning to do a flank steak in a coffee marinade but they had skirt steak.  It looks like flank steak but marbled with tons of yummy fat and the guy assured us that if we like flank steak, we will LOVE skirt steak. He looked like an honest type of guy and he did work at a butcher so we trusted him and bought it. He did not steer us wrong.

our St Lawrence Market Bounty

I used a marinade that I got from SupperWorks and that we all really love. We then grilled up the most tender little stalks of local asparagus, some fingerling potatoes and corn. I also made the horseradish coleslaw that Dale made a couple of weeks ago on Top Chef Canada because I couldn't stop thinking about horseradish. It was very good and it went perfectly with the bloody caesar that I was forced to make since I now had some horseradish in the house but it would have been better if I had bought a more pungent, chunky horseradish, I think.

Java Skirt Steak with Horseradish Coleslaw
serves 3

about a pound of skirt steak

marinade (this makes enough for twice this much meat and I halved it but here is the full recipe for 6) :
1 tbls canola oil
2 tbls balsamic
1/2 tsp kosher salt
3/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 tbls brown sugar
1 tbls minced shallot
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 1/2 tbsp dijon mustard
1 cup strong black coffee

Mix the marinade together and pour over the steaks in a shallow container. Let sit all day or over night.
Preheat your grill however you roll. We use a small charcoal bbq.
Remove the steak from the marinade and discard the marinade. Pat the steak off with a paper towel to remove any excess liquid. Grill, covered, for just a few minutes per side if you like med rare - they are actually very thin little steaks and cook quickly but because of all that beautiful marbeling, they stay moist and tender and delicious.
Let them sit for just a minute before you serve them.