Spiced Flank Steak with Roasted Snap Beans and Browned Butter Soy Sauce

I knew exactly what I would make with a giant bag of snap beans one of my 4-H kids brought me … that would be my favorite Chinese dish, snap beans and pork. Except, I winged it and made what I thought were some minor modifications. The snap beans were delicious, the meat was tougher than a tire (tasted decent), but the sauce I concocted was so good. It was 2011 and I had recently fell in love with browned butter and was convinced it belonged in everything.

Y’all, I am a confused soul -- I wanted beef and broccoli. I’m not sure what I was thinking but this dish was definitely not it but clearly I was on to something magical. I played around with the meat of choice for a bit and came out with a flank steak that is heavily based on a recipe in Cook’s Illustrated: The Science of Good Cooking.

The snap beans shine with a deep sweetness from being roasted while maintaining structure, the ginger in the beans brings brightness to the flank steak that is grounded with cumin, coriander, and cinnamon. It ties together with a sauce that brings nuttiness and richness to the dish. I usually chop up roasted peanuts to bring a little crunch, but I forgot to add them when I took the photo. Se la vie. It happens.

PS The soy sauce really amped up the flavor when I started using Haku, Black Garlic Shoyu sauce. It might seem expensive coming in around $30 for 500 mL, but it goes a long way and your sauces will boast a deeper, cleaner flavor.

Browned Butter Soy Sauce Ingredients
6 Tbl butter
½ tsp mandarin zest
2 Tbl mandarin juice (have 2 mandarins on hand)
½ tsp minced garlic (1 clove)
1 Tbl soy sauce
½ tsp vinegar
½ tsp Dijon mustard

Browned Butter Soy Sauce Directions
In a 9” frying pan, melt 6 Tbl butter on medium low heat. After it melts, increase the heat until you have a few bubbles. Eventually, milk solids will fall to the bottom of the pan and begin to brown. There’s no need to stir. Pick up the pan and tilt it, if it’s a little darker than milk chocolate it’s done. Prepare the rest of the sauce while you wait.

Run the mandarin on a zester or small holes of a box grater, add ½ tsp zest to a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. Squeeze the mandarin and add 2 Tbl of juice to the jar.

Slice off the dry end of the garlic clove. Lay the knife flat on the clove and give a good whack with the pinky side of your fist to smash the clove. The skin should pop off. Slice the clove thinly, then slice it crosswise. Rock the knife back and forth until you have a fine mince. Add ½ tsp of the garlic to the jar.

Add 1 Tbl soy sauce, ½ tsp of vinegar, and ½ tsp of Dijon mustard to the jar. Allow the brown butter to cool to warm and put it into the jar. Close the lid tightly and shake, shake, shake.

Roasted Snap Beans Ingredients
1 ¾ lbs of fresh snap beans
2 Tbl grapeseed oil
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp ginger powder
½ tsp garlic powder

Roasted Snap Beans Directions
Heat the oven to 475.

Snap off the stem end of the beans. Some people also snap off the tail end. I do not. It’s your choice.

Add half of the beans to each ½ sheet pan. Pile the beans into the center. Drizzle 1 Tbl of oil onto each pile of beans. On a small saucer, mix ¼ tsp salt, ½ tsp black pepper, ½ tsp ginger powder, and ½ tsp garlic powder. Sprinkle the spice mixture over the beans.

Thoroughly mix the beans then spread them on the sheet pans. Try not to have them touch and definitely not have them overlap. It sounds crazy but the easiest way to this is to lay them parallel to the long side of the pan.

Roast them until the tops begin to brown. The underside of the bean should be dark brown. Do not flip them. If you flip them and get them dark brown on both sides, the beans will be too soft. If you flip them when they’re light brown, you won’t develop the sweetness or depth of flavor. Remove them from the oven. Let them sit on the pan until it’s time to plate.

Spiced Flank Steak Ingredients
1 Tbl ground cumin
1 ½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp of salt
1 tsp black pepper
½ tsp Aleppo flakes
½ tsp garlic powder
1.25 lb flank steak
1 Tbl grapesee oil
1/2 c roasted peanuts

Spiced Flank Steak Directions
In a small saucer, mix 1 Tbl ground cumin, 1 ½ tsp ground coriander, ½ tsp salt, 1 tsp black pepper, ½ tsp Aleppo flakes, and ½ tsp garlic powder. This mixture is the spice rub.

Begin to preheat a cast iron pan on medium-low on your hottest burner.

Lay the flank steak flat on a cutting board. Cut it in 2-3 pieces if it’s too big for the pan. If the steak is not uniform thickness, slice off the thinner ends. You’ll still cook them but you won’t cook them as long at the thicker pieces. Trim off any excessive external fat.

Take a paper towel and dry off the meat as much as possible. Using your hands, spread the oil on both sides of the meat. Sprinkle both sides of the meat with the spice rub. It will seem like a lot of spice. Use all of it. No ifs, ands, or buts.

Add the meat to the pan. You should hear a sizzle, but not a loud one. If you add more than one piece to the pan at a time, make sure you don’t crowd it. Leave the meat untouched for a few minutes. You should continue to hear a sizzle the whole time.

Take a peak. If the underside is dark brown, flip it. When both sides are brown, transfer the meat to a plate and allow it to rest for 10 minutes before cutting it.

Flank steak is usually thinner cuts of meat so meat thermometers are pretty worthless. You can look at the edges to have a general idea of how pink it is in the middle. If you’re really worried, you can make an incision in the middle of the steak to peak. Flank steak is a tough cut of meat so please don’t overcook it. Medium rare is the best.

If you will eat the steak as leftovers, undercook it a little. This way, when you reheat it, it won’t be overcooked.

Roughly chop the peanuts.

Plate it. Spread a little of the sauce on a plate, lay down snap beans, and drizzle with sauce. Put the cooked steak on a chopping board and use a knife to cut thin strips against the grain. This is a beaucoup important step because flank steak is a tough cut of meat and if you cut it with the grain, your molers will receive quite the work out.

If you look at the meat, you should be able to see a pattern of roughly parallel lines, that is the grain. You want to cut perpendicular to that. If you’re still unsure about the direction to cut it, take the knife and lightly score the meat, then score it again perpendicular to the line you just cut. You’ll want to cut it in the direction that gives you the most resistance. Once you identified which way you cut it, look at the meat closer to see if you can now identify the grain.

Fan out a few pieces of the meat on top of the snap beans. Drizzle with more sauce. Top with a sprinkling of peanuts.

Time Management Tips
Preheat oven to 475.

Make the sauce.

Prep the snap beans.

Mix the meat spice rub.

Dry off the meat.

Roast the beans. Preheat the cast iron pan.

Prepare and cook meat.