Crazy Spaghetti Tip

This will be short and sweet.  

First, a little history.  When I was in elementary school, my mom and a bunch of other moms were in charge of a huge spaghetti supper at the school.  Our good friend Dupre owned a restaurant in Irmo at the time and he let them use the place during the day, while the restaurant was closed, to mix up all their sauce.  My memory (be warned...this is a kid's memory) was of buckets and buckets, like sheetrock mud buckets, just lined up everywhere.  They were making the sauce en masse, of course.  One lady's task was to add x-number of cups of Worchestershire sauce to each bucket.  She went into the kitchen, grabbed several bottles of that yummy black nectar and set out to get the job done.  

At about bucket # 20, someone looked at what she was doing.  She had grabbed a yummy black nectar, but a different one than intended.  Yes friends, she was adding soy sauce to the spaghetti sauce.  As you can imagine, all the  moms went bonkers, there were some meltdowns and I'm pretty sure some emphatic "dammits" and "shits."  But, finally the chaos subsided and someone, I'm going to assume it was the level headed Dottie Webber (my mom),  who said something like "Hey, it's done.  Keep adding soy to the rest of the sauce so it's consistent."

The secret weapon

Well, you know what?  That spaghetti supper at Dutch Fork Elementary back in the early 70's was a resounding success.  In fact, up until that time, I wasn't such a spaghetti fan.  But I became one that night.  I think it was the soy sauce.  No, I know it was.  Soy sauce is one of the most precious liquids on Earth, if you ask me.  

So, here's the message I wanted to impart to you all this evening.  When you have those quicky weeknight suppers of spaghetti sauce from a jar <<oh don't act like you don't use it from time to time!>>  add some soy sauce and little garlic powder.  It elevates jarred sauce tremendously.  In fact, my little diner dove into hers this evening and said, 

"Mommy, did you make this yourself?"  <<Okay, I told her yes.>>  Her response? "I love it!  Thank you so much!"  

Do I feel guilty about using a jarred sauce now and then?  Not with a compliment like that from the most important person on the planet!

I'd walk the plank for a good flank

Have you noticed how difficult it is to find a flank steak in your grocery store these days?  I don't think I've seen them in my store for over a year.  Once upon a time, the flank steak got a really bad rap.  It was considered an "inferior" cut of meat, tough, cheap.  I pity the fool who believes that.  Flank steak is one of my favorites.  You can grill it, broil it, make sandwiches out of it, make steak tacos, a simple steak dinner...the list goes on and on.  So, somewhere along the line, other people discovered this and flank steak was pretty plentiful, but as usual, as it's reputation improved, its prices rose.  However, now it's virtually impossible to find it.  Virtually.

On the way back from Asheville yesterday, we stopped at Costco.  (Don't even think about getting me started about how I'd sell my soul to the devil for a Costco and my blood-boiling outrage that the capital city of this state is deprived of one!!!!) There, in the meat department was a beautiful flank steak.  Wait, check that...this package was housing TWO of these beauties.  And, since it's Costco, the price was awesome.  My mom and I selected one and split the spoils.

Tonight I made one of my most favorite flank steak recipes...yes, this is one I've made more than once.  It's from one of my old Weight Watchers cookbooks.  

These cookbooks are the bomb-diggity!

It's simply fantastic and if you can get your hands on a flank steak, I recommend you try this one.  My child raved and gave me the coveted "Ten thumbs up" as she calls it.

Sesame Soy Marinated Flank Steak

• 1 1-1/2 lb flank steak
• 1/4 cup finely chopped green onions
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 Tbs sugar
• 2 Tbs sherry
• 1 Tbs sesame oil
• 1 Tbs water
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 4 garlic cloves, minced

Trim the fat from the steak.  Combine the next 8 ingredients in a large ziploc bag.  Add steak, seal the bag and marinate about 8 hours, turning occasionally.

Prepare your grill.  Remove steak from the bag and save the marinade.  Grill steak about 7 minutes per side, using reserved marinade to baste.  Let steak rest at least 5 minutes before slicing it ACROSS the grain into thin slices.  Trust me...if you don't cut it this way, you just wasted your time.

Hot off the grill and resting

Our meal tonight:  grilled flank steak, broiled zucchini & sauteed corn

  Oh yeah...for those of you here in my town.  If you find flank steak in your grocery, please let me know where.