The second time I ever made flank steak using this technique was on a hunting trip to North Dakota. I had made it a few weeks earlier and it was in my head when I was meal planning. And the weather is hot in North Dakota during early Goose season when we were headed up and the grill is always a good option in hot weather, even more when there is not AC. And you can stretch a flank steak to serve quite a few people once you stuff it.
A pinwheel steak or in fancier terms a roulade, is a technique where you butterfly and flatten a piece of meat, top it with all kinds of tasty ingredients and roll it up. When you slice into it after cooking it looks like a pinwheel. You can add all sorts of toppings when using this method, my favorite is the one I am showing you today which uses herby and garlicky cheese spread, spinach and sundried tomatoes. The technique is remarkably simple yet yields something so flavorful and quite frankly impressive looking when you put it on a plate.
Here’s what you need:
We’re going to start by butterflying the flank steak. This means to slice it open like a book – I always open it up so the grain of the meat becomes the ‘spine’ in book terms. This means that in this case I left one of the long ends intact as I sliced. Once you have it opened up, cover with plastic wrap and flatten it with your meat mallet until it’s an even thickness (the spine might need some help as it is usually a little thicker). You can tenderize it if you want with the spiky side.
Season both sides with salt and pepper.
Now add a few dollops of the cheese spread.
Spread it in a nice even layer. Lay on some chopped sundried tomatoes.
And finally top it with plenty of baby spinach (it will wilt down inside so don’t be scared).
Now roll it up nice and tight – let that spinach compact as you roll.
Use cooking twine to tie it together. I like to think about how I am going to slice it sometimes and tie so I can just cut down the middle between the strings. The flank steak won’t be perfectly even in thickness unless you trimmed before you rolled, that seems wasteful to me so I just go with it. And usually if you serve this for multiple people someone likes theirs a little more than medium rare.
Set the rolled up flank steak on a hot grill. You will want a direct and an indirect side to your grill.
Sear it until you get nice dark grill marks on all sizes (there are 4 sides to this rolled-up steak). About 1-2 minutes per side.
Move the steak to the indirect side of your grill (if using gas just shut off the burners underneath). If you have a gas grill you can also move it up to the top rack along with turning the burners under the steak off. Now keep the cover down because we want to bake this the rest of the way until it hits 120 degrees (for medium rare), about 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove the steak from the grill and allow it to rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Don’t forget to remove the twine.
And that is what I call a perfectly cooked steak.
I like to serve this with Acini de Pepi with Spinach and Sundried Tomato pasta. It’s great because you can you can make the pasta in advance and serve it cold or warm it up in the microwave. It’s great either way and means the side can be ready and waiting for you. The flavors are also similar with the sundried tomato and spinach in both recipes and complement each other well.
- 1 flank steak
- salt & pepper
- Garlic and herb spreadable cheese such as Rondele or Boursin
- ⅓ c sundried tomatoes, chopped
- 1 c spinach, chopped.
- Preheat grill to high heat. If using charcoal set up a direct and indirect side of the grill.
- Carefully butterfly the flank steak – opening it like a book and treating the grain of the meat as the direction of the ‘spine’. Carefully cut in the middle and peel open as you go. Cover with plastic wrap and flatten with a meat mallet, until the spine is even with the rest of the steak.
- Season both sides with salt and pepper.
- Spread the steak with the cheese spread. A nice thick slather of it will do. Top with sundried tomatoes and spinach.
- Roll up the steak towards the spine. This will allow you to cut against the grain when you slice it later on. Tie in several places using kitchen twine to hold the steak together.
- Sear all 4 sides of the steak on the grill for about 1-2 minutes per side until you see nice grill marks. Transfer the steak to the indirect side of the grill, or if using gas turn off the burners directly under the steak. Cook an additional 10 to 15 minutes until 120 degrees in the center.
- Rest steak for about 5 minutes before slicing. Remove twine before serving.
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