In keeping with my new cooking philosophy, which BTW I fail to adhere to most of the time, I am never-the-less endeavoring to adopt the KISS (Keep It Simple Sister) principle. Which means, I’m trying to spend less time on my feet in the kitchen. So far, my brain still thinks I’m 37, while my legs and feet tell a different story. But every so often the whole team comes together, and I manage to produce a dish that takes little time to prepare but tastes like I’ve been slaving away in the kitchen for hours. And one of the best ways I know to accomplish this feat, is by serving grilled meat that has been marinated. Because while the meat is marinating, not only are the muscle fibers being tenderized, but flavor is also being added to the meat. And well, not to put too fine a point on it, for not much prep time, I still appear to have my cooking act together. And isn’t that a grand thing! But really, it’s the marinade and Mr. C. in front of the grill that does all the heavy work. While I take the credit. (See how that works!)

So, yesterday, while a nice old hunk of flank steak was in the last throes of defrosting, I went in search of a simple marinade recipe. And I found the perfect recipe on the delish.com site. 4 ingredients. (You can’t get much easier than that.) And the result was fantastic. The meat was tender. The flavor was wonderful.

I served the thinly sliced meat with Mediterranean Pearl (Israeli) Couscous Salad. (Recipe to be posted soon.) And the combination worked very well together.

So, once again, I pulled off dinner with a minimal amount of work. And for tonight’s dinner, I have leftover meat and salad. Win/win. Of course, I will mess with the meat and make it into a dish that hopefully takes little effort. (I’m actually thinking of steak burritos. We’ll see what I come up with.)

As far as last night’s dinner, I’m giving myself a B+. An A+ for the meat, but a C+ for the length of time it took me to make the salad. But I can live with a B+. My feet can too.

Peace and love to all.

⅓ c. extra-virgin olive oil

¼ c. reduced-sodium soy sauce

2 T. fresh lime or lemon juice

2 T. brown sugar

2 lb. flank steak, all fat and silver skin removed

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

In a large flat container, whisk the olive oil, soy sauce, lime juice, and brown sugar together. Add steak and toss until coated. Marinate for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator. (I marinated mine for 4 hours, and it was perfect.)

Remove steak from marinade. Season lightly with salt and pepper.

Preheat grill to medium-high. Place steak on grill and cook to your liking. For the perfect medium-rare flank steak, grill for 8-12 minutes (depending on thickness of meat), turning about 1 minute before the halfway point. A meat thermometer should read no higher than 130-degrees.

Remove from grill and rest the steak lightly covered with foil for 5 minutes before thinly slicing on the diagonal.