Rainbow Foods

While shopping at Sahara Mart last week, I found some organic produce that I just had to buy. Then I just had to figure out how to prepare this different food as well as what I would serve with it. Decisions, decisions.

A quick expedition into my freezer yielded a flat iron steak. That will work. Then it was off to the computer to find a recipe for this cut of beef.

Well, this recipe sounds like it would be right up Sandra Lee's alley. With a name like Drunken Flat Iron Steak, it seems like a natural. Oh wait, there are no seasoning packets or extracts used in the recipe. I guess Sandy wouldn't like it after all.

Here I have the ingredients for the marinade: garlic powder (how can I be out of garlic and onion?), kosher salt, black pepper, red wine (I have Shiraz wine on hand) and Dijon mustard along with the flat iron steak.

Since this recipe was developed for the restaurant industry, I had to cut the recipe for the marinade down roughly by a factor of 24 (give or take a bit). That translates to 1/2 cup red wine, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (I would have used an entire clove if I had one) and a pinch of kosher salt.

The next part of this recipe is the Soy-Balsamic Reduction. Again, I had to cut down the amounts. I reduced 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar and 1/4 cup sugar in a small pan. Just before I pulled the pan off the heat, I added 1 tablespoon Less-Sodium Soy Sauce. This is a personal preference as I don't like to reduce soy sauce as it concentrates the salty flavor of the sauce.

Thick and rich and delicious.

Hmm, maybe a bit too thick. This is a sauce that needs to be kept warm.

I opted to skip the fruit salsa from the recipe, and as I didn't have any onions on hand, obviously I wasn't going to be making any crispy onions either.

And now, on to our featured item on the menu...

Certified Organic Rainbow Bunch Carrots. Aren't they cute? My daughter didn't believe me when I told her what I had found. "They make purple carrots? No way!"

Yes, way.

This lovely bunch of carrots only cost $1.99. Not bad for organic Rainbow carrots.





So the inside of a purple carrot is white. Interesting. I have four different colors of carrots here.

I preheated a grill pan for the steak. Flat iron steak should be cooked rare to medium.

This is starting to smell wonderful.

While the steak continued to cook, I heated some canola oil in a small pan before adding the chopped carrots. I like my vegetables tender-crisp, so this didn't take long at all.

A sprinkling of kosher salt and a whisper of honey was drizzled over the top after the carrots were taken from the pan.

The flat iron steak is cut across the grain after it has rested for a few minutes. It is usually at this point that I have to put some of the meat back on the heat for my husband who doesn't like to eat rare or even medium-rare meat.

My dinner is ready now.

I made a Broccoli, Bacon and Cranberry Salad to accompany this meal.

The carrots were tender-crisp with just a hint of sweetness.

The meat was moist and flavorful. My husband liked it even without the Soy-Balsamic Reduction.

This was a very good meal and my husband asked me to put the meat dish into the menu rotation. I love it when a plan comes together.