Suburban Belle

This is possibly the best steak marinade ever. Let me tell you how good it was: we used it according to the directions…marinated the meat, then used extra to pour over the steak after it was cooked…and there was still a little left over. As I was cleaning up the kitchen after our meal, I couldn’t help myself. I was dipping my finger in it for another taste. Then I switched to bread and used the marinade as a dipping sauce. So delicious. Try this at your early possible convenience.

Here is the recipe as given to us from our friend Danny, with his notes. I don’t think it’s his original recipe, but he didn’t cite a source.

Danny’s Steak Marinade

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
4 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (use fresh garlic)
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives
1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Directions:

1. Combine Soy, Oil, Sugar, Worcestershire, Garlic, Chives, and Pepper in medium bowl. Remove 1/4 cup marinade and combine with Vinegar in a small bowl; set aside.

2. Place remaining marinade and steaks in ziplock bag or dish. Make sure meat is covered most of the way in marinade. Refrigerate for an hour and flip steaks half way through.

3. Remove steaks from marinade and grill as desired. Make sure to discard the marinade that the raw meat was in.

4. Transfer cooked steaks to a pan and poured the reserved marinade that was put aside over the top. Cover dish with aluminum foil and let sit for at least 10 min.

(I usually double or tripple the batch to actually get enough marinade. The given amount is only enough for a small portion of steak. Also instead of removing the 1/4 cup and setting it aside, I usually just make another batch with the balsamic vinegar in it.)

Wow! What’s up with my ornamental plum? The fruit seemed unusually large to me this year and tonight I tried one just for the heck of it. It was delicious? Now I’m wondering if I should try to do something with the tiny but tasty gems. Jam, perhaps? The tree is loaded!

I really don’t know why I don’t make this more often. Maybe it’s the cost of avocados? I don’t know. Whatever. My belated new year’s resolution is to make this more than once this year.

2 roma tomatoes, finely diced (remove as much of the wet, slimy part as you can easily)
1/2 red onion finely diced
1 small/medium jalapeno, finely diced (or more if you like it spicy)
3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed/pressed
several generous splashes of lemon juice
kosher salt to taste
cumin to taste (I used about 2 tsp.)
4 avocados, mashed
cilantro, cut up with scissors

Mix it all together and savor with your favorite tortilla chips or put it on your chili dog, like my husband did.