Aromatic Vegetables with Savory Flank Steak
Zucchini, eggplant, onions and bell peppers are in the summer spotlight at the farmers’ market. With so many of these vegetables available, we are always looking for new ways to use them.
The following recipe adapts the traditional ratatouille, and instead of tomatoes includes a delicious marinated flank steak. It’s a pleasant shift from the usual salad or plate of steamed broccoli to go with your dinnertime filet of salmon or other meat. The zucchini and eggplant comes out of the skillet slightly wilted but chunky, its flavors and herbs full of the marinade and juices from the beef.
To make this simple Primal recipe you’ll need:
Ingredients:
6-12 oz. organic farm-raised flank steak, sliced as desired (I cut it into 2-inch bite-sized pieces)
1 tablespoon wheat-free tamari sauce
½ teaspoon cumin
Extra virgin olive oil
1 large fresh eggplant, cut across into ¾ inch slices
Fresh zucchini, ends trimmed, cut into half moons
½ white onion, thinly sliced
1 large purple bell pepper
1 large red bell pepper
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
Fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
Fresh rosemary
Directions:
Preheat oven to about 400 F. Spray a baking sheet with oil.
In a small bowl, mix cumin with wheat-free tamari. Slice steak into 1-2 inch cubes and toss into bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside about 30 minutes.
Brush each side of the eggplant slices with olive oil and place them on the baking sheet. Bake each side of the eggplant for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Keep separate.
While eggplant bakes, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat in a skillet or Dutch oven. Add onion and thyme leaves, cooking for about 3 minutes, or until onion is shiny and no longer firm. Add zucchini and cook until fork pushes through easily, about 10 minutes. Lower heat and add bay leaf, tomatoes, peppers and garlic, giving it all a nice stir. Cover and simmer, about 10 minutes.
Slice the eggplant pieces in half. Lightly sprinkle with salt and add to the skillet vegetable mixture, cooking for an additional 20 minutes, allowing all flavors to blend.
Near the end of the 20 minutes, heat 1 teaspoon olive oil over medium heat in a small skillet. Add steak and cook until just brown but still pink in the middle. Transfer steak in with the vegetables, turning the heat up again to medium.
Cook covered for 4-5 minutes maximum, until steak is cooked through. Serve warm with a glass of good red wine.
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Posted By: Worker Bee
The vegetable looks fabulous, a sort of ratatouille. I might have all the ingredients on hand to make it at home soon.
i’ve seen tamari in many recipes lately but i have never come across it in stores. i guess the hunt is on.
Zucchini is one of my favorites – I use it in omlettes all the time.
I’ll try this this week.
What exactly is tamari??
Oh, man–makes me want to eat my veggies! And flank steak is a favorite of mine. Thanks for another great recipe!
Love the flank steak!
i love eggplant
Eggplant creeps me out. The fact that it’s a nightshade adds to its scary effect. *shudders*
Yeah…I’m not real crazy about the eggplant either. But leave the eggplant out, and it looks GREAT!
I love everything but the eggplant. It soaks up oil like a sponge, and my version of paleo/Zone a la CrossFit excludes olive oil – it goes rancid so easily, and the high-quality bottles are expensive, especially when it is just my husband and me. I do not think Grok had olive oil in his cave shelf.
Wonderful.. Now I know what I’m gonna do with all those eggplants..
Thanks for this receipe! Kind of a one-dish meal and looks easy to prepare.
I have the book already, but I will give my copy to my sister if I win! So many recipes, so little time
Haha, I have to admit I never know what zucchini really was until I just looked for the Portuguese translation, which is the language spoken here at home… anyways, sounds good! Especially that steak… ummm!
Yum! I love ratatouille.
Looks delicious. I was mulling what to cook for dinner tonight so I naturally logged on to MDA. Problem solved! Will try this later this evening. Might try grilling the meat and veggies kabob-style though. Awesome recipe!
Don’t forget with flank steak to slice thinly across the grain of the meat. This will make the meat less tough when chewing!
Hope I get the book, as a poor graduate student in physiology I just can’t afford it! My primal lifestyle has come solely from this website!
Those are all my favorite veggies, but I am trying to avoid all nightshades to see if it helps with my arthritis.
I can just taste how delicious it is!
This basically looks very very tasty…
Never thought of the eggplant…but it makes sense
This looks delicious! I can’t wait to try it.
I’m certainly gonna try this way. I love ratatouille.
There are really a lot of delicious recipes on this site. Yum!
Does Mark like his steak RARE?
JM
wish i could get local grass fed beef. looks delicious.
Oh wow… this looks really good!
My god, that meat looks tasty. The veggies, too, but the steak is a makin’ me drool.
Looks good, but how about a recipe to do this on a grill? Nothing says Primal like open flame. Don’t slice the steak, but marinade per recipe above. Don’t slice peppers. Slice eggplant, zukes and onion into rounds and lube with oil. Build the fire (or light the gas) and char the peppers over high heat. (Personally I’d roast some jalapenos or serranos to throw in too, but that’s just me.) Place in a paper bag to steam about 10 minutes and then remove skins and slice into strips. Sear steak all around. Lower fire (bank coals or turn down gas) and grill veg (grill basket might help here) and steak until done (I’m being deliberately vague here). Remove steak from heat and allow to rest 15 minutes or so. While steak rests, mix oil, garlic, thyme and minced rosemary and let sit. Slice steak and toss with veg and oil dressing in a large bowl (onion should separate into rings).
Less clean up, doesn’t heat up the house, gets you outside in the sunlight, and, yeah, it’s got that primal flame!
This sounds great! Flank steak has long been one of our favorite cuts of meat. I just started learning about Primal living a few days ago, so I’ll be looking for recipes like this one — similar to what we would have cooked before Primal — to ease us into the transition. Thank you!!
Flank steak is one of the cheapest cuts out there and very easy to prepare
I just found a local farmers market with all of the ingredients for the recipe. Can’t wait to try it.
Also love the idea of a Primal cook book.
Everyday there is something great on here! I love it!
Good one. I’ve been looking for nightshade free ways to get my veggies. I’d just drop the peppers etc and put in some summer squash.
I have everything but the eggplant…
Yum.