Pan-Seared Steak Marinated in a Spicy Soy Sauce

When I made – and promptly ate – this dish, I wasn’t thinking about the blog so as a result the pictures aren’t that good. Sorry. I’m not the best photographer and then I wasn’t paying attention to food aesthetics. But, this marinade was so good I had to share it. It has excellent, bold flavor that I haven’t often been able to get when I’ve made steak in the past.

If you’re not a fan of spicy this might not be the recipe for you. It’s not very spicy in the way of hot wings. Instead, it leaves a pleasant tingly feeling on the lips and mouth after each bit. It’s a nice after effect.

I got this recipe from Jacques Pépin’s cookbook, Essential Pepin. I LOVE this book! It’s easy to follow, it has tons of recipes, and it had a great DVD in the back that teaches some basic, fancy and impressive cooking and presentation techniques. Love it, and love this recipe.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

2 tbsp chopped garlic

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

~ 1 lb of steak.  Jacques says to use flank steak, I think I used a New York Strip.

Directions:

1. Mix all the ingredients, except the steak, in a dish until well mixed.

2. Put the steak in a dish large (like a casserole, gratin, or Pyrex type thing). Pour the marinade over the steaks. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit in the refrigerator for 1-24 hours. (I only did 1 hour)

3. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 200°. You could also go up to 250 if you want it less pink. I’ve done both and it worked well.

4. Heat a skillet on high heat. Heat for about 5 minutes until it’s very hot. You can also heat up a grill. I used a grill pan, so I was still working with the stove, but I could also get those awesome grill lines.

5. Put the steaks in the skillet and cook on each side for about 2 minutes. DO NOT pour the extra marinade in the skillet. You’re using it in the next step.

6. Pour the the marinade in a saucepan and bring to a boil. After you’ve browned the steak, return it to the marinade (still in the saucepan).

7. Put the saucepan, containing the steak and marinade, into the warm oven. The steak will cook in it’s own heat for 10 minutes. The steak will come out medium to medium-rare. If you like it further cooked your options are to a.) cook it more in the skillet b.) turn the heat up more in the oven c.) leave it in the oven longer.

Step it up a notch – 

Chop up some mushrooms and onions (1/2 an onion, 1/2 a cup of mushrooms is probably good). When you remove the steak from the skillet, keep it on the stove. Add some soy sauce to the skillet and saute the mushrooms and onions until they are soft. This should take 5-10 minutes. Top the steak with this mixture. It’s delicious!!

Messy Level – Slightly above low.

This recipe doesn’t include a lot of pots, but marinades get sticky! It requires some good elbow grease, or a good pan, to get the cooked on juices free from the pan. But most of us could use a good upper body work out, so why not scrub 1 or 2 pans? 🙂