First things first:  As I keep looking for new and interesting ways to prepare the free flank steak that arrives at my door every other month, I looked through my old copy of The New Professional Chef and found this recipe.  It had the added benefit of utilizing several types of meat that I had in my freezer and needed to use.  My next delivery is coming up soon and I need to make room.

A caveat before we get started:  This recipe calls for fresh basil, which is long gone at this time of year so I just used pesto cubes.  It also calls for veal which Butcher Box doesn’t sell, so I just used more pork and beef.

Here’s what you’ll need:

4 Lb. Flank Steak

10 Slices Bread, cubed

4 Tbsp. Butter

1 Lg. Onion, chopped

2 Stalks Celery, chopped

½ Lb. Mushrooms, chopped

¾ Lb. Ground Beef

¾ Lb. Ground Pork

2 Eggs

½ oz. Fresh Parsley, chopped

1 tsp. Rosemary, chopped

½ tsp. Basil, chopped

½ tsp. Savory, dried

1 tsp. Sage, chopped

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Oil, as needed

6 oz. Mirepoix (Fancy Chef Speak for a mixture of chopped onion, celery and carrot)

2 tsp. Tomato Paste (I get it in a tube for these occasions)

6 Oz. Red Wine (optional)

30 Oz. Beef Stock

Arrowroot, as needed

Butterfly flank steak.  This is Fancy Chef Speak for slicing it almost completely in half along the thin edge.  Pound lightly and set aside.

Brown the bread cubes in half of the butter and remove from the pan.

Add remaining butter to pan and sauté the onion, celery and mushrooms until tender.  Remove from heat. 

Mix in the bread cubes, vegetables, meats, eggs and spices.  This is a lot of work, so if you’d rather pour everything into a KitchenAid mixer, go ahead.

Spread stuffing on flank steak.  Roll up from the long side like a jelly roll and tie with cotton string.

Sear the flank steak in oil and remove to a casserole dish.

Add the Mirepoix to the pan and sauté for a couple of minutes.  Then add the tomato paste and brown lightly. 

Deglaze with the optional red wine and stock.

Pour the stock over the flank steak and cover.  Braise at 350 degrees for 1 ½ hours.

Remove from oven, then remove the meat from the pan.  Strain and degrease the stock.

Put the stock in a clean saucepan and cook while thickening with arrowroot until desired consistency is reached.  Serve sauce over sliced flank steak.

This is pretty damned good.  I actually had more stuffing than I could fit into the steak, so I made sort-of meatballs with them and am having those with the sauce.  Mmm, mmm.