Beer Soaked Beef

Two nights ago, I cooked the much anticipated beer soaked beef.  Austin's been eyeing this recipe because of the beer; I've been wanting it because I love beef.  The makings of this dinner actually started 3 nights with the marinade.

I took the flank steak I bought (about 1.5 pounds) and cut it in half.  Since there's only two of us, a whole steak wasn't necessary, and I already found another recipe to try with the flank steak. :)  So with the recipe below (from Weight Watchers) is halved-- and Austin didn't mind finishing the beer that I didn't use in the marinade.  We used an Irish Red Ale for the marinade-- I love red ales, and I think it complemented the other spices used.  The recipe calls for cloves, and I didn't have them.  You could use a combination of cinnamon and nutmeg-- I used apple pie spice.

We let the meat marinade for about 24 hours, turning the meat over occasionally, meaning before we went to bed and the next morning before we went to work.  The meat could either be cooked in the oven or on the grill.  The original recipe suggested 3.5 minutes on each side, and that made it severely rare-- even too red for me.  We put it back in and on each side for about 5 minutes left it medium-rare to rare.  Cook longer based on your preferences.

We had the steak with green beans, and poured the sauce over both the meat and beans.  The meat was sweet, a little bit unexpected for steak, but we both really enjoyed it.  I don't think it will be a staple, but I would make it again.

Beer Soaked Beef

Ingredients

	12 oz beer
	2 Tbsp olive oil
	1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed
	2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
	1 Tbsp dark brown sugar
	1 tsp table salt
	1/8 tsp whole cloves
	1 1/2 pound uncooked lean flank steak, 1-inch thick, washed and patted dry

Instructions

• In a 9- X 13-inch glass baking dish, combine beer, oil, garlic, lemon juice, sugar, salt and cloves; add steak. Cover dish and marinate in refrigerator, turning once or twice, at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.
• Place a grill pan in broiler; preheat broiler to high. Remove meat from marinade and broil about 5 minutes per side for medium rare, or longer until desired doneness.* Remove meat from broiler and place meat on a plate; loosely cover with aluminum foil and let stand for about 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, place grill pan on stovetop over high heat; carefully pour marinade onto grill pan. Bring to a boil (beer will foam) and cook until all alcohol burns off, about 5 to 7 minutes.
• Thinly slice steak against the grain and serve with sauce. Yields about 4 ounces of steak per serving.  6 points per serving.