So I bought a packet of flank steak at TJ’s a couple weeks ago and through a variety of circumstances was forced to throw it away instead of cooking it. I tried to buy more and they were all out, so over the weekend (more than a week ago now!) I stopped at Savenor’s, the fancy butcher in Beacon Hill and Cambridge, and picked up some hangar steak. Their flank steak was packed in 2-pound chunks, which they didn’t want to cut down, and when I asked about hangar (having enjoyed is very much cooked in the french style at Les Halles over the years) the guy said it would sub in well. I…don’t think that’s entirely true? Or maybe it is but the Savenor’s meat is just so much better quality and…more meaty that I was thrown off? But more on that later.

The recipe in question is another one from Everyday Food, Flank Steak with Lime Marinade. The marinade is dead easy–I love recipes where i can just sort of chunk up the ginger instead of bothering to dice it tiny and evenly.

If this isn’t a summery group of ingredients, I don’t know what is:

I made a little less marinade than the recipe makes, since I had less meat. But in essence you juice a few limes and toss in diced ginger, red pepper flakes, some soy sauce and chopped scallions. Next time I will probably use garlic instead of scallions.

Put all that in a ziplock with your meat. Squish it around (seal it first!). Marinate for about an hour. Grill, rest, slice. So easy! Making the marinade takes about 5 minutes.

To go with the steak, we grilled asparagus. Clean the asparagus (snap off the woody ends; they snap right where they’re supposed to if you hold the end and the middle of the stalk and bend it), toss in salt and pepper and olive oil, grill to taste. Ben grilled it to his taste–it wasn’t quite charred enough for me. I just love asparagus. This was from New Jersey, and it was very tasty.

I also boiled/roasted a few red potatoes.

The meal was almost great, but not quite. The meat was a bit underdone, went back on the grill, and was still very rare for my taste. I think the hangar steak is also just too flavorful for this type of marinade–the meat and marinade didn’t work together as well as I’d hoped. Still, I want to keep trying these less-expensive beef cuts until I figure them out! (I do think I’d have been happier if it had been more medium-rare instead of rare. I microwaved leftovers at work the next day and they were delicious. Usually when I reheat non-braised meat it is overdone.)