jaunthie | And now for something completely different

I haven't posted a recipe here for a while, so here goes.

I hadn't really intended to do much cooking tonight. It has been a busy week, we had leftovers still in the 'fridge, and I still had my NaNo count to do (and still do). But then

fisherbear called me from the grocery store.

"So they've got flank steak on sale here for really cheap. I'm in the mood for cow. Do you know any recipes for flank steak?"

Well, no, but I had this spice rub recommended to me by

ryalin1, and I'm fairly creative, so what the heck.

Minor complication: I don't own a grill pan, and it's too cold to bother with the charcoal grill at this time of the year.

Eh, I own an oven.

Another minor complication: I don't have all the fancy spices and things called for in Bobby Flay's recipe for Coffee-Rubbed Filet Mignon. I certainly don't have the ingredients on hand for the sauce. And I'm cooking flank, not filet. Very different.

Eh, so what? I'll substitute and improvise. And who needs a sauce?

Needless to say, I wasn't 100% confident that the results would be edible, but in fact it came out really well. And it went fabulously well with the roasted sweet potatoes.

Asterisks * indicate places where I changed the ingredients from Mr. Flay's original. Apologies to Mr. Flay.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Start roasting your sweet potatoes.

To make the rub, combine:

1/4 cup ancho chile powder
1/4 cup instant espresso powder*
1 tablespoon Spanish paprika
1 tablespoon smoked paprika*
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons freshly ground pequins*

Stir all the spices together in a bowl until thoroughly mixed. There will probably be far more rub than you'll need; bottle and store the rest for next time.

On a flexible cutting board, unroll and spread out:

1 1 1/2 pound flank steak (more or less; I believe ours was 1.67 pounds)

Shake on a generous amount of rub and spread evenly over the surface of the flank steak, pressing it into the surface of the meat. Flip over and repeat on the other side. Spray that side evenly with canola oil spray. Cover with plastic wrap and slide back into the refrigerator, cutting board and all, for half an hour. (Your potatoes need much more time to cook.)

In the meantime, spray a grill pan (or in my case, my improvisation for a grill pan) with canola oil. About 20 minutes before the potatoes will be done, pop the pan into the oven to heat up for a few minutes. Bring back out and put the steak oiled-side UP onto the pan. (Yes, the side that you sprayed with the oil is facing up, not down on the bottom of the pan. Trust me.) Put grill pan in oven and cook for 12 minutes at 400 degrees. Remove the sweet potatoes from the oven (they'll stay plenty hot) and turn the oven over to broil. Broil the surface for 3-5 minutes, depending on how done you like the steak. I broiled mine for three, and it was medium-rare. Remove meat from oven and let rest for five minutes before slicing thinly across the grain. Serve with spinach salad and roasted sweet potatoes.

It is a spicy mix, so if you're sensitive to capsasim, moderate accordingly. I might have to try the leftover rub on some fish. I think it would go very well on a white fish, or even chicken.

Yum!