One Dressing Fits All! Like a One Size Fits Alllabel on a piece of clothing, I am appreciative of one dressing that can season several items on a plate. Redundant? It depends. Easy? You betcha.
If the dressing has a good bone structure, using it to season the entire menu is not as boring as you might imagine; the flavor profile reshapes itself according to the food and application.
To make the dressing (vinaigrette) for the following recipe, I used a top-drawer balsamic vinegar from Modena, Italy — vinegars made in New Jersey that tout themselves as balsamics are imposters and should be incarcerated.
I used a good extra virgin olive oil, though not a great one, as the heat of the oven and grill would obliterate intricacies and nuances of the more redolent oils.
Though the flank steak, potatoes and asparagus use the same dressing, they’re all delicious and — no surprise — complementary. A good crumbled blue cheese — you don’t need but a smidgen — is the piece de resistance. (Whole Foods has a marvelous selection of blues, and they are happy to give samples.)
It’s that time of the year when local asparagus are poking their heads through the ground, and the grilling urge strikes. However, you could roast onions instead of asparagus and cook the steak under the broiler of your oven; the dressing and cooking times would be the same.
The keys to a juicy and tender flank steak are straightforward: marinate the meat at least a couple of hours, then cook it over high heat 4 to 6 minutes per side. Flank steak is best enjoyed rare to medium-rare; it’s a lean cut of beef and the longer it’s cooked, the tougher it becomes.
For those who prefer their meat well-done, I’d recommend a well-marbled (fattier) cut of beef, such as a Delmonico.
The recipe below amply serves two. Feel free to double the ingredients but if you do, use two cooking sheets, instead of one, to accommodate roasting the potatoes and asparagus simultaneously.
I dedicate the following recipe to “spd”, a reader who posted a comment last week about success with another One Dressing Fits All Spanish-inspired menu. The reader replicated the recipe and wrote that they were pleased with the results. If any readers have other variations on this One Dressing Fits All theme, I’m all ears!
