'Greek' Style Marinated Steak with Homemade Mashed Potato and Chick Pea Salad

It has been a while since I cook or grill steak. Since parents were away and had the whole kitchen to myself, I decided to prepare dinner {end result.. my brother and I were the happy campers}

I suppose you must be wondering what's this Greek Style dish I'm talking about? Okay, it's not typical Greek Food and I'm not claiming it to be. It's just that one day I was going through my Women's Weekly Recipe Cookbook and saw this dish called Greek Style Lamb with Greek salad.

*A little history: Oh! Let me show you the very first time I made this recipe. The salad comprise of roma tamato{seeded}, red capsicum/bell pepper, large red onion soaked overnight in lemon juice and sugar, japanese cucumber and my own throw together salad dressing.

Salad dressing ingredients were grapeseed oil, lemon rind, lemon juice, grated garlic, some mayo to bind all the flavors and salt and pepper to taste.

Since then, I knew this is a winner for me cause what better way to keep meat tender other than using a tenderizer? Well, to be honest I'm not a big fan of using meat tenderizer as it's not natural enough for me. So when I found this recipe, I decided to try it out. And the results were "A SUCCESS" and "DELISH".

Instead of using lamb, I decided to marinade the steak with the same ingredients. I can't recall the exact recipe on top of my head right now while I'm typing this but I can tell you that the main base marinade is YOGURT.. plain yogurt to be exact {YummmMmmmm}.

On a high note, as usual.. I tweak the recipe here and there to suit my own taste. Lol.. I can't help it..

At the same time, I made a different salad this time. Chick pea and Long Bean Salad.

I think I shall write lesser and show you what I cooked for my brother and I past weekend.

Recipe

Note: I don't measure when I marinade, although some may beg to differ. In my opinion, I would say go wild on using most ingredients except for salt.

Ingredients

Steak (Top Side, Rib Eye or get your butcher to cut you the best side of beef)

Plain Yogurt / Greek Yogurt (can be found in most leading supermarkets)
Lemon Rind (from 1 lemon)
1 Garlic Clove (skin removed)
Mustard (French's American yellow mustard by Heinz / Grained mustard / Dijon mustard)
Smoked BBQ Sauce (any brand that you like)
Red Wine (optional)
Steak Spice (McCormick)
Worchestershire Sauce (Lea & Perrins)
Black Pepper (optional)

Prepare the Steak

1) In a zipper lock bag or deep Tupperware with tight lit, toss in the steak and rub in some steak spice onto each of your meat.

2) Next, use as much or enough plain yogurt to cover the steak. Then pour some BBQ sauce, a couple dash of Lea & Perrins and add 1 or 1 1/2  or 2 table spoon mustard depending on the type of mustard you use and the intensity of the flavour.

3) Grind some black pepper, and NO salt if you have sprinkled some steak spice. Should you not have any steak spice, then sprinkle some salt.

4) Lastly, grate some lemon rind and garlic into the marinade. If you have red wine, pour some in. Make sure to rub and mix the marinade well to cover all your meat. For best taste, marinade it in a day or 2 in advance.

5) For the left over marinade once you cooked the steak, heat up the marinade in a saucepan. Don't toss it out. That will be your instant gravy.

Prepare the Mashed Potato

For the mash, I think everyone would have their home cook/ or trusty family recipe. Therefore, do feel free to use your own recipe.

What do I put in my mash?

Ingredients (enough to fill up 1 dish tray)

6-10 Russet Potato (depending on the size)
2-3 large eggs
Whole/ Full cream milk
Salted Butter
Salt
Black Pepper
Cheddar/ Aged Cheddar
Mozzarella

1) Steam or boil the potatoes. You can opt to peel of the skin or leave it. Once potato is cook and soft, use a masher and mash the potato {that's a hand workout..but worth it}. I usually mash 1 potato at a time so that I don't get large chunks. Also while it's still steaming hot, throw in 1/2 stick to 1 stick of butter. More butter the creamier the taste.

2) Next, toss in the eggs, and pour in the milk. I usually use quite a lot of of milk (approx 1-1 1/2 cups of milk). It's really up to you. If you like it dry, less milk, and with more milk means a softer mash. Don't forget we still need to bake the mash, so I reckoned a little more milk wont hurt as it'll keep the mash moist.

3) Add salt and pepper to taste.

4) I'm a cheese lover, so grate as much cheddar and mozzarella and cover the top of the mash with CHEESE. {drooling}

5) Preheat oven to 350F and bake the mash till the cheese is melted and turn golden brown. I think it'll be approx. 10-20 mins. Make sure to monitor while baking, so that you don't burn your cheese.

**Feel free to experiment: For a richer creamier taste, toss in a 250g (1 block) of Philly Cream Cheese, or use 1/2 cup milk + 1/2 cup cooking cream. I know it may not be the most ideal dish for weight watchers, so long we consume everything in moderation.. that should be fine. I assure you, you'll be asking for second and third helpings. ;p

Prepare Chick Pea Salad

Ingredients

Mixed herb (dried basil, oregano)

Long beans
2 Red Onions
2 glove garlic (roughly chopped/ diced)
1 can of Chick Pea
Balsamic Vinegar
Salt
Black Pepper
Worchestershire Sauce (Lea & Perrins)
Lemon juice
Brown Sugar (optional- to balance the flavours)

1) Brown the mixed herb. And then sweat the onions and garlic on medium heat. Be careful not to burn the herbs.

2) Once the sliced onions are a little transparent in colour, toss in the long beans. Next sprinkle a couple dash of  Lea & Perrins, salt and pepper to taste. Squeeze a little lemon juice for the citrus taste.

3) Lastly, toss in the chick peas and finish up by sprinkling a couple dash of Balsamic Vinegar.

Note: Strained the can chick peas and run some warm water over them. I always taste what I cook, just to make sure I added in enough salt, pepper etc. If you have add in too much lemon juice, don't worry.. sprinkle some sugar to balance off the taste.

Remember, no frills and rules while cooking home cook food. So go have fun and enjoy. I know I sure did!

xx