Grilled Skirt Steak with Garlic and Herbs

We occasionally grill flank steak (marinated in a mixture of bourbon and Dijon mustard), but then discovered skirt steak and now have another favorite.  Skirt steak is a long, thin cut of beef from the diaphragm muscles of a cow and is lean and fibrous, with an intense flavor.  We marinate it in a spicy chili-basil-garlic paste and grill it for a great flavor, based on a recipe from the New York Times and serve the steak with grilled zucchini and an avocado and burrata salad.

Grilled skirt steak and zucchini

The paste marinade for the skirt steak uses up more of our basil, blending together a few cups of basil leaves, scallions, several garlic cloves, and several chopped hot peppers (either pepperoncini or jalapeno), and lemon zest and juice.  Once these are all blended together, we add 1/4 cup of olive oil to finish the paste.

 Paste ingredients ready to go, blended

The skirt steak is cut to fit in a baking dish, dried with paper towels, smeared with the paste, and then refrigerated for the afternoon.

 Steak raw, pasted

We grill the steaks a few minutes a side, let them rest for a few minutes while we grill the zucchini, and then slice against the grain and serve with the zucchini and an avocado and burrata salad, accompanied by a MacMurray Zinfandel from the California central coast.

 Skirt steak on the grill, grilled

 Dinner is served

In addition to helping use of our basil that has been growing like crazy, this dish is easy to prepare and pairs well with many vegetables and salads for a wide range of meals.