Stuffed Flank Steak

Start by cutting a large pocket into a good-sized flank steak (or in about four thick pork chops). Then make the following stuffing:

- Melt one half a stick of butter in a large frying pan (or in an equivalent amount of olive oil if you prefer)
- Finely chop and add two shallots
- Chop and add about four good sized mushrooms
- Include two tablespoons of bread crumbs or Panko
- Add one teaspoon of dried thyme and a few sprigs of chopped parsley
- Dice and add about five apricots
- Chop and add a handful of pistachio nuts (or pecans)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Sauté and stir until well incorporated

Let this mixture cool and then stuff the flank steak (or pork chops), securing the opening(s) with a few toothpicks. In the same frying pan add some olive oil, salt and pepper the outside of the flank steak (or pork chops) and sauté it (them) to your preferred level of doneness. (Alternately, use your barbecue grill), When cooked, let stand five minutes and then cut the flank steak across the grain or serve the pork chops whole. In either case remove the toothpicks before serving.

Serve with a good potato salad or even mashed potatoes. (You can even make a little gravy for the mashed potatoes with the sauté pan drippings.)

Devil in the Details

This construction of deviled roast beef bones is for the frugal among us who love manly foods. I used to eat this dish many years ago at the Biltmore Men’s Bar when it really did bar women. When you have finished that standing roast beef for Sunday dinner, don’t throw away the bones! Follow these simple directions for a delicious Monday lunch:

- Cut the roast beef bones apart leaving a goodly and roughly equal amount of meat on each one. (You may have to separate and discard the chine bone.)

- Create the following “deviling paste” with a little bit of panache. Mix about two heaping tablespoons of a good quality mustard (Kosciusko or Gray Poupon) with about a tablespoon of horseradish. Give this mixture a few squirts of Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce, one squirt of hot sauce (Frank’s or Tabasco), a pinch of salt, a few turns of fresh-ground pepper, and, maybe, a few drops of lemon juice. Next you have to turn this sauce into a paste. You do this with a beaten egg yoke and enough bread crumbs (or Panko) to create a tight texture.

- Spread this paste all over the roast beef bones and place them on some aluminum foil covering a small pan. I use the toaster-oven pan and cook them in the toaster oven (again, frugal). Start them in the (toaster) oven at about 250 degrees to start rendering the excess beef fat. After about five minutes turn up the (toaster) oven to 300 degrees. Then, after another five minutes (or so), up it to 350 degrees, Then, 400 degrees. Finally, to broil. Be careful not to burn the bones but make sure they are a good dark color.

Enjoy them in private unless you don’t care if people see you with grease all over your chin. They go well with a hearts of lettuce salad with Russian dressing (made with caviar, not pickle relish … my one departure from frugality).