Oh My Delicious!

Let me just tell you that you will LOVE this meal! It is a WINNER. If you are a meat and potatoes person, or your husband or significant other is, this is a meal for them.
My littles love this meal for a few reasons. 1. It is called cowboy steak and the first time I made it, we told them that real cowboys ate it. They ate every bit of it because they were eating like cowboys! 2. Its just delicious and even kids love it.
This is a fairly quick meal! It was not quick for me due to taking pictures etc., but overall it can be made within 30 minutes including prep time.

Cowboy Steak, Garlic Cheddar Potatoes and Asparagus with a Lemon Vinaigrette

Recipes courtesy of Cooking Light Fresh Food Fast Weeknight Meals, and Food Network's Ten Dollar Dinners 

Ingredients: 

1 london broil or flank steak (I prefer london broil for this) 

Asparagus (1 bunch)

1 lemon

salt

pepper

1 clove garlic

1-2 tsp dijon mustard

1/2 tsp cumin

2 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp instant coffee (I use the pre-packaged servings, which are exactly 1 tsp)

fingerling potatoes or any small potato

Cheddar cheese

garlic powder

olive oil

chopped chives for garnish

(butter is pictured, but i didn't use it and don't feel that you need it) 

 Making the Spice Rub.  Mix 2 tsp. of chili powder, 1/2 tsp of cumin, 1/2 tsp of brown sugar, and 1 tsp of instant coffee. Wisk together so it is well mixed. 

Once your spice rub is mixed salt and pepper one side of your meat. 

Spread 1/2 of the spice rub on the meat, and pat it into the meat, making sure to cover it well with the spice rub. 

Flip it over and repeat with salt, pepper and spice rub. At this point get your grill heated to high while you get the rest of your meal prepped. Go ahead and heat your oven to 400 degrees as well. Set the meat aside until ready to cook it. 

Trim your asparagus and spread out over half of a sheet pan. 

Drizzle with approximately 1/2 tsp. of olive oil and toss so the oil covers the asparagus. Lightly salt and pepper the asparagus. Set aside until ready to cook.  

Now you want to slice your potatoes in half and place into a microwave safe bowl. Put into the microwave for 6 minutes. This is going to precook the potatoes to allow everything to cook evenly and finish at the same time. 

While the potatoes are cooking you will start your vinaigrette that will go over the asparagus. Start by adding 1 to 2 tsp of dijon mustard to a small bowl.

use a garlic press to press 1 clove of garlic and add it to the mustard. 

Next you want to add in the juice from 1/2 a lemon. 

Add in a touch of salt and a generous amount of pepper. This will disperse over all of the asparagus, so it is ok to add a lot of pepper. 

Wisk all the ingredients together while adding in approximately 1 Tablespoon of olive oil. The mixture will become smooth. 

Set the vinaigrette aside so flavors combine.

Once the potatoes are done, place them on the other half of the sheet pan. Spray with PAM spray, lightly salt and pepper the potatoes then lightly sprinkle with garlic powder. 

You are now ready to start cooking! Place the pan into the oven and set the timer for 10 minutes. Once the pan is in the oven immediately put the london broil onto the grill. You only want to cook the london broil for 4 to 5 minutes per side. DO NOT COOK ANY LONGER!! I promise it will be perfectly cooked. Once the meat is done, put it on a plate and cover it with foil until ready to slice. This allows the meat to rest and the juices to redistribute throughout the meat. It also will give you some great juice to pour over the meat when you plate it. 

Pull the pan out of the oven flip your heat to broil and move the rack to the top slot in the oven. Remove the asparagus to a plate to cool slightly. Now you can top each potato with cheddar cheese. 

Place back in the oven on the top rack under the broiler for 2 minutes. This will melt the cheese and slightly brown the top. 

While the potatoes are cooking for the last few minutes, remove the meat from the plate and place on a cutting board to slice.  (you can see the remaining juice) 

The meat is nicely browned and there is a wonderful crust that has formed on the outside from the rub. 

To slice you want to slice diagonally and slice thinly. As you can see below the meat is perfectly cooked. It is still a little pink, but cooked through. If you cook this longer, the meat will be really tough. London broil and flank steak are a tougher cut of meat anyway. 

Sprinkle potatoes with some chopped chives before serving. 

To serve, slice the meat and add potatoes to the plate. Pour the vinaigrette over the asparagus and toss before putting it on the plate. ENJOY!! 

Now lets talk about the containers... 

For this recipe here is how I would count it. 

1 Red, 1 Yellow, 1 Green, 2 tsp, 1 Blue 

I debated on counting the dressing for the asparagus as an orange. There is such a small amount of it on the asparagus I didn't feel like it should count as an entire orange container. You could count it as orange, or just as a teaspoon. 

Enjoy this meal, it is truly wonderful!