One of my favourite cuts of meat, flank skirt steak is not a well-known cut but given its wonderfully lean nature and its economical price point, it’s a cut that could make a valuable contribution to your butchery repertoire. Flank skirt steak is easily recognisable when it is sold flat, as this regularly uniform 20cm leaf or paddle-shaped cut of meat is completely lean and has a distinctive coarse lengthwise grain. It is ideal for stewing but I also like to marinate the thin piece of beef, pan fry quickly - allowing good resting time - before slicing thinly across the grain into delicate slices and serving tossed in pasta, salads or wrapped in tortillas. When looking for flank skirt steak in the chiller cabinet it will be most often rolled so that it fits neatly packaged in a meat-tray; check out the labels on the packaging. Flank skirt is also pretty uniform in size ranging from around 400-500 grams so once piece will serve 4 people, making buying and cooking a breeze.

Ingredients

• 1 piece flank skirt steak
• 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
• 1½-2 tablespoons fresh minced ginger
• 3 tablespoons oil
• Thai salad
• 100 grams snow peas, trimmed
• ½ telegraph cucumber
• 3 spring onions, sliced diagonally
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and cut finely into strips
• 1 mango, peeled and sliced
• 1-2 stalks celery, sliced
• Lime and Chilli Dressing
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon chilli paste
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
• 2 tablespoons each chopped fresh mint and coriander
• 3 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
• ¼ cup lime juice
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar

Method

1. Using a sharp knife, make shallow crisscross cuts across the steak on both sides.
2. Mix together the curry paste, minced ginger and oil and rub the marinade into the steak on both sides and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Prepare the salad. Blanch the snow peas in boiling water for 2 minutes, drain and refresh in cold water. Dry on paper towels and cut into thin strips. Cut cucumber in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds then cut diagonally into thin slices. Toss together the snow peas, cucumber, spring onions, red pepper, mango and celery.
4. Panfry the steak for 3-4 minutes on each side over a high heat in a lightly oiled pan. Allow to rest for 2 minutes before carving on a sharp angle into very thin slices. Toss with the prepared salad ingredients and dressing and serve quickly after tossing.
5. To make the dressing: In a small saucepan heat the oil and gently cook ginger, chilli and garlic paste until fragrant. Mix with the mint, coriander, Asian fish sauce, lime juice and brown sugar.

Cooks Tips

- Cutting the steak with a criss-cross pattern ensures the marinade will penetrate the meat as well as the heat so that it skirt steak cooks quickly keeping moist and tender. - Do not confuse flank skirt steak with thick skirt steak, which is coarse grained and needs slow cooking. - Flank skirt steak is also called paddle skirt or teardrop steak.