Low GI & Omega 3 Rich Recipes

This neglected cut is unexpectedly flavoursome – and cheap to boot! Skirt steak is the cut used to prepare fajitas, Chinese stir fry, and is often prepared in restaurants for the kitchen staff – it is cheap, delicious, and if you marinate it first, it does not remain tough.

I recall rump steak being the cheap and tasty cut when I was a child peering over the butcher counter (in expectant hope that the butcher would hand me a free sausage). Times have changed – At our local butcher, rump was $24.99 per kilo, and the skirt steak right up the back of the display was only  $12.99 per kilo!

Rather than serving up with high GI potato mash, try our pumpkin and white bean mash, with a generous serving of greens like these asparagus.

Cost per serve: $6.71

Cost: skirt steak – $6.00, asparagus – $2.50 bunch, pumpkin – $1.99 half, beans – $1.10, blood orange $0.75, balsamic $1.08.  Total: $13.42

Serves: 2

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Marinating time: at least a few hours – though I marinated it for ten minutes to see how tough it was – served rare, it was still absolutely delicious

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 skirt steak (it comes in a round piece, rolled up)
• 2 blood oranges
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 a butternut pumpkin (butternut squash)
• 250g cooked white beans (drained and rinsed if in a can)
• 2-3 tablespoons low fat milk
• 1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese
• 1 bunch asparagus

Method:

• squeeze the blood oranges and mix the juice with the balsamic vinegar
• Pour over and around the steak either in a bowl, or a plastic bag
• Cover and marinate in the refrigerator
• If you do this in the morning, it will be perfect for dinner time
• Chop the pumpkin into small rough cubes, cover with water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil
• Turn down the heat when boiled and continue cooking till soft (around 10-15 minutes)
• Drain the pumpkin and stir in the cooked, drained beans
• Add the parmesan and milk and mash together
• Season with salt an pepper to taste and then set aside
• While the pumpkin is boiling, heat up a heavy based pan or griddle to a high heat
• Sear the steak on both sides on high heat
• When browned on both sides, deglaze with the marinade juice or a little water and turn heat to medium
• It is quite a thick cut so will take a little longer to cook than a thinner steak – you can see from the picture above I sliced it up when I thought it was cooked – and it was very rare. I simply put the strips back on the hotplate for a few moments till they were medium rare (the way I like it).
• When the steak is ready, place the asparagus in the same pan, and fry in the steak juices
• The asparagus will only take around 1 minute to cook – so leave it till last – this way it will remain firm
• Slice the steak on the diagonal and serve over the mash and asparagus