.balsamic marinated beef tips.

I had intended on making salmon last night but remembered I was taking dinner to a family from church that just had a baby last week. So I had to change things up!

This is a recipe that I have had in my head for awhile but just hadn't worked it out in the kitchen. Making something for the first time without a recipe and just going by the seat of your pants is NOT something you want to do when you're supposed to be taking a meal to someone. LOL But it all worked out and it was fabulous.



Start with your marinade:

1/4 c. oil
1/4 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp oregano



Mix up well.



This is london broil. London broil isn't actually a cut of meat. It's usually a flank steak or top round or sirloin steak. Since it wasn't labled as something else, I would venture a guess that this piece of meat was top round by its lean-ness. See how there isn't much marbling? It also means that it might be really dry too so you don't want to grill this kind of meat. It's best for marinating and braising -- like I'm going to do! So no worries, right? Be careful not to overcook this type of meat too because it will be very tough and dry.



Cut the steak into large chunks. These were about 1 1/2" pieces.

Put the meat in a large ziploc and pour the marinade in. Squish everything around so that all the meat is coated. If you don't have a lot of time to marinate, leave this on the counter. If you marinate overnight, obviously put this in the fridge. The longer you let this soak into the beef, the better. I only had a couple of hours.

While the meat marinates, do your prep.



I didn't want sliced mushrooms because they would be too thin. I would have liked small button mushrooms but the store didn't have any so I had to use standard white mushrooms and I cut them in half and then into thirds, so I got 6 mushroom pieces per fungi. ;)



Cut an onion in half, then in half again. Cut into slices.










Chop up some parsley for garnish. You don't want to use dried parsley for this dish.
















Heat some olive oil in a pan over medium high heat. Add the beef tips and cook for about 2 minutes before turning over.

After turning the pieces over, add the sliced onion.

When the meat has cooked on two sides, remove from the pan and put in a baking dish. Put in a 350* oven while you make the beschamel sauce.



Note that when you take the meat out of the pan, it won't be fully cooked. You don't want to cook this all the way through in the skillet. The oven will cook it through.



Add a pat of butter to the pan and stir until melted. Once melted, add the mushrooms.










Quickly make up your thickener. In a bowl mix 1/2 to 1 cup cream and 1 Tbsp flour (use 2 Tbsp if you use 1 cup cream). Whisk well to get rid of any lumps. If there are lumps, strain it.















Add 1/3 cup burgundy wine to the pan. This is a Pinot Noir that I am using. It gives a lot of body and flavor to the sauce.

Add 1/3 cup beef stock.

Make sure you stir everything as you go to cook the mushrooms evenly.

Add the cream/flour mixture and stir as you add so it doesn't lump up. Cook until it thickens up. Pull from heat and season with some salt and pepper.

It will be like a mushroom gravy. YUM!

Serve up your beef tips and put the beschamel sauce on top. Garnish with chopped parsley.

I served this with mashed celery potatoes and roasted asparagus.

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_37frzf2bfm