Here is a perfect, grilled flat iron steak recipe which is sure to become a favourite of your summer barbecues. In many ways, tacos make for the perfect barbecue food; they arrive at a trickle, people build them themselves, you eat them with your hands, and they are downright delicious. Here, barbecued flat iron steak provides the focus but finds itself fighting for the limelight with this marrow bone salsa. From what I understand, and I must confess to being no expert, salsas are a key component of Mexican cuisine, with an array often being available. Salsas tend to all strike different notes in terms of their levels of spice and flavour profiles, but all begin with some well-charred vegetables, a curious touch which lends them depth and intrigue. In the case of this salsa recipe, the marrow bone is blitzed into the salsa, creating the ideal accompaniment to the flat iron steak. Do try and lay your hand on some good-quality corn tortillas as they will make all the difference.
Serves 4 (as one dish in a wider BBQ spread)
Ingredients
For the salsa:
Method
First marinate the steak…
- Place the steak in a dish and add the onions, garlic, spices, lime salt, and lime juice. Mix thoroughly. Leave to marinate for at least 4-hours.
- Light your barbecue and allow the coals to burn down to a grey/white heat.
- Season the exposed marrow bone with salt, then lay the canoes on the grill and cook for 10-12 minutes with the lid on. The marrow should be a pale shade of yellow and bubbling.
- Put the tomatoes, jalapeños, shallot, and garlic in a grill basket and place over the hottest part of the grill. Cook until totally blackened, then flip and repeat on the other side.
- Remove the veg from the basket and allow to cool slightly before peeling the charred skin from the garlic and shallot. Tip everything into a blender along with the juice of one and a half limes, a good pinch of salt, the coriander, and oil. Use a spoon to scoop out the marrow bone and add it to the blender. Blitz. Taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary. Add salt and more lime juice if needed to find the right balance.
- Drizzle a little oil on the steak, then lay them on the hottest part of the grill and cook for 1-minute. Flip and repeat on the other side. Keep flipping them every 30-seconds or so, cooking for a further 4-5 minutes in total.
- Remove from the grill and leave to rest for at least 10-minutes.
- Reheat the tacos briefly on the barbecue grill. This should take 10-seconds on each side. You don’t want them to crisp up, just to warm them and make them soft and pliable. Once reheated, wrap them in a clean tea towel until ready to use.
- Thinly slice the steak, then season again with a little lime salt.
- Load up the tacos with sliced steak, marrow bone salsa, a little diced red onion, some coriander leaves, and a squeeze of lime juice as a final flourish. Enjoy!