Grilled Flank Steak with Tomato-Jicama Relish

Grilled Flank Steak with Tomato-Jicama Relish - July 25th, 2012

This is the dish I so wanted to make on Monday but had a little issue with a rotten Jicama.

Grilled Flank Steak with Tomato-Jicama Relish - page 13

"Sometimes called the 'Mexican potato', jicama is the crunchy, sweet root of a legume and adds a zippy and exotic touch to these grilled steaks. Best of all, it provides great flavor without adding many calories."

Ran into a few more recipe 'detours'. Sobeys didn't have flank steak, so we bought a couple round steaks which for all purposes worked just as well. Flank steak probably would have been more tender, but as a substitute it was OK. The recipe says to cook on a stovetop grill or griddle, as I have neither, I just seared the steaks in a skillet. Got some nice colour on them.

What I was most excited about in this dish was the Tomato-Jicama Relish, and justly so. I had never used this vegetable before although I've been aware of it for years. I've seen it used on many cooking shows and within other cookbooks. All I knew about it was that it was white, and crunchy. I didn't even know if you could get it fresh around here. I was half expecting that if I found it at all it would be in can form. Thank you Pete's Frootique. After the first mishap, I went back yesterday on my lunch break and got the produce guy to cut one open for me to test it.

This is what a jicama should look like inside.

As you can see from the photo, I found a perfectly fresh jicama. While they look like a potato, you actually eat these raw. They really do have a juicy sweetness to them.

For the relish, I mistakenly ran out of green peppers (I used up the last one when I made a salad on Monday...oops). So I had to skip those. The recipe also called for white onions, but as I really prefer red onions I used those instead. Vine-ripe tomatoes were on sale this week so I used one of those rather than beefsteak or Roma. A nice pop of colour from the chives and a light dressing of red wine vinegar & honey, and you've got a delicious (and crazy simple) relish.

It gave a different element to the sliced steak. They each complimented one another. This relish is fantastic. I actually used some on my left over chicken today for lunch. Mmmm. Making this one again.

I got the idea of pairing this dish up with asparagus from the photo within the cookbook. I prepared mine by lightly brushing them with olive oil, and then seasoned with salt & pepper before I broiled them. They were really good. Niall said he really enjoyed asparagus made this way. Will be repeating this again as well.

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