Flank Steak With Cabrales Cheese

Serves: to serve 6

Prep Time: 20 Minutes + waiting

Cook Time: 12 Minutes

Ready In: 32 mins
+ waiting

2¼ lb - whole flank steak

4 oz - Cabrales cheese (or Roquefort or Gorgonzola)

FOR THE DRY RUB

1 teaspoon - freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon - cumin

1 teaspoon - paprika

1 teaspoon - salt

FOR THE DRESSING

2 cloves - garlic

¼ pint - olive oil

1 - orange

4 tablespoons - sherry vinegar

pinch - salt

- freshly ground black pepper

- cayenne

- fresh parsley

This recipe uses a whole flank steak (about 2lb or 1kg in weight). Flank has a thick end and a thinner end which, as you'll find out, is going to prove quite useful. Trim off any surplus fat, mix the pepper, cumin, paprika and salt together, stir and sprinkle evenly over both sides of the meat. Then refrigerate the flank until needed.
Though the recipe calls for Cabrales, Spain's famous blue cheese, it's right up there with Roquefort and Gorgonzola so you can use either of those if you can't get Cabrales. Place the cheese in the freezer for a little while so it's easier to handle later.
To make the dressing, peel and thinly slice the garlic. Place in a pan with the olive oil over a medium heat until the garlic starts to bubble. Remove from the heat and allow this to sit until it reaches room temperature in order to infuse the oil with all that garlic flavour (yes, okay, you can use ready-made garlic olive oil if you want, but your own is much better!)
Zest the orange and squeeze the juice. Mix with the sherry vinegar, and add a pinch of salt. When cool, add the garlic and oil and whisk together.
Grill the flank steak. If you can BBQ it over charcoal, all the better but you can do it indoors on a grill pan, a regular frying pan, or a broiler. Grill for about 4-6 minutes on each side. Half way through grilling on each side, turn the steak 90° so that you get more grill marks.
Flank steak is best eaten medium rare; well done will make it too tough. When the steak has cooked to your liking, remove from the grill and place on a cutting board. Cover with aluminium foil to hold in the heat and to keep the steak from drying out, and let rest for 10 minutes.
Whisk the dressing one more time, and it will thicken up. Add a few grinds of pepper, and a pinch of cayenne. After the meat has rested, there will some nice meat juices that you should pour into the sauce too. Give that a quick whisk.
Here's the bit about a flank having a thick end and a thinner end. The thin end gives you nice medium-well pieces - some people like that. And, from the thicker, fat end, you're going to get beautiful medium to medium-rare slices. Cut very thin slices, against the grain, and at a slight diagonal so that the slices are wide, and arrange them on a plate.
Take the Cabrales cheese out of the freezer. Crumble it over the top of the meat. Top with some beautiful fresh parsley, and then some of the dressing (about 3-4 tablespoons for half the meat). (The dressing also provides thin slices of toasted garlic on top of the meat). Serve immediately.