the triumphal return of spring 🌷
we are in the thick of it and i can’t get enough
Spring is such an interesting season.
For many years, I hated it because I had terrible allergies — like, the “I can’t go outside because I see a layer of pollen on everything” kind of terrible allergies — but I seem to have gone through a phase of either growing out of them or eating enough local produce, meat, and honey to help my immune system deal with all the environmental triggers through constant low-level exposure to help build my tolerance. Or a combination of both. Who knows?
The result of all that is that I can now go outside in the spring and not die. I can leave the house without fear of sneezing, having itchy + watery eyes for the rest of the day, loading up on Benadryl to sleep to help me pretend that I don’t have allergies, and actually enjoy this beautiful season. (I still take a daily off-brand Zyrtec, but that’s because I have the indoor allergies too. I really hit the jackpot.)
Being right in the middle of the spring season, you really start to notice how verdant the world becomes. 💚
The trees are past the flowering stage, showing off their greenest of greens. For farms and home gardens, the herbs and vegetables are coming into their own, starting to display their blooms and the small beginnings of their fruits. The local farmers are just slightly ahead of the home gardeners, bringing their goods to the market in their fully developed forms. The carrots are sweet, the greens are big and fluffy, the chives are chiving, and most importantly: grilling season has begun.
The updates we made to our grill situation this season were much needed. For the past 5 years, we were working with a tiny tabletop grill that we originally purchased for the balcony of our old apartment, and then we bought a house in 2021. There was a baby on the way, so sorting out the grill situation was low on the list of priorities. Fast forward 4 years, and our little grill was just looking pretty sad. The toddler season of life is not exactly conducive to the casual nature of grilling. Especially with our full-contact son, it was near impossible to think about having him running around the back deck around a blazing hot grill. Now he’s markedly better at entertaining himself for more than 5 minutes, so we said it was time to upgrade to a grill for adults.
Cue the big Weber Genesis grill that seemed like a good compromise between something super basic and something top of the line. We did spring for the porcelain enameled cast-iron grates though — they retain their heat better for searing and are a little easier to clean with thorough seasoning. The very first thing we grilled? Flank steak. It is my absolute favorite, the ultimate grilling treat, IMHO.
In the spirit of spring and grilling season, I’m going to present you with a list of my favorite things to indulge and celebrate the best of it. And one recipe to rule them all.
THE SPRING FAVORITES SO FAR
BAKED SALMON WITH CHIVES AND LEMON
RHUBARB PIE
STRAWBERRY RHUBARB COMPOTE
CHIVE FLOWER + CHARRED GREEN GARLIC HERB BUTTER
SPRING CHICKEN SALAD WITH CARROTS, RADISHES, SPRING ONIONS, FRESH DILL
GRILLED FLANK STEAK WITH ASPARAGUS
Ingredients
1 flank steak (1 ½ - 2 ½ pounds)
6 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup lime juice (approx. 3 limes)
¼ cup avocado oil
⅓ cup soy sauce
⅓ cup balsamic vinegar
¼ cup worcestershire sauce
1 - 2T dijon mustard
1 ½ tsp smoked paprika or chili powder
1 pound asparagus, thick ends trimmed
EVOO, to drizzle
himalayan pink salt + pepper, to taste
Directions
For the steak:
In a mixing bowl, whisk together all marinade ingredients until fully combined.
Lay the flank steak in a 9x13 glass Pyrex baking dish, pour the marinade over and adjust to make sure the marinade has touched every surface of the steak. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Marinate for approximately 8 hours.
8 hours is the perfect amount of time because it makes this step an easy task to finish in the morning before you start the rest of your day. But you can probably get away with marinating as little as 2 hours or as many as 12 hours due to the acidic profile of this particular marinade. This is not something that I’ve tested for this specific recipe, but is generally accepted as good marinating knowledge.
Get your grill as hot as possible. Bring the steak out to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before cooking.
When ready to grill, remove the plastic wrap and place the steak on grill, setting the marinade aside. Cook between 3-5 minutes per side until 135F for medium rare, cooking a little further for younger eaters and those who like their steak less bloody.
Let rest on a platter, and cover with foil.
While the steak rests, take the marinade and pour it into a small saucepan. Heat on the stove over medium heat until it starts boiling, then lower to a simmer and cook for at least 10 minutes. You can leave it as is or reduce the volume further for a thicker sauce.
Slice against the grain of the meat to cut very thin possible strips of steak.
For the asparagus:
Put your asparagus in a large mixing bowl or baking tray, drizzle with EVOO and season to taste with salt + pepper
On the grill, lay them perpendicular to the grates and cook for a couple of minutes on one side, turn and cook another couple of minutes, or until they are fork-tender but still have a slight crunch.
NOTES
I find that the cuts of flank steak that we get from the farmers market will consistently have a thicker section and a thinner section, making it a little tricky to cook evenly. Therefore, we cook the thinner sections to our desired doneness, then save the rest for leftovers to reheat and cook further in a skillet on the stove.
If the whole steak is to be eaten in one meal, I would cut the steak into 2 sections. To have them finish cooking at the same time, put the thicker section on the grill first and the thinner section on second, after flipping the thick section to the other side.
For babies, cook the steak until well-done, no pink in sight. Cut a thicker slice for them that gives them enough to fist. No meat needs to be swallowed because they can get a decent amount of nutrients from just sucking on the meat. Since the steak is well-done and cut fairly thick, the meat should be tough enough and thick enough so that there is little risk of tearing a bite off.
We did this with our son when he was 8 ½ months, and the sheer delight you could see was amazing. Starting solids with babies is equal parts fun and terrifying, and we couldn’t have done it so calmly if we didn’t have the required help after his time in the NICU from our incredible infant feeding therapist for his first year of life. Marie, you are a treasure, and it still shocks me that services like yours are not standard protocol for all new parents.
This meal came together in the 2 photos below. One fresh off the grill and one as leftovers, combined with roasted carrots and quick spring pickles.
GRILLED FLANK STEAK WITH ASPARAGUS
ROASTED CARROTS WITH CUMIN, MEXICAN BEANS + GREENS (TUSCAN KALE, RAINBOW CHARD), PICKLED RADISHES AND RAINBOW CHARD STEMS
If you have a spring or summer cooking question or general food thing that you want to know more about, please leave a comment below!
SARAH’S SATURDAY FARMERS MARKET — GRAND HAVEN EDITION
May 24
This holiday weekend, we are spending time up at the family cottage in Michigan. The haul wasn’t as much of a physical haul as it was a visual one. We went to see what’s available here, just 4 hours north of home.
I find that the produce here in SW Michigan is generally about 2 to 3 weeks behind what we have going in Indianapolis. But once summer hits, all bets are off and the fruit game here is unmatched for the Midwest. I am always reserving a space in the back of my brain for the possibility of moving here just for the fruit — that, and the fact that I’ve noticed that the summer markets, at least in SW Michigan, happen 2x / week. JEALOUS.
Late May at the Grand Haven Farmers Market looks like this: the asparagus is plentiful (and cheap! $4 / pound is mind boggling to me at this moment), the radishes are super plump, the greens are starting to get bigger, the rhubarb isn’t quite bright red yet but still usable for pies and such. A few winter items were lingering, like beets, carrots, and potatoes (not the smaller spring varieties that you see pop up in late spring.)
As you might expect for a Northern state in the US, the meat and cheese game is strong here. Like a full butcher selection with cooler stand, with everything from different cuts of chicken to pork steak to beef to lamb. The Cheese People of Grand Rapids (amazing name, btw) brings their stuff in from 45 minutes inland to provide the people with what they really want: a million different kinds of cheese.
Because we’re only here for the weekend, we didn’t pick anything up except this fucking delicious sausage from Salt + Fire for our mid-morning snack. Several flavors were available to buy cooked or frozen, and to no one’s surprise, I chose the Vietnamese sausage — I’m a sucker for anything Vietnamese. Just dressed up with some simple peppers and onions, this was something that I regretted choosing to share with my husband.
Y’all can look forward to next week when I talk your ear off about rhubarb. Or as my son calls it, rhubard.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for being here.
❤️ Sarah