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View Full Version : Grilled Vidalia Onion & Steak Sandwiches - CL 06/05


aggie94
06-26-2005, 10:57 PM
I saw an earlier review of these (by Terrytx, on a Weekend Review thread), but I thought they deserved a thread of their own. We had these for lunch yesterday (and dinner, and lunch and dinner again today :o), and they were outstanding!! So good in fact that I bought a 2-pound flank steak today and am marinating it so we can have more of these throughout the week.

The only changes I made were to marinate overnight, subbed basil for the arugula in the mayo, and served on whole wheat buns. This is probably one of the best sandwiches we've had and will surely become a regular rotation in our house.

Grilled Vidalia Onion & Steak Sandwiches
Cola in the marinade tenderizes the meat.

Steak:
3/4 cup cola
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground chipotle chile pepper
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 bay leaf, crushed
1 (1 1/2 pound) flank steak, trimmed

Dressing:
3/4 cup minced arugula
1/2 cup low-fat mayonnaise

Remaining Ingredients:
Cooking spray
6 (1/2-inch-thick) slices Vidalia onion
6 (2-ounce) Kaiser rolls
12 (1/4-inch-thick) slices tomato

1. To prepare steak, combine first 7 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add steak; seal and marinate in refrigerator for 2 hours, turning bag occasionally. Remove steak from bag, reserving marinade. Pour marinade into a microwave-safe bowl; microwave at HIGH 2 minutes or until mixture comes to a boil. Set aside.

2. Prepare grill.

3. To prepare dressing, combine arugula and mayonnaise; set aside.

4. Place steak on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 8 minutes on each side or until steak is medium-rare or desired degree of doneness. Remove steak from grill; cover and let stand 5 minutes. Place onion slices on grill rack; grill 4 minutes on each side, basting occasionally with reserved marinade. Place rolls on grill rack, cut sides down; grill 2 minutes or until lightly browned.

5. Cut steak diagonally across grain into thin slices. Spread 2 tbsp dressing on bottom half of each roll. Divide steak, tomato, and onion evenly among bottom halves of rolls. Top with top halves of rolls.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 sandwich). 417 cal; 11g fat (3.3g sat, 3.8g mono, 2.2g poly); 30.5g protein; 49.1g carb; 3.2g fiber; 38mg chol; 3.9mg iron; 747mg sodium; 104mg calc.

CindySoCal
06-26-2005, 11:21 PM
My house agrees with you :) :) :)
We had these for dinner! YUM!!!!!!

I almost bought the wheat kaisers, I will use these next time...and I never thought of basil in the mayo, I'll have to try it...can't wait for the left overs this week.

My DH needed to cook the onions a little longer and the fresher the tomato the better :)

SusanMac
06-27-2005, 08:48 AM
I'm not sure I can get past eating a dish made with Coke. Was that weird for you guys? We are not sugar-soda fans around here. Do you even notice it? Is it a small enough amount that you didn't feel like it was terribly unhealthy?? Did you really get 6 servings from it?

aggie94
06-27-2005, 09:34 AM
The only reason I knew there was Coke in the recipe was because I made it, but otherwise, I would never have been able to tell. And so much of the marinade gets dumped anyway (after saving it to baste the onions with - don't forget that part!) that the amount that goes into the dish is really trivial, IMO.

And yes, we got exactly 6 servings from this. :)

luv2dance
06-27-2005, 12:39 PM
This looks yummy. However,do you think it would be ok to use diet coke rather than regular? I didn't know if it would do something to the marinate if I did.

Thanks

irisheyes
06-27-2005, 02:59 PM
We used the new Coke Zero in the recipe and it turned out great. So, I imagine Diet Coke would work well too :)

Terrytx
06-27-2005, 03:03 PM
I used the Splenda sweetened coke, I think that regular diet coke wouldn't work, cause it doesn't do well with heat.

jtoepfert100
06-27-2005, 03:16 PM
Do you think this would work with another cut of meat, maybe a top round or sirloin, as opposed to the flank steak? Flank steak has been mighty pricy here.

aggie94
06-27-2005, 04:41 PM
Personally, I probably would not sub a lesser quality meat but that's just me, and I am not that knowledgeable about cuts of meat and what appropriate subs might be. I splurged on flank steak from Whole Foods for this recipe (at $13/pound) and I think it was well worth it. The flank steak I have marinating now is from Safeway and considerably cheaper ($7.50/pound) but still not *cheap*.

If someone used a different (less expensive) cut of meat for this recipe and had good luck with it, I would love to hear!

Terrytx
06-28-2005, 10:25 AM
I think top sirloin would work very well.

SusanMac
06-29-2005, 08:11 AM
I typically use sirloin for most beef recipes.

Wow, very impressed that this made 6 servings. I'm looking forward to trying it. Maybe for our July 4 fireworks picnic.

Even though we drink Diet Coke, I wouldn't think it would work in this dish, as you're really looking for the sugar. Heck, looking at the recipe, orange juice would probably even be really good.

aggie94
06-29-2005, 10:10 AM
But it sounds like the Coke also acts as a tenderizer, which I don't think OJ or just sugar would. Then again, I'm not usually one to make substitutes until after I've tried the recipe once as written. :)