Grilled Steak with Tapenade…and a giveaway

As I’ve said before, I’m always looking for quick and easy meals that are delicious and nutricious to prepare during the work week.  My weeknights are very hectic but that doesn’t mean I want to feed my family junk or make a habit of driving through a fast food restaurant 5 nights a week, I still like to feed my family delicious food but I just can’t spend 5 hours in the kitchen every night.  I have come across quite a few delicious meals that are perfect for week night cooking; they take no time to prepare and they are just as delicious as the meals that take quite a bit of time in the kitchen.

This steak with tapenade was as delicious as it was easy to prepare.  I think it took me all of 30 minutes to prepare and plate it, which is a bonus on a weeknight when I have a thousand other things going on.  This steak and tapenade was full of so much flavor; I loved the flavor combinations of the salty olives, spicey pepper, and the sweetness from the tomatoes, it was the perfect flavor combination.  I loved that the tapenade was used not only as a topping but as a rub for the meat before it was cooked.  It helped incorporate the flavors throughout the entire dish and it was absolutely delicious.

Now on to the fun stuff…the giveaway!

My blog is turning 3 this month.  I can’t believe that I’ve been cooking, taking pictures and blogging about the goings on in my kitchen for 3 years, the time has flown.  I have enjoyed every minute of taking pictures and talking about my adventures in my kitchen, believe it or not I love it more now than I did when I started blogging.  I have enjoyed cooking since I was little, but it’s now become more of a passion for me than just another hobby.  I enjoy pushing myself outside my comfort zone; trying new recipes and techniques and sharing my experiences.  I’m no pro but I can tell I have improved in the kitchen over the past few years and my picture taking skills have improved as well.  I’m still learning different techniques for my camera and I’m expanding my equipment collection; and although that’s not what it’s all about I do enjoy looking back at my earlier posts and seeing how I’ve improved.

Thanks to each and every one of you who have been with me from the beginning, I appreciate you so much.  To those of you who have found my blog one way or another I hope you enjoy it and have found many recipes that you wanted to try for yourselves.  I thoroughly enjoy every moment I spend posting on my blog; my passion is cooking and I love seeing the look of happiness on people’s faces when they enjoy my food, that is the most rewarding thing of all.  I say all that to say thank you for following me over the past few years and for the support of Lynsey Lou’s.  I can’t wait to see what the future holds and I look forward to preparing and creating more meals and desserts to share with you!

This week and next week I will be hosting some giveaways to celebrate the 3 year blogiversary of Lynsey Lou’s; I will host a total of 3 giveaways since my blog is 3 years old.  For this giveaway, I will be giving one reader a one year subscription to Food Network Magazine.  I have fallen in love with this magazine; I love the variety of recipes, the cookbook of 50 recipes that is provided in each issue, the way they separate recipes into weekend, weeknight, and sides and how they feature different Food Network celebs and their recipes in each issue.  There are a multitude of other things I LOVE about this magazine but I won’t bore you with the details…it’s just one of my new favorite magazines.

To enter:
One entry per person please.
-Leave a comment stating what your favorite weeknight meal is (links to recipes are welcome!)
-For an additional entry ” Like me” on Facebook, then come back and leave a comment saying you did so.

The giveaway will end at 11:59 P.M. on Friday, July 1.  The winning entry will be chosen at random using Random.org and the winner will be announced Saturday, July 2.  Please be sure to enter a valid email address so you may be contaced if you win!  Good luck to everyone and thanks for reading.

Giveaway disclosure: This giveaway is sponsored soley my me.  I was not contacted or persuaded by Food Network in any way.  Any compents or opinions are mine and only mine.   

Grilled Steak with Tapenade

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup kalamata olives, pitted
1 Medium shallot
1 Clove garlic
1 Sprig rosemary, leaves stripped
1/4 Tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 Cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 Lemon, halved
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 Pounds flank steak
1 Pint grape tomatoes, quartered
1/4 Cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped

Directions:

Preheat a grill or grill pan over high heat. 

Place olives, shallots, garlic, rosemary, red pepper flakes, 2 tablespoons olive oil and the juice from half a lemon in a food processor and pulse, season with salt and pepper.  Set aside.

Pierce the steak with a fork and season with salt and pepper.  Rub 1 heaping tablespoon of the olive mixture on both sides of the steak and let rest for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, toss the remaining mixture with tomatoes, parsley, remaining olive oil, and juice from the remaining half of lemon in a small bowl.  Set aside.

Grill the steak until browned on one side, about 7 minutes.  Flip and cook an additional 7 minutes, for medium rare.  Transfer the steak to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes.  Cut the steak in half, reserve one half for steak sandwiches or leftovers later in the week.  Thinly slice the remaining steak, against the grain, and top with the tomato olive tapenade.  Serve while warm.

Recipe Source: Food Network Magazine, June 2011