Round steak and potatoes

We bought some round steak from Thistles and Clover at the Farmer's Market a few weeks ago.  According to the Thistles and Clover newsletter, round steak is steak that comes from the "round" upper hind leg of the cow that is heavily exercised which makes it a very lean cut of steak.  This leanness can also make it a pretty tough piece of meat (unless carefully cooked), so it is a very affordable cut - less than half the price of the steaks we typically buy.  In their September newsletter Thistles and Clover included a recipe on how to cook a round steak properly.  Kevin took the initiative to marinade the steaks in his own custom marinade last night.  He stabbed the steak with a fork to allow more juices inside the steak.  Here's a picture of Kevin today with his marinade right before going for a jog :)

I handled making the potatoes while Kevin studied.  I got the potato recipe from allrecipes.com and is such an easy and tasty recipe.  Only three ingredients - onion soup mix, olive oil, and potatoes.  Check out the recipe here.  Notice my orange sweater?  My $2.00 thrift store find from the Gap :)

 

Such a good student :)

After taking the steaks out of the marinade I patted them dry, then thinly sliced them in the opposite direction of the grain.  Put a tablespoon or two of cooking oil in a pan over medium heat and quickly sauteed on both sides.  Don't turn the pan up to high, and cook very quickly if you like your steak cooked medium to medium rare.  Serve right away since the thin slices don't retain their heat for long. 

The steak definitely turned out well for the price - it wasn't fillet mignon but a very good steak for a week-night.  I'm excited for steak sandwiches with the leftovers tomorrow.  :)