Recipe of the Week: Espresso-Rubbed Steak with Green Chile Pesto

I've made this recipe twice, once with the pesto and once without. I liked it more with the pesto which is actually very easy to make. I was a little intimidated by the thought of making pesto sauce but as long as you have a food processor you won't have any problems.

Ingredients (Steak)

1 1/2 beef flank steak

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp kosher salt or salt

1 tsp instant espresso coffee powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp dried oregano, crushed

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Ingredients (Pesto Sauce)

2 medium fresh Anaheim or Poblano chile peppers (I used 1 of each)

1/2 cup fresh cilantro (cilantro tastes like soap to me so I used fresh basil)

1/4 crumbled Cotija cheese (I couldn't find this cheese ANYWHERE so I used Parmesan)

2 tbsp pine nuts

2 cloves garlic

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1/2 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions (Steak)

1. Score both sides of steak by making diagonal cuts in a diamond pattern. In small bowl, combine chili powder, salt, espresso powder, garlic powder, oregano, and pepper. Sprinkle over steak; rub in,.

2. Coat a 12-inch nonstick skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Heat over medium-high heat until very hot; add steak. Reduce heat to medium. Cook 12 to 14 minutes for medium rare or 14 to 16 for medium, turning once halfway through. Transfer to cutting board. Cover loosely with foil to keep warm while preparing pesto sauce.

3. To serve, thinly slice steak against grain.

Makes 8 servings

Instructions (Pesto)

1. Halve peppers lengthwise; remove stems, seeds and veins. Coarsely chop peppers. In food processor combing peppers, cilantro (or basil), cheese, pine nuts, garlic, red pepper, salt/pepper to taste.

2. Process to finely chop mixture. With processor running, add 1/2 cup olive oil in steady stream through feed tube to combine into a coarse paste.

Makes about 1 1/2 cup pesto.

This is a delicious steak and sauce. I will definitely add this to my recipe box (okay I don't really have a recipe box but if I did I'd add this to it).

For all of my non-meat-eating friends, the pesto would also taste good over some pasta or maybe you could pour it over tofu?

ENJOY!!!