A Supper for Your Weekend

I said I was going to dive into my new America's Test Kitchen recipes and come to the surface when I had a good one in hand. Well, here I am!

I tried the Spicy Molasses Glazed Steak Tips first. I would call them very, very yummy, but when you take into consideration that they take 6 common ingredients and cook up in a half an hour, you have to call them fabulous!!

So, without further delay, here is a great meal to try this weekend!

Start by cutting 1 1/2 pounds of sirloin steak tips into 2-inch cubes. (The recipe tells me these steak tips are sold as whole steaks, cubes, or strips. Hmmmmm, good to know.)

If you are a steak lover like me, you will need to pause here to let your mouth water with anticipation of what is to come.

Okay, on to the next step.

Measure your 1/3 cup of molasses,


1/4 cup of cider vinegar (oops, I couldn't find my 1/4 cup measure so had to measure our 4 tablespoons instead ::sigh::),


and 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes into a medium bowl,




and whisk it right up!



Heat a tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat until just smoking. (Youngest Son got a kick out of looking for that "just smoking" part!) Cook meat until it is browned all over (6-10 minutes). Transfer the meat to a platter. If you're a good cook, at this point you'll "tent" the meat with foil to keep it warm. If you're like me, you'll just do the rest of the recipe as fast as you can and pray the meat stays warm.



Add your molasses mixture to the meat juices in the skillet and simmer. At this point, things are smelling really, really good!

Then you simply spoon this slightly thickened sauce over the steak and serve!! How beautiful is that!


The thing that "makes" this recipe is the unusual combination of the molasses and cider vinegar. It gives you a delightful Asian taste, and no one can tell what is in the sauce (particularly finicky eaters who are sure they don't like molasses)!
I served these steak tips with some pasta that I swirled around in butter and sautee'd garlic, and Middle Son made a salad for everyone. I have never seen him have the patience to put together such a beautiful salad before and I probably never will again but for this one night, his salads were his moment of shining glory.



And the recipe was right. In 30 minutes I had dinner on the table . . . and a smile on my face! Mmmmmmmm!!

Spicy Molasses-Glazed Steak Tips:
1/3 cup molasses
1/4 cup cider
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt and pepper
1 1/2 pounds sirloin steak tips, cut into 2-inch chunks
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Whisk molasses, vinegar, pepper flakes, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in medium bowl. Pat steak tips dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Cook meat until browned all over, 6 to 10 minutes; transfer to platter and tent with foil.
Add molasses mixture and any accumulated meat juices to empty skillet and simmer, scraping up any browned bits, until slightly thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Spoon sauce over steak. Serve.