Flank Steak with Cilantro-Almond Pesto

By this point, the husband and I have both just about given up on doing Phase One of the South Beach Diet (i.e. no carbs). He quit a few days ago, I decided once I hit my pre-Christmas weight I'd go back to having good carbs. However when I did my meal plan for the week, we were both still gung ho about no carbs. None of the recipes I had marked in my South Beach Diet cookbook sounded interesting to me (or not many at least), so I figured I might as well try some of my go-to recipe websites for low carb ideas. MyRecipes.com came through for me with a few ideas. I had recently bought some London Broil and figured I could substitute that for the Flank Steak called for in this recipe. The idea of a cilantro pesto--and a pesto that didn't have olive oil as an ingredient--intrigued me.

Flank Steak with Cilantro-Almond Pesto
Source: MyRecipes.com

3/4 cup fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons slivered almonds, toasted
1 tablespoon chopped seeded jalapeño pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 garlic clove, chopped
3 tablespoons plain fat-free yogurt
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 (1-pound) flank steak, trimmed
Cilantro sprigs (optional)

Prepare grill.

Combine first 6 ingredients in a blender; process until finely chopped (about 15 seconds). Add yogurt and juice; process until smooth.

Grill steak 6 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Cut steak diagonally across grain into thin slices. Serve steak with pesto. Garnish with cilantro sprigs, if desired.

Nutritional Information
Calories:209 (47% from fat)
Fat:10.8g (sat 3.9g,mono 4.9g,poly 0.8g)
Protein:24.6g
Carbohydrate:2.4g
Fiber:0.6g
Cholesterol:57mg
Iron:2.5mg
Sodium:152mg
Calcium:36mg

*****

This was ridiculously easy. The only difficult part was grilling the london broil. It's such a thick cut of meat I wasn't realy sure about the cooking time. I think the first side went about eight minutes on the grill, and the second side was around six or seven. It actually could have been on there a little longer because the middle was pretty rare. Of course, it didn't help that it was dark out and I couldn't tell how done the meat was. Note to self: invest in some sort of grill light.

I loved the flavors of the pesto. So did the husband. I don't think the kids tried any of it. We agreed it would be really good smeared on tortillas and then the meat used like fajita meat. This is definitely something I'd make again--low carb diet or not--because it came together really fast and was super tasty! Plus the pesto ingredients (aside from the jalapeno) are all things I generally have on hand.

Some pieces of meat may have still been mooing...


Cilantro-Almond pesto...yum!