Orange Thai Beef Skewers

Orange Thai Beef Skewers
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1 orange
1/4 C soy sauce
1/4 C seasoned rice wine vinegar
1 T honey
1T sesame oil
1 t ground ginger
1 t coriander
4 cloves garlic
2-4 t Sriracha chili sauce*

1 1/2 lb flank steak
skewers (if using wood/bamboo make sure to soak them in water for at least 30 minutes before use.)

*Sriracha is a really great hot chili sauce that can easily be found in most grocery stores in the Asian foods section. It has a rooster on the bottle- you can't miss it! It's also used in one of my most favorite meals ever- Kate's Thai Peanut Noodles. If you have to substitute, you could easily add cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, or plain ol' hot sauce to the marinade.

Let's get started. Grab a bowl for your marinade. Zest your orange and add all of the zest to the bowl. Then cut the orange in half and add all of the juice as well. You should have at least 1/4 C orange juice and anything more than that is just fine.
To the orange mixture, add soy sauce, vinegar, honey, sesame oil, ginger, coriander, and garlic. Then add Sriracha to your liking. I've found that once these are marinaded and cooked, the spice mellows quite a bit. I add 2t Sriracha and it's mild enough that my toddler gobbles them up. It's not even really spicey at all, just flavorful. So if you like heat, I'd start with more like 3-4 teaspoons of Sriracha and add more if you like. Whisk the marinade so everything is combined.

Take the flank steak and slice it across the grain into about 1/4" slices. It helps to pop the steak into the freezer for 20 minutes or so before hand. Place steak in a zip-lock bag and pour the marinade in. Swish it all around and pop the bag in the fridge. It's best if it can sit for at least 4 hours.
Here's a tip: To keep things clean, roll the top of your zip-lock bag over like in my picture. That way when the meat touches the bag while you're trying to put it in, anything that grazes the plastic will end up on the inside. Does that make sense? Otherwise you'll get the top/outside/zipping part all meaty and gross. Or at least I always do...

When you're ready to get cookin' preheat your grill. Then take your skewers (pre-soaked if you're using wood/bamboo ones) and thread on the strips of meat, just like you're stitching. You don't want them to be too smooshed on there. In order for them to cook evenly, stretch the meat out a bit.
Place them on the grill. These cook really fast. Overcooked flank steak will be tough and chewy, so don't over do it! They should only take about 3-4 minutes on each side. Flip half way through.

Meat on a stick always reminds my husband of Brazil. Only it makes him nervous since down there you never quite knew what type of meat it was. I personally had a don't ask policy so my experience with meat-on-a-stick wasn't quite so traumatizing as his. I'm trying to help him get over it. (I swear this is cow.)

Now these don't only cook fast, they cool fast. So get the rest of your meal all ready, set the table, gather the kids, etc. Grill these up at the last minute so you can serve them hot off the grill, literally. Serves about 4. I always get a flank steak that is a little over 1 1/2 lbs and I usually get about 10 skewers.

I usually make this with scallion rice. I cook 1C dry rice in 2C water and when it's done I hit it with a couple pats of butter, a big handful of sliced green onions and a splash of lime juice. With lots of kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

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