I’m a carnivore at heart. Yes, I enjoy vegetarian dishes and vegan dishes, so I guess that makes me more of an omnivore. But a juicy, perfectly seasoned, perfectly cooked steak, is on my top list of things I love to eat. This recipe is one of the best I’ve had in a long time. It combines my love of steak with my obsessive love of coffee. The addition of coffee in the marinade adds a depth of flavor, while the naturally occurring acid helps break down the connective tissues, giving you a tender delicious flavorful steak that almost melts in your mouth. But non-coffee drinkers need not worry. The marinade does not make the steak taste like coffee. I rounded out my meal with the addition of mashed sweet potatoes, which I’ve included the recipe for, and a simply dressed arugula salad.

Ingredients:

For the Steak: 

1/2 cup Balsamic Vinegar
2 Tbs. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
¼ cup Extra Strong Black Coffee or Espresso
1 Tbs. Fresh Thyme (or 1 tsp. dried)
¾ tsp. Sea Salt
¼ tsp. Fresh Cracked Pepper
½ tsp Chili Powder
1/8 tsp. Ground Allspice
1/2 cup Sweet Onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves Garlic, minced
1 ½ -2 lbs. boneless Sirloin Steak, trimmed of fat

More Sea Salt and Fresh Cracked Pepper for topping

For the Mashed Sweet Potatoes:

2-3 lbs. Sweet Potatoes, peeled and diced (I used 3 ½ lbs.) 
1/3 cup Almond Milk (or Diary)
2 Tbs. Ghee, or Butter
¾ tsp. Sea Salt
½ tsp. Maple Syrup
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
Fresh thyme sprigs for garnish

Directions:

For Steak:

In a small bowl, combine vinegar, oil, worcestershire, coffee, thyme, chili powder, allspice, onion and garlic. In a large glass casserole dish, add sirloin. Top with 1/3 of the marinade, turning several times to coat. Marinate for at least 2 hours, turning occasionally.

Preheat a large Cast Iron skillet on medium-high, add ghee. Remove sirloin from marinade and add to skillet; discard remaining marinade. Cook sirloin for 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a cutting board and sprinkle with extra tsp salt and pepper.

Add remaining vinegar mixture to skillet and bring to a boil on medium-high and cook, constantly scraping bottom and sides of skillet with a wooden spoon, for 1 to 2 minutes or until reduced by about half. Remove from heat. With a sharp knife, thinly slice sirloin against the grain, Serve onto dinner plates and top with sirloin and vinegar reduction, dividing evenly.  Add Mashed Sweet Potatoes. Garnish plates with more fresh thyme.

For the Sweet Potatoes

Prepare Sweet Potatoes while steak is still marinating. About 30 minutes before you’re ready to cook the steak, fill a large pot (with lid) with about 2 inches water and set a steamer basket over top. Place potatoes in basket and bring water to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium and steam until fork-tender, about 13 minutes. Carefully remove steamer basket from pot, discarding water. Transfer potatoes to pot. With a potato masher, mash until blended. Add ghee and blend. Gradually mix in milk, salt and maple syrup. Cover and set aside until steak is ready.