Braised Steak & Vegetable Rolls in Red Wine

A lot has happened since my last post.  Hurricane Sandy ripped through the East Coast and caused immense damage to so many.  With the strong steady wind, intense wind gusts, downed trees all around,  and transformers exploding down the street, I was shocked (and so thankful) that we did not lose power once.  Most of my family and friends lost power for several days and some are even still without it.  I'll never forget how eerily quiet Facebook was the morning after the storm.  How were you affected by the storm?  

There were only two good things that came from the hurricane:  Time off from work and manager sales at the grocery store.  New York strip steaks for $4.99/lb?!  Yes, please!  After checking with the manager about how long power had gone out in the store (a little over a half hour), I stocked up on all kinds of meat for my deep freezer!  

A while ago, I stumbled across Steamy Kitchen's steak rolls and they looked amazing!  She inspired me to make this recipe with some of my newly acquired manager-sale flank steak.  These steak and vegetable rolls are tender, juicy and so flavorful.  They can be served as an appetizer or main dish.  I like to serve them over steamed rice.

Ingredients:
Yields 6 rolls

• 1 lb flank steak
• 3 tbsp olive oil, divided 
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced 
• 1 bell pepper, thinly sliced 
• 1 medium carrot, thinly sliced  
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and very thinly sliced   
• 1 large clove garlic, minced 
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste 

Sauce:

• 1 c beef broth 
• 1/2 c red wine
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 
• 1/2 tsp brown sugar 

Directions:

Season the steak with salt and pepper.  Cut the steak against the grain into 3 equal pieces, making approximately 2-inch wide strips.  Pound the steak strips with a mallet down to 1/4-inch thickness.

Heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the onions, bell peppers, carrot sand jalapeno peppers.  Season the vegetables with salt and pepper.  Saute the vegetables until crisp-tender, about 3 to 4 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds longer.  Pour the vegetables into a medium bowl and remove the skillet from the heat.

Assemble the rolls.  Place approximately 1/4 c of the vegetable mixture on the end of each steak strip.  Roll the steak over the vegetables and secure with a toothpick.  

In a medium bowl, whisk together the beef broth, red wine, Worcestershire and brown sugar.  Set aside.

Using the same large skillet, heat the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat.  Place the steak rolls seam-side down in the skillet.  Allow the rolls to sear for 1 minute.  Turn the steak rolls over on the other side.  Pour the red wine sauce in the skillet.  Cover and allow the steak rolls to cook for 5 to 6 minutes.  Turn the rolls over once more.  Cover and allow them to cook for 1 minute longer, or until the steak is cooked to your desired doneness.

Transfer the steak rolls onto a serving plate.  Remove the toothpicks.  Spoon some of the liquid from the skillet over all.  If serving over steamed rice, don't forget to spoon the liquid over the rice, too!

Enjoy!