A steak dinner fit for summer – simply grilled skirt steak with romesco sauce (a Spanish tomato-based sauce that is incredibly flavorful), plus yogurt-marinated cucumbers and grilled flatbread. It’s a recipe full of bold & refreshing flavor, and honestly just so delicious. You can make this for a fun weekend night at home and feel like you’re at your favorite Spanish restaurant!
skirt steak with romesco – the details
I absolutely love how this recipe turned out, and I cannot wait to share the details. Skirt steak is a really flavorful cut of meat, one that is on the cheaper side, so it’s a great choice if you’ve got a big family to feed. I love it as an everyday steak option…seasoning it simply with olive oil, lots of salt & black pepper. The best part? It grills up in no time.
I made a very flavorful, ever-so-slightly spicy romesco sauce for the steak. Romesco is one of my favorite summer sauces to make with fresh tomatoes. It has charred red pepper, garlic, toasted bread, almonds, dried chiles, red wine vinegar, parsley, and lots of olive oil involved as well.
Since you’ll have the grill on for the skirt steak, I recommend just toasting the bread/nut mixture in a cast-iron skillet over the grill instead of using the stovetop. You’ll sizzle the garlic, bread, almonds, and chiles in hot olive oil until nice and fragrant. You’ll blend everything up in the food processor…resulting in a vibrant red sauce that is SO good over the grilled meat.
To balance out all the smokiness and spice, a cool cucumber salad does just the trick. Diced up garden cucumbers quickly marinated in some greek yogurt with scallions and fresh dill. It’s the perfect contrast to the spicy sauce.
I serve everything on a big board with some grilled flatbread alongside. When my family ate this for one of our Sunday dinners, we all spread a little romesco onto the grilled flatbread, topped it with a few slices of skirt steak, then added a spoonful of cucumbers over top. It was the perfect bite. Any way you eat it, you really can’t go wrong.
I’d serve this with a big salad and maybe some chilled gazpacho alongside!!
PrintSkirt Steak with Romesco & Yogurt-Marinated Cucumbers
simply grilled skirt steak served with spicy romesco sauce, a cold salad of yogurt-marinated cucumbers, and grilled flatbread
servings: 4-6
Ingredients
Romesco Sauce
- ¼ oz dried ancho chiles
- 1 lb roma tomatoes
- 1 lb red bell peppers, halved + stemmed
- vegetable oil
- kosher salt
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 6 cloves garlic, smashed
- 2 oz fresh bread, torn (sourdough, baguette, etc.)
- 2 oz sliced almonds
- ¼ cup red wine vinegar
- ½ cup packed parsley leaves
Skirt Steak
- ¼ cup greek yogurt
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- olive oil
- 1 lb cucumbers, diced
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh dill
- kosher salt
- freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 ½ lbs skirt steak
- 4–6 small flatbreads (or pita)
Instructions
Romesco Sauce
- Heat the grill over high heat. Place the dried ancho chiles in a small bowl and cover with hot water. Let soak for 30 minutes to soften.
- Coat the tomatoes and halved red peppers with a drizzle of vegetable oil and a pinch of salt. Char over the hottest part of the grill for 2-3 minutes until slightly blackened on all sides. Transfer to medium-high heat, cover the grill, and cook for 8-12 more minutes until tender. Place in a bowl and cover to steam for a few minutes. Once cool enough to handle, peel the skins off the tomatoes and peppers. Rough chop them and add them to a food processor.
- Drain the chiles, dry them off, and roughly chop them. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat on the grill. Add the olive oil, chiles, smashed garlic, torn bread, and almonds. Toast for 2-3 minutes, stirring often, until golden and fragrant. Allow to cool. Add this mixture to the food processor, along with all of the olive oil left in the skillet.
- Add the red wine vinegar and parsley. Pulse the mixture until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.
Skirt Steak
- Heat the grill over high heat. Combine the greek yogurt, white wine vinegar, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a medium bowl. Whisk until smooth. Add the cucumber, scallions, and dill. Stir well. Season with a pinch of salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste. Let sit until ready to serve.
- Bring the skirt steak out to room temperature for about 15 minutes. Coat with a generous drizzle of olive oil and season really well with salt & freshly cracked black pepper. Grill the skirt steak for about 2-3 minutes on each side, or until cooked to your desired temperature. Transfer the steak to a cutting board, cover with foil, and let rest for about 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, brush the flatbreads with olive oil on both sides and quickly grilled until charred and crisp. Cut the flatbread into pieces.
- Thinly slice the skirt steak against the grain. Serve with the romesco sauce (recipe above), yogurt-marinated cucumbers, and grilled flatbread alongside.
