Rhiannon Ally: Tired of that boring meat loaf? Well, no need for the same old thing when it comes to dinner time. Julie met up with family circle for a melt in your mouth, flank stake.

Julie Auclair: Do you want to really impress your guests at your next dinner party? We are going to show you how to make a stuffed flank stake. It’s easy, delicious. Your guests are going to think you spend all day working on it. It was recently featured in Family Circle magazine and we are at the Family Circle test kitchen with Senior Food Editor Julie Miltenberger. Thank you for letting us come over.

Julie Miltenberger: It’s great to be here.

Julie Auclair: It’s good to see you. Now, you’re going to show us how to do this, it’s not hard?

Julie Miltenberger: No. It’s pretty straightforward. Just a couple of steps and you’ll have a dazzling dinner.

Julie Auclair: Okay, so what do we need for this?

Julie Miltenberger: So, we’ve just got a flank stake, it’s about a pound and a half or so.

Julie Auclair: Okay.

Julie Miltenberger: And then we’ve made a stuffing that has spinach, blue cheese, roasted red peppers.

Julie Auclair: Yummy.

Julie Miltenberger: A little bit of bread crumbs and some garlic, salt and pepper.

Julie Auclair: And that’s it and a little oil?

Julie Miltenberger: Yup.

Julie Auclair: And we just need some—

Julie Miltenberger: Kitchen twine.

Julie Auclair: Some kitchen twine, all right did, you know, did you trim this?

Julie Miltenberger: I didn’t so this is—it came—this one was about a pound and a half and sometimes it would be a little wider and a little flatter but this is nice because it’s thick and it should be pretty easy for us to cut open.

Julie Auclair: Okay, show us how to do that.

Julie Miltenberger: So, you are going it up like a book, you got nice handy knife that is sharp.

Julie Auclair: Nice sharp knife. Yeah.

Julie Miltenberger: And you just want to kind of hold one hand down and slowly open it up. So now, I’d like you to take a quarter teaspoon of garlic, salt and a quarter teaspoon of pepper.

Julie Auclair: Okay.

Julie Miltenberger: And just sprinkle it over the inside of this.

Julie Auclair: The entire thing.

Julie Miltenberger: Yup.

Julie Auclair: All right, here we go.

Julie Miltenberger: Then you are going to take the filling.

Julie Auclair: I’m ready.

Julie Miltenberger: And just put it all over the flank stake here and try to leave yourself about an inch border.

Julie Auclair: We don’t want it all squeezing out.

A little more. Okay.

Julie Miltenberger: And then you just rotate the cutting board, 90º. You start at a short end and you just roll it up

Julie Auclair: Just roll it up and what if you get a little squishing out?

Julie Miltenberger: Our hole will be on the bottom anyway, so we are in, no one will know

Julie Auclair: No one will even know.

Julie Miltenberger: Exactly, all right.

Julie Auclair: What hole?

Julie Miltenberger: So then, I am just going to take, this is a tablespoon of olive oil.

Julie Auclair: Okay.

Julie Miltenberger: And I am going to rub it on a stake and then drizzle it with a little more of the garlic, salt and pepper.

Julie Auclair: Good seasoning, right?

Julie Miltenberger: Yeah and then we tie it at about two inch increments. So, we took some twine.

Julie Auclair: All right.

Julie Miltenberger: And we cut it into about 8-10 inch lengths.

Julie Auclair: Okay.

Julie Miltenberger: We just slide it under.

Julie Auclair: So, we are just tying it all up.

Julie Miltenberger: Now what we do is pop it on to a roasting pan and we bake it at 425 for 35 minutes and then we increase the heat to broil and we broil it for ten minutes. So, we get nice crunchy crust on the outside.

Julie Auclair: My first stuffed flank stake Julie, so exciting.

Julie Miltenberger: So exciting and then 45 minutes.

Julie Auclair: It smells really good. Let’s eat. It looks ready, what you do you think?

Julie Miltenberger: Oh it looks good.

Julie Auclair: Okay

Julie Miltenberger: Let’s get the door.

Julie Auclair: All right

Julie Miltenberger: And then you’re going to want to let this sit for about five minutes, so that the juices you know kind of stick together but we are going to move it right on to this cutting board.

Julie Auclair: Oh my gosh the cheese melted so nicely.

Julie Miltenberger: And then you can just snip through these pieces of string.

Julie Auclair: Okay.

Julie Miltenberger: You know, kitchen scissors and you’re just going to skewer it and cut it into thin slices. Yeah and then you could see that the whole spiral of that filling. Well, there you go. You see you got the spinach and the red pepper and the cheese is all melted in there and I could smell the garlic, salt, so—

Julie Auclair: Fantastic! Julie, thank you so much for taking the time to make this with us. If you make this, your guest are going to be so impressed. They are going to think you were cooking all day. I am Julie Auclair along with Julie Miltenberger. Thanks for watching everybody, see you soon. It smells great.