This Newcastle brown ale marinated hanger steak is the perfect holiday meal. Perfectly cooked and topped with Newcastle caramelized onions. You need this!
You know how on Christmas everyone gets super excited about ham and turkey? Well, I’m not one of those people. Don’t get me wrong. I think turkey can be delicious (especially when it’s herb mayonnaise roast turkey) and I love me some pineapple bourbon butter glazed ham BUT Christmas is for red meat.
That’s right, I’m declaring this year is the year of red meat. Every Christmas my dad makes a HUGE prime rib and we invite over a whole house full of people to cram into our dining room and devour the roast beast until there is nothing left. Of course this also means shortly after eating, half of us are ready for bed because we just ate our weight in red meat but that’s just part of the prime rib game.
However, there is one small problem with prime rib. It’s perfect for large crowds, but what about when you only have a small group of people to feed? Do you really want to bust out an 11-pound piece of meat? The answer is no. So that’s where this recipe comes into play.
I decided to pick up a hanger steak at my local butcher shop and turn it into the perfect Christmas dinner. I wanted it to be full of flavor but still easy and not overly time consuming. So I did what any sane person does – made a marinade. BUT not just any old marinade – nope. I made a Newcastle Brown Ale marinade! Then I topped it with Newcastle caramelized onions and sprinkled it all with a gremolata. It’s a party in the mouth.
If you have never had Newcastle Brown Ale before don’t worry – it’s delicious! Plus it’s America’s number 1 brown ale so you know it’s a crowd pleaser! Just pop on over to your local store and pick up a six-pack. It works great in this dish and it’s great for sipping too.
I marinated my meat for about 4 hours and it gave it just the right amount of beer flavor. Then I popped it out of the marinade, dried it off and pan-fried it until it was perfectly cooked. You could also opt to grill it, which would be equally crowd pleasing. I also cooked the onions and made the gremolata in advance, which saves time during dinner assembly.
Oh and those onions – cooked in Newcastle Brown Ale. Listen, if I’m going to team up with a beer I’m going all in!
{Looking for more delicious out of the box holiday main course recipes? Try my veal osso buco, cranberry bbq sauce cornish hens or my pork tenderloin with blackberry mint sauce.}
Newcastle Brown Ale Marinated Hanger Steak with Newcastle-Caramelized Onions
This Newcastle brown ale marinated hanger steak is the perfect holiday meal. Perfectly cooked and topped with Newcastle caramelized onions. You need this!
Yield: 2-4 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutesplus marinade time
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 65 minutesplus 4 hours marinade time
Ingredients:
For steak:
- 1-1/2 pound hanger steak
- 1 bottle Newcastle Brown Ale
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tablespoon roughly chopped rosemary
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 batch beer caramelized onions
- 1 batch gremolata
For onions:
- 2 large sweet onions, cut in half and thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, more may be needed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ¾ cup Newcastle Brown Ale
- 1-2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- Kosher salt, to taste
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
For gremolata:
- ¼ cup finely chopped parsley
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon minced lemon peel
Directions:
For steak:
In a ziptop bag add hanger steak, Newcastle Brown Ale, garlic, 1 teaspoon kosher salt and black pepper. Close the top of the bag and mix the mixture together in the bag by lightly massaging the bag. Put the bag in a small dish and place into the fridge for 4 hours.
Once the meat is ready remove from the marinade, wipe off any rosemary that is sticking to the meat and dry the meat. Sprinkle the front and back and with remaining kosher salt.
In a large cast iron skillet add 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Set over medium high heat and when the butter and oil is hot add the hanger steak to the pan. Cook for about 4-5 minutes and flip. Cook for another 4-5 minutes until the underside is browned. This cooking time will give you a slightly rarer meat so cook a few minutes longer if you like your meat well done.
Let the meat rest for 10 minutes, slice and top with onions and gremolata.
For onions:
Set sliced onions aside. In a large skillet set over medium heat add butter and olive oil. When the butter is melted and hot add in the onions. Sauté just until they start to soften and become flexible.
Pour in the Newcastle Brown Ale and 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar. Lower the heat to low and simmer for about 20 minutes until most the beer has cooked off. Season with a little kosher salt.
Add in another tablespoon of butter and continue cooking (stirring every few minutes) until the onions are super soft and dark brown in color. It’s ok to let the onions pick up a little color from the bottom of the pan. You don’t want them to burn but it’s ok to let them brown. If the pan gets too dry while cooking just add in a little more butter or olive oil.
Deglaze the bottom of the pan with balsamic vinegar, stir to pick up all the flavor off the pan and once your onions are dark brown they are ready. Taste your onions and add in more sugar or salt if needed.
Note: Because the onions are cooked down in beer they can pick up a bit of the bitterness from the beer. This is totally normal. That’s why I incorporated brown sugar to offset the bitterness and mellow out the flavor. Plus the sweet onions on top of the meat are perfection! So don’t worry if they taste just a tad sweeter than typical caramelized onions.
For gremolata:
Mix all ingredients together and set aside. You can adjust the level of ingredients based on personal preference
Now I know you are all crazy about giveaways and I’m here to offer you the perfect holiday giveaway. Up for grabs is a $200 gift card (that you can use to buy some ice cold Newcastle Brown Ale) and some fun kitchen goodies! Now I know rules are a bummer but there are always a few:
– You must be 21 to enter (because this giveaway is sponsored by Newcastle you will have to provide a quick picture of your ID after winning so it can be confirmed that you are in fact over 21)
– You must live in the US
Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Newcastle Brown Ale but all opinions and thoughts are 100% my own. Make sure to visit Newcastle on Facebook and on Twitter!