With summer winding down, I find myself trying to get the most out of my outdoor grills, smokers and such. Before we know it, there will be snow on the ground and we'll be wishing we could grill up a nice steak, outside. ---

Here is an easy recipe for grilled flat iron steak with a basic red-wine sauce. You could easily substitute skirt steak or flank steak, and you could also play around with the herbs recommended in the recipe and make it your own. Also, this versatile sauce is great with any steak, cooked indoors or out.

Ingredients:

A 1-2 lb. flat iron steak (or use flank or skirt), trimmed of fat and silver skin

2 Tbs. olive oil

salt and black pepper

6 Tbs. unsalted butter

1 onion, thinly sliced

2-3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed

1 sprig fresh rosemary

3-4 sprigs fresh thyme

1 tsp. dried oregano

1/4 cup tomato paste

1 cup beef or chicken stock or boullion

1 cup red wine

Method:

Melt 2 Tbs. of the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the sliced onions and saute, gently, until they soften, about five minutes.

Add the herbs, salt to taste and garlic to the pot and stir until fragrant, about a minute.

Stir the tomato sauce into the pan and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring continually.

Add the wine and the beef/chicken stock to the pot, stir to blend well, and simmer for about 10 minutes until the sauce reduces by about half.

While the sauce is reducing, heat a gas or BBQ grill to high heat. Drizzle the olive oil over both sides of the flat iron steak and add salt and pepper, to taste.

Grill the flat iron steak to desired doneness -- about four to five minutes per side for medium-rare.

Transfer the cooked steak to a cutting board and allow to rest for five minutes or so while you finish the sauce.

While the steak rests, finish the red-wine sauce: Strain the sauce into a smaller pan, pressing the solids to extract as much liquid as you can.

Discard the solids and bring the remaining sauce back to a simmer.

Whisk the remaining 4 Tbs. butter into the sauce and season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Slice the steak across the grain.

Serve the steak slices drizzled with the red-wine sauce.