Tonight’s dinner is brought to you by the letter ‘S’.  For Sesame Seeds.

I took a couple of eye of the round steaks out of the freezer this morning, thinking I would just grill them when I got home.  Simple.  Basic.  And eversoslightlyboring.  Can’t have that!

All the reminiscing about Singapore had me thinking satay which pointed me towards all of the Asian spices and condiments in the house – and the black sesame seeds that I seldom use.  A recipe was born.  I thin-sliced the steaks into strips and marinated them in soy sauce, sesame seeds, sesame oil, mirin, garlic. sambal oelek, ginger, and black pepper.

After an hour, they went onto the grill.

Still using charcoal.  I came *thiiiiiiiiis* close to getting a gas grill this weekend, but practicality won out over convenience.  For now, at least.  It takes a bit more planning and the spontaneous hot dogs just don’t happen, but I’m not in a hurry to change.  That, and I’m just not ready to spend a couple hundred bucks on something I really don’t need.  I can be so cheap at the strangest times.

But back to dinner…

I also had a batch of no-kneaad dough in the ‘fridge, so I made some sesame rolls to go along with the sesame beef.

I made six small rolls (about 3/4 the size of a tennis ball) and after forming them, rolled them in the sesame seeds.  I let them proof outside – 80° with 85% humidity is Mother Nature’s perfect proofing box – and then baked them for 25 minutes at 450°.  They came out really crispy-crunchy with a really tender interior.

Japonica rice and asparagus and cherry tomatoes – with just a  bit of garlic and rice wine – finished the plate.

I could have just eaten rolls with butter and the beef.  As it was, I ate two of them.  I could have kept going, but reality set in there, as well.

Besides, this way Victor has something for lunch tomorrow!