Summer steak salad on the grill
It's ridiculously hot in Chicago right now, so to prepare before the heatwave hit, I made one of my all-time favorite summer salads. It's perfect right off the grill the day it's made, but is just as good served cold the next night when it's 100 degrees outside.
The recipe is posted below and at my new blog, My Homespun Home. I hope you hop over there to check it out (along with more pictures and details about why I chose this particular cut of steak).
Vietnamese Grilled Steak Salad
Serves 4-5
Dressing
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fish sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger (about an inch-long piece of ginger root)
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoon finely minced jalapeño, seeded and deveined
Steak and Marinade
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon medium-dry Sherry
2 teaspoons tamari soy sauce
1 teaspoon packed brown sugar
2 garlic cloves, crushed and roughly chopped
Remaining jalapeño, roughly chopped
1/2 inch fresh ginger root, roughly chopped
1 pound flat iron steak
Salad
1 small red onion, sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
2 shallots, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
4 pineapple slices
4-6 oyster mushrooms, sliced
2 bunches watercress, bottom 2 inches discarded, cut into 1-inch lengths
3 cups mizuna leaves, torn in half if very large (another peppery green like arugula can be substituted)
2 cups Bibb or other butter lettuce
1 cup Thai basil leaves, thinly sliced
1/2 English hothouse cucumber, halved lengthwise, sliced very thinly on diagonal
10 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
In a jar or bowl, combine dressing ingredients, mix or shake well, and set aside. This makes about twice the amount of dressing you’ll need for the salad, but it’s great on just about anything.
In a plastic bag or glass dish, assemble marinade ingredients. The marinade is very flexible-chop whatever ginger, garlic, and jalapeno were leftover from making the dressing and add the oyster sauce, tamari, sherry, and brown sugar. Stir to combine and dissolve the sugar, then add steak. Refrigerate for up to 2 hours.
Heat your grill to medium or medium high heat. I lightly coat my grill grate with a little canola oil after it’s hot since it seems to stop food from sticking too much. Remove steak from marinade and grill over direct heat for around 3 minutes per side for medium rare (grill temperatures and steak thicknesses vary, so be aware that your timing may differ). Set steak aside to rest while you grill the rest of the ingredients.
Recoat the grill grate with oil, lightly brush onion and shallot with oil, and grill until slightly softened. Follow the same process for the pineapple (I make double the amount of pineapple and use it for ice cream topping, mixing into yogurt, or eating plain).
Gently mix mushrooms, lettuces, basil, tomatoes, and cucumber, top with a few slices of onion and shallot and some of the pineapple. Slice the steak thinly across the grain and arrange it over the salad. If any juices accumulated while the steak was resting, pour those over the steak, and finish with 1-2 tablespoons of dressing per salad.
The recipe is posted below and at my new blog, My Homespun Home. I hope you hop over there to check it out (along with more pictures and details about why I chose this particular cut of steak).
Vietnamese Grilled Steak Salad
Serves 4-5
Dressing
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fish sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger (about an inch-long piece of ginger root)
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoon finely minced jalapeño, seeded and deveined
Steak and Marinade
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon medium-dry Sherry
2 teaspoons tamari soy sauce
1 teaspoon packed brown sugar
2 garlic cloves, crushed and roughly chopped
Remaining jalapeño, roughly chopped
1/2 inch fresh ginger root, roughly chopped
1 pound flat iron steak
Salad
1 small red onion, sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
2 shallots, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
4 pineapple slices
4-6 oyster mushrooms, sliced
2 bunches watercress, bottom 2 inches discarded, cut into 1-inch lengths
3 cups mizuna leaves, torn in half if very large (another peppery green like arugula can be substituted)
2 cups Bibb or other butter lettuce
1 cup Thai basil leaves, thinly sliced
1/2 English hothouse cucumber, halved lengthwise, sliced very thinly on diagonal
10 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
In a jar or bowl, combine dressing ingredients, mix or shake well, and set aside. This makes about twice the amount of dressing you’ll need for the salad, but it’s great on just about anything.
In a plastic bag or glass dish, assemble marinade ingredients. The marinade is very flexible-chop whatever ginger, garlic, and jalapeno were leftover from making the dressing and add the oyster sauce, tamari, sherry, and brown sugar. Stir to combine and dissolve the sugar, then add steak. Refrigerate for up to 2 hours.
Heat your grill to medium or medium high heat. I lightly coat my grill grate with a little canola oil after it’s hot since it seems to stop food from sticking too much. Remove steak from marinade and grill over direct heat for around 3 minutes per side for medium rare (grill temperatures and steak thicknesses vary, so be aware that your timing may differ). Set steak aside to rest while you grill the rest of the ingredients.
Recoat the grill grate with oil, lightly brush onion and shallot with oil, and grill until slightly softened. Follow the same process for the pineapple (I make double the amount of pineapple and use it for ice cream topping, mixing into yogurt, or eating plain).
Gently mix mushrooms, lettuces, basil, tomatoes, and cucumber, top with a few slices of onion and shallot and some of the pineapple. Slice the steak thinly across the grain and arrange it over the salad. If any juices accumulated while the steak was resting, pour those over the steak, and finish with 1-2 tablespoons of dressing per salad.