Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Flank steak-arugula salad

This is a simple and delicious arugula salad with just a few other choice elements mixed in and then topped with slices of delicious flank steak. It would probably be even more delicious if you fired up the grill to make the flank steak but I was feeling lazy so I just did it in the broiler instead. It also would be a great use for slices of leftover steak that you've already grilled up.

First off, marinate a piece of flank steak for at least 1 hour. If you have several hours before dinner, marinate it in the fridge. If you are in a hurry, leave it out at room temperature for 45 minutes or so. Believe it or not--it will be just fine and the marinade will absorb faster. Don't let it sit out for too much longer than that though. I had about a 2-pound piece of flank steak, I pricked it all over with a fork and let it sit in a marinade of 3 tablespoons olive oil, salt, pepper, fresh chopped rosemary, and 1 slivered clove of garlic. While it was marinating, I mixed 3 tablespoons olive oil with salt, pepper, and the juice from 1 lemon to make a vinaigrette for the arugula salad. I had some beautiful, straight-from-Italy sundried tomatoes that Brian somehow snuck through customs and brought back in a vacuum-sealed bag. They are just incredible in flavor--salty yet sweet and full of Mediterranean sunshine. You don't have to have a direct-from-Italy supply--any sundried tomatoes will do fine here, or grilled, fresh tomatoes would be amazing as well. After opening the bag, I re-packed the tomatoes up in a jar and covered them with olive oil. Chopped up about 1/2 cup of them to add to the salad as well as crumbled up about 1/3 cup of goat cheese. When it was time for dinner, I brushed my grill pan with olive oil and stuck it under the broiler to get hot for about 3-5 minutes. Slapped the flank steak on there and let it go for 5 minutes per side under the broiler. As it was cooking, I tossed my arugula (you can't really measure greens, but I imagine it's about 2 cups, loosely packed, per person) in the lemon-olive oil vinaigrette. To assemble the salad, I placed the dressed arugula on a plate
Then topped the greens with the goat cheese and sundried tomatoes. I sliced the flank steak against the grain. And then arranged the salad by laying out slices of steak over the arugula salad.
Also, I'd like to point out that my smashed potatoes (thanks Jocelyn!) are developing nicely--these ones turned out much more attractive and maybe even tastier than those from last week.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That looks delicious. I need to get me some goat cheese right now. I've been making salads like mad dog all summer, but never with goat cheese. Damn!

Jeremy said...

i love some upstairs flank steak salad. well, to be fair, flank steak anything. but salad is delicious.