Recipe
September 29, 2017
Smitten Kitchen’s Beefsteak Skirt Steak Salad
Try this recipe for Beefsteak Skirt Steak Salad With Blue Cheese & Parsley Basil Vinaigrette from Deb Perelman’s cookbook, Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant & Unfussy New Favorites.
This is the skirt-steak salad to eat as long as the tomatoes last. Here, I like to celebrate the beefsteak tomato’s heftiness, not hide it, by matching it up with slices of steak. The blue-cheese crumbles — which, really, are more like boulders — are not optional around here, but you could use a salty feta or soft chèvre. The parsley-basil pesto vinaigrette is the happiest lightweight complement; the salad wouldn’t be right without it.
Directions
Yield: 4 servings
Make the dressing
- In a blender or food processor, pulse the garlic, basil, and parsley together until they’re chopped as finely as you can get them. With the machine running, drizzle in the olive oil, then the vinegar and mustard, scraping down the sides as needed. Season with salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste. No machine? Mince the garlic and herbs as finely as you can with a knife, transfer them to a bowl, and, whisking the whole time, slowly drizzle in the olive oil and vinegar before seasoning with salt and peppers.
Make the salad
- If using salad greens, place them first on a platter. Arrange the tomatoes on top, fanned out and slightly overlapped. Scatter half of the blue cheese and onion over the tomatoes.
- Pat the steak dry, and season on both sides with 1/2 tsp salt and many grinds of black pepper.
To cook the steak on the stove
- Heat your largest, heaviest skillet over medium-high to high heat, and add 1 tbsp olive oil. When the oil is very hot, place the steak in the skillet, and do not move it for 5 minutes. Turn it once, and cook for another 3 minutes for medium-rare. If your steak is larger than your biggest skillet, cut it in half and cook it in two pieces.
To cook the steak on a grill
- Prepare a hot charcoal or high-heat gas grill for cooking. Lightly oil the grill rack, and grill the steak, turning once, 4 to 6 minutes for medium-rare. If you’re using a gas grill, it’s best to keep the lid on while grilling, to prevent heat loss.
To finish
- Transfer the steak to a cutting board, and cover it loosely with foil while it rests for 5 minutes. Thinly slice the steak on the diagonal, across the grain, and arrange over the tomatoes. Scatter with the remaining blue cheese and onion. Drizzle vinaigrette on top, or serve it on the side.
Excerpted from Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites. Text and photographs copyright © 2017 Deb Perelman. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.