Recipe: Thai Beef Salad

Last night, we were in charge of bringing a salad dish. I turned to a gift we received from our wedding for guidance: Simply Salads by Jennifer Chandler.

Ryan really likes Thai Beef Salad and it's always his pick for appetizer if we're having Thai food - dining in or take out!



Thai Beef Salad
Serves 4 Dinner Salads

Salad:
1 pound flank steak
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
1/2 cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, and thinly sliced
2 shallots, thinly sliced crosswise into rings
1 tbsp coarsely chopped cilantro
1 tbsp coarsely chopped mint
1 bag (10 oz) hearts of romaine
1/2 c coarsely chopped unsalted, roasted peanuts
1/2 c dressing*

Place steak in a shallow dish. Reserve 2/3 of dressing for later. Pour remaining 1/3 of the dressing over the steak, turning to coat. Cover, refrigerate, and marinate 1 to 2 hours.

Heat grill. Remove steak from marinade, shake off excess. Discard the marinade. Seaon steak with salt and pepper. Grill until medium rare -- approximately 4-6 minutes on each side. Slice thinly against the grain.

In a large bowl toss together the sliced steak, cucumber, shallots, cilantro, and mint. Add the remaining dressing to taste, reserving some to drizzle on the hearts of romaine.

When ready to serve, divide the hearts of romaine equally among plates and drizzle the remaining dressing. Generously spoon over the warm steak mixture over the bed of lettuce. Garnish with the chopped peanuts.

Dressing:

1/4 c freshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 c fish sauce
2 tsp dark brown sugar
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice, fish sauce, brown sugar, and red pepper flakes until the sugar has dissolved. Makes about 1/2 cup.

I'd go with less shallots next time, it was a bit over-powering. Otherwise, it was pretty tasty!