Marinated Steak Salad is one of my favorite things to eat with my fingers, straight out of the refrigerator, standing in the kitchen, sometimes with the refrigerator door open. (Can somebody please get my Dad some smelling salts? After all, we don’t own the power company.)
I know I’ve used the term “leftover steak” before, and many of you probably think that’s something I just made up. Kind of like leftover chocolate or leftover wine? I’m here to tell you that leftover steak is absolutely a thing, but you may have to cook extra steak and hide it in order to have some left over.
I make Marinated Steak Salad often, and I make it year-round. It’s nice in warm weather, yet hearty enough for chilly days. It’s super fast and ridiculously easy. The recipe is very forgiving. Feel free to vary the ingredients to accommodate what you have on hand. The Marinated Steak Salad recipe below calls for blue cheese, bacon and tomatoes and is my all-time favorite. But I’ve made it using all sorts of things with excellent results. I’ve added artichoke hearts and olives for an antipasto twist. I’ve even tossed sliced cold steak with Black Bean Salsa and enjoyed super easy soft tacos.
Grilled, broiled, or pan-fried steak is fine. Ribeye, New York strips, sirloin, flank steak, even beef filet all work beautifully. Use whatever you have. You can use steak you’ve marinated or steak you’ve merely sprinkled with salt and pepper. The steak pictured here is sirloin that I seared in a cast iron skillet. I seasoned it with soy sauce and Montreal Steak Seasoning and let it sit for 20 minutes before I cooked it quickly in foaming hot butter.
You can serve Marinated Steak Salad any number of ways, and I really like it as an accompaniment to potato soup. I serve it with vichyssoise in the summer and hot potato soup in the winter. I’ve rolled the steak slices, left the tomatoes whole, threaded them on skewers, then garnished the skewers with vinaigrette, bacon bits and blue cheese crumbles. I served those at a cocktail party and they were a hit. I also like to chop the steak in smaller pieces and serve the salad on top of crostini. You can make extra dressing and toss Marinated Steak Salad with your favorite pasta for an upscale pasta salad. Let us know in the comments how you like yours!
In addition to being a falling-off-a-log-easy dinner, Marinated Steak Salad travels very well. It’s happy in a lunch box au naturale, on top of lettuce, or in a wrap–whether lettuce, tortilla, or flatbread. It will also keep in the fridge for a couple of days.
Happy New Year!
Marinated Steak Salad
Ingredients
- 3 T. olive oil
- 2 T. red wine vinegar
- 1 T. balsamic vinegar
- ½ t. dried basil
- a pinch each salt and pepper
- ½ lb. tender steak, thinly sliced against the grain
- 1 cup halved grape or cherry tomatoes
- 2 slices crisp bacon, crumbled
- 2 oz. crumbled blue cheese
- parsley, chives, fresh or dried, to taste
Instructions
- In a small bowl or a small jar with a tight lid, mix together olive oil, vinegars, basil, and salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Combine the remaining ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
- Stir the dressing together thoroughly with a fork, or shake it up it using a jar. Pour over the salad and toss. Serve at room temperature or refrigerate.
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