Dinner recipe for Thai Grilled Beef Salad

TUESDAY

This evening’s dinner needed to be easy. I was gone ALL-DAY. Horse show season has begun…

When I started this blog 6 months ago, we were in the tail-end {forgive the pun} of the horse show season. I hung this sign up a couple of times…{forgive me, I was learning the blogging “thing” while juggling “life on the road”}

Now, six months later, I have figured a few things out with respect to this little piece of cyberspace & I hope to make the transition, as far as dinner is concerned, seamless {for Michael & Max’s sake, as well as yours}. I am about to take you through a full horse show season…fasten your seat-belts! We travel, A LOT. The girls were in Paso Robles this past weekend, traveling with their trainer {which gave me the weekend off…THANK YOU ANDREA!}. Next stop..Fresno for a schooling next week & then on to Southern California the following week. The boys {Michael & Max} usually stay at home {while we take the other boys, King & Dancer on-the-road} & that is when meal planning becomes ESSENTIAL. Stay tuned…

But I digress…let’s get back to today. Which began with me traveling up North to Petaluma to hook up this rig…

in order to deliver {same} to the local “trailer specialist” for a pre-season check-up. Last year, we drove over 7,500 miles with that combo…maintenance is CRITICAL. I arrived back in town just in time to pick up the kids from school, followed by a quick stop at our local market to grab steaks for tonight’ s salad. We arrived home {after leaving at 7am this morning} around 4pm this afternoon. Tonight’s dinner, Thai Grilled Beef Salad is simple but, I still wanted to get an Island walk in before picking Michael up from the ferry which arrives at 5:45pm. So I quickly got a few things together. Culinary experts will term this “mise en place”…for me it is more like “how much can I get accomplished in the shortest amount of time” possible. So before my walk, I put a few ingredients together…

Rain was predicted {and as I write this it is pounding on our windows} so my Island walk today was under almost-black skies with incredible winds. I thought for sure I would be soaked by the time I returned home to get the car in order to pick up Michael, but I was spared. The deep gray skies & howling winds merely lent a shade of drama to my early evening walk. As I came to the tip of the Island I caught this glimpse of San Francisco…surrounded by dark clouds {and wind, notice the water}…but, the City itself is illuminated in sunshine…

Back at home, we were able to grill the steaks well-before the rain poured down…

The original Thai Grilled Beef Salad recipe called for 1½ pounds of flank steak but we substituted NY Strip Steaks, because that is our personal preference. Let’s get back to the recipe {from Not Without Salt.com}:

Thai Grilled Beef Salad {adapted from Not Without Salt}

1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3-4 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lime juice
3 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon sugar
2 pounds, NY strip steak
Kosher salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
3 shallots, sliced thin
1½ cups fresh mint leaves
1½ cups fresh cilantro leaves
1 seedless English cucumber, peeled with a potato peeler
3-4 cups greens {I used a mix of red leaf lettuce & green butter lettuce}

Combine the cayenne & paprika together in a small spice bowl, set aside.
Whisk together the lime juice, fish sauce, water, sugar, and ¼ teaspoon of the paprika mixture in a large bowl and set aside.
Season the steak with salt & pepper. Place the steak over the hot part of a charcoal grill and cook until well-browned ~ just about 8 minutes. Flip the steaks and continue to cook on the second side until charred and the center registers 125 degrees, about 5 minutes longer. Transfer to a plate, and let rest for 10 minutes.
Thinly slice the sirloin, against the grain. Transfer the sliced steak to a large bowl and add ¾ of the fish sauce dressing. Then, add the shallots, mint & cilantro…toss to combine
Toss the greens with ¼ of the dressing. Place the dressed greens on a plate and top with the seasoned sirloin & cucumber shavings.