Although we don’t cook steak at home all that often, when we do, we usually have leftovers. Dan appreciates a good deal almost as much as a giant slab of red meat, so whenever he sees a bargain on nice, big steaks at the grocery store, he buys them and freezes them for later use. Then, when a special occasion calls for steak (for Dan, the occasion would be a random Tuesday), we’ll have enough left over for another, separate meal (thereby creating two special occasions.) Dressing up a simple green salad with leftover steak is an easy way to create an elegant weeknight meal. Adding homemade vinaigrette and roasted onions ups the fancy factor even higher.
Start with the onions, since they take 30-40 minutes to cook. They also shrink up quite a bit while roasting, so use more than you think you’ll need. Cut the onion in half, then thinly slice each half to get half-moon strips.
Place the onions on a cookie sheet and toss them with a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Roast the onions in the oven preheated to 375 degrees until they are well-browned — about 30-40 minutes. For best results, roast the onions slowly and reduce the heat if they start to brown too fast. Turn them several times as they cook and remove the browned onions to a plate lined with paper towels. Season the browned onions with a generous sprinkling of salt.
To make the vinaigrette (adapted from this recipe), heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and saute until barely golden — about 1 minute.
Transfer the garlic to a blender (we used our very handy immersion blender) and add 6 tablespoons of olive oil, 1/2 cup of the blue cheese, white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, a tablespoon of water, sugar, Tabasco and salt & pepper. Blend the ingredients well.
Stir (don’t blend) chopped basil and the remaining 1/4 cup blue cheese into the blended vinaigrette.
Slice the steak into thin strips. We like to warm the steak up a little bit, just so it’s not as cold as it is straight from the fridge. But don’t get it too hot or it will wilt your lettuce. Or do if you like your lettuce that way. That’s the beauty of this (or any) salad — you can add or subtract whatever ingredients you prefer and prepare it however you like.
We happen to like our steak salad with green leaf lettuce and sliced tomatoes, topped with roasted onions and lightly dressed with blue cheese vinaigrette. Salad for dinner never tasted so good.
Blue Cheese Vinaigrette
Ingredients:
- 7 tablespoons olive oil
- 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
- ¾ cup crumbled blue cheese, divided
- ¼ cup white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon water
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon Tabasco (hot pepper sauce)
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
Directions:
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and saute until the garlic turns barely golden — about 1 minute.
- Transfer the garlic to a blender and add the remaining 6 tablespoons of olive oil, ½ cup of the blue cheese, white wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon of water, sugar, Tabasco, Dijon and salt & pepper. Blend well.
- Stir in (do not blend) the basil and remaining ¼ cup blue cheese.