Tag Archives: summer salad

THAI BEEF SALAD

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Salad season is upon us.  I’m happy any time I can make a main dish salad and avoid heating up the kitchen.  Heating up the grill, however, is a not a problem.  My husband grilled a beef tenderloin the other night, and with the leftovers we made Thai Beef Salad (flank steak works well too).

If you don’t have lemongrass for the dressing, you can omit it.  I usually have some growing in a pot, and it’s very easy to propagate (I’ve done this before with lemongrass purchased at the grocery store).  My biggest problem is keeping my dogs away from it — they chew it, I think, to help with digestion.  I keep moving it higher, and they keep seeking it out:

lemongrass

Jasper munching on some lemongrass

But don’t omit the fish sauce!  I keep a bottle of Three Crabs fish sauce on hand.  It’s available in asian markets and most large grocery stores, and was recommended to me by a Vietnamese chef:

fish sauce

Adjust the heat of the dressing to your liking by altering the amount of crushed red pepper. The vegetables for the salad are suggestions — use whatever you like in whatever quantity you desire (I like the cool crunch that cucumbers provide, but didn’t have any on hand when I made it this time).

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THAI BEEF SALAD
Author: 
Recipe type: Salad, Beef
 
Ingredients
  • For the dressing:
  • 4 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lime juice
  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce
  • 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons finely minced lemongrass stalk*
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
  • For the salad:
  • Thinly sliced grilled beef
  • Sliced tomatoes
  • Chopped lettuce
  • Sliced cucumbers
  • Thinly sliced red onion
  • Thinly sliced shallot
  • Thinly sliced serrano peppers or thai chiles
  • Mint sprigs, for garnish
Instructions
  1. Place all dressing ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix together until brown sugar is dissolved and ingredients are well combined. Add the sliced beef and allow to sit in dressing while preparing the rest of the salad.
  2. Place chopped lettuce in a large shallow bowl or platter. Using tongs, remove beef from dressing and mound in center of lettuce. Pour dressing over lettuce around beef. Arrange tomatoes, red onions, cucumbers (or whatever vegetables you are using) decoratively around beef. Scatter shallots and chiles over salad. Garnish with mint. Serve at room temperature.
  3. *To mince the lemongrass, use the woody stalk, peeling off the outer layer. Mash the stalk by whacking it with the flat side of a knife, then finely mince.

thai beef salad

A great warm weather meal

salad closeup

Grilled tenderloin is the star of this salad

Special thanks to my friend Tori for the exotic wood salad servers she brought me as a souvenir from her recent trip to Thailand:

salad servers

WTF (WATERMELON, TOMATO, AND FETA) SALAD

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While grocery shopping over the Memorial Day weekend, these patriotic-looking Pop-Tarts caught my eye:

FullSizeRender[2] copy

But as I moved in for a closer look, I couldn’t help but think “WTF?”  I think the idea of a “different team on every Pop-Tart toaster pastry” is kinda clever:

poptart header

But here’s where they lost me:

poptart save

“Collect all 30 teams?”  In my estate sale adventures, I have seen all kinds of bizarre collections (like dismembered mannequins, for example).  But who in their right mind is going to collect toaster pastries?  I don’t even know how you would collect toaster pastries?  Do you display them on little acrylic stands with a dozen roach traps around them?  Encase them in lucite?  Take pictures of the toaster pastries and hang them on your wall?  Help me out here — how do you collect Pop-Tarts?  Why would you collect Pop-Tarts?

Yep, sometimes you just have to shake your head and say “WTF?”  And on this particular day, WTF means Watermelon, Tomato, and Feta Salad.  At this point, I’m guessing most of you have heard of, if not tried, a watermelon salad of some sort.  This one, with tomato slices alternated with watermelon slices, sprinkled with feta, and drizzled with a sherry vinaigrette, is a light, refreshing, and easy summer salad.  And besides, it’s fun to tell folks you made a WTF Salad.  😉

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WTF SALAD
Author: 
Recipe type: Salad
 
Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
  • 5 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 or 5 firm ripe tomatoes
  • ¼ of a seedless watermelon
  • 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives, for garnish
Instructions
  1. Place the vinegar in a small bowl. Add the olive oil in a slow stream and whisk until emulsified. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside until ready to use.
  2. Slice the tomatoes and watermelon into ⅜-inch thick slices. Trim the watermelon slices to approximate the same round shape as the tomatoes. You'll need an equal number of tomato and watermelon slices. Arrange the tomato and watermelon slices on a serving platter, overlapping slices of tomato and watermelon. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Top with feta cheese. Just before serving, drizzle with dressing. Sprinkle with chives and serve.

 

 Plated and ready to be dressed

For those WTF kinda days