
Well, so much for my 40 nonstop days of blogging. I’m getting back on track today, though, with this delicious and healthy salad we had for dinner a few nights ago. Mark Bittman writes a column for Cooking Light about using less meat in main courses, without making the meal completely vegetarian. This salad combines skirt steak (I got ours from Deep Creek, an awesome local, grass-fed ranch) with tofu to top a green salad dressed with a tangy Thai-style dressing.
We try to keep the meat to a minimum in our house—we do love it, but to eat mostly organic (or grass-fed, free-range, responsibly raised, etc.) it can get really expensive. And, of course, it’s just better for you to eat more veg than meat. So I love recipes like this one that call for only 4 ounces of steak, total (a mere quarter-pound). It’s just enough for the flavor and satiety that comes from a bite of juicy beef, but not so much your stomach feels like a brick afterward.
If you don’t dig tofu, you could go the surf-and-turf route, and toss in some wild-caught shrimp. Or, just do the steak. The recipe is technically for 4 people, but because it’s all we had for dinner, we ate two servings each, and I only cooked about 5 or 6 ounces of tofu. Another note: I left the oil out completely when cooking the steak, because my pieces were nicely marbled, and the rendered fat from the beef was enough to cook the tofu. You be the judge of whether you need the whole tablespoon, or, really, any at all. I also cooked the beef and tofu separately, because we like tofu nice and brown, and I didn’t want the meat to overcook.
Thai-Inspired Beef & Tofu Salad
adapted, ever so slightly, from Mark Bittman’s recipe in Cooking Light
serves 2 as a main course
6 ounces firm tofu, cubed
6 cups fresh salad greens, such as romaine, Bibb, arugula, baby spinach, or a mix
1/2 cup fresh mint, roughly chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and sliced
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon fish sauce or low-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon mirin or brown sugar
1 serrano pepper, minced (optional)
1 tablespoon peanut oil (optional, depending on the marbling on your steak)
4 ounces skirt steak, trimmed of excess fat and cut across the grain into thin strips
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Place tofu cubes on several layers of paper towels on a cutting board or countertop. Cover with additional paper towels, and top with a baking sheet and weigh down with a coffee mug or can of soup. Let stand 30 minutes.
Combine lettuce, herbs and cucumber in a large bowl. Combine lime juice, fish sauce, sesame oil, mirin and serrano pepper in a small bowl, and stir to combine. Drizzle half of the dressing over lettuce mixture; toss to coat.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook 3 minutes or until the beef is browned, stirring only once or twice. Remove the beef with a slotted spoon, and add tofu to the pan. Cook until browned on all sides, about 4 minutes.
Add beef and tofu to the bowl with the dressing, tossing to coat. Pour tofu mixture over lettuce mixture; toss to combine. Serve immediately.
Are you in Orlando? Need plans this weekend? Come see edible Orlando publisher Kendra Lott and me at the Edible Orlando Cooking Stage at the Orlando Home Show! We’ll be doing cooking demos of Thanksgiving dishes from the current issue. Lots of other great local chefs and food personalities will be there as well, making delicious local food. Click here for tickets! See you there!
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