It’s summer. You know what that means? We will be bombarded with lettuce commercials of people shaking up their lettuce leaf bags while dancing (poorly for that matter) for no apparent reason. What the hell is that about? I dance a lot, in many places, and NOT ONCE has purchasing a bag of lettuce made me dance about the grocery store. Poor marketing tactics if you ask me. Nice job lettuce marketers, I plan on never purchasing bags of lettuce again. I don’t want to break down in my own flash mob in the middle of the produce section. This may happen…
Anyways, salads are not always my favorite thing to consume regularly. They tend to be messy. The salad dressing gets all up on the oversized lettuce leaves which then in turn gets all over my face. If you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly lady like. The last thing I need is to look like crap from being in the gym all day, smell a bit awkward, AND have salad dressing covering my face. All this leads to being single forever, which I’m ok with, but society isn’t.
This salad was inspired by the truly delicious steak salad I had at The Crushery a few weeks back. It’s hands down my favorite salad in town BUT it has gorgonzola cheese on it and a gorgonzola dressing, so I have to hold off on having that regularly. I bloat. Damn you cheese, damn you.
Sweet Steak Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing
Ingredients
For marinating the steak:
- 2lb london broil
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon rosemary
- 1 teaspoon tarragon
- 1 teaspoon parsley
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- gallon sized Ziploc bag
For the salad:
- 1 bundle of romaine lettuce, chopped
- 1 bundle of spinach, chopped
- 1 cup pearl onions, soaked in hot water for 5 minutes, then peeled
- 1 package of fresh blackberries
- 1.5 cups chopped walnuts
- 2 medium red onions, thinly sliced
- 5–6 strips bacon, diced (uncured, nitrate free)
- 10–15 dates, pitted and diced
- salt and pepper, to taste
For the Dressing:
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 3–4 Tbsp ground mustard (no sugar added)
- 2 tablespoons coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon almond butter
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- sea salt and white pepper, to taste
Instructions
Time to marinate that steak. Don’t be lazy. Marinate the crap out of it. You won’t be disappointed. The longer the better. I only marinated it for about 8 hours or so, but longer would have been even more awesome.
- Add all of your ‘marinating the steak’ ingredients to a gallon sized and shake it around. Give it some loving here. Work it.
- Now throw the bag in the fridge to marinate for a while.
- Once the london broil has marinated for AT LEAST 2-3 hours, pull it out of the fridge to let sit on the counter and come to room temperature. While it comes to room temperature, heat up your grill.
- Make your grill SUPER hot so you can sear both sides of your london broil for 1-2 minutes/side. Once it is does searing, turn down the heat to medium and cook for about 5-6 minutes/side.
- While the london broil is cooking (don’t forget to flip it after 5-6 minutes), begin cooking up the ingredients for your salad. Add your chopped bacon to a large skillet, once it has oozed a bit of fat to the pan, add your sliced red onions and let them cook down until translucent.
- Once your red onions become translucent, add your pearl onions to the mix to cook down for about 3-4 minutes, then add your dates and walnuts. Cook all the ingredients together, adding just a bit of salt and pepper at the end.
- Your steak should be done cooking at this point. Don’t forget about it and ruin the entire meal. Kidding. But once it is done cooking, put it on a plate and let it sit for around 30 minutes so the juices don’t come spilling out.
- While the steak sits and ponders life, make your salad dressing.
- Add all dressing ingredients to your food processor and mix well to combine. This dressing a bit thicker than usual dressing, so if you’re not a fan of that, add a bit more oil and vinegar to make it runny.
- Once your dressing is made, thinly slice your london broil to desired thickness.
- Throw your chopped greens into a large bowl, top with your date/onion/bacon/walnut mixture along with blackberries, steak, and salad dressing.
- Consume with a smile on your face while all the flavors make a happy play land in your mouth.
Grocery List Helper:
- London Broil: on sale at Whole Foods for $4.99/lb
- Spinach and Romaine Lettuce: on sale at Sunflower Market for $.88/bundle
- Blackberries: on sale at Sunflower Market for $2.50/container
- Pearl Onions: bought in the produce section (in a little bag) at Sunflower Market
- Walnuts: on sale in bulk section at Sunflower Market
- Dates: in bulk section at $2.39/lb at Sunflower Market (that’s the cheapest I’ve found anywhere)
- Almond Butter: at Whole Foods in the ‘grind yourself’ machine for $3.99/lb
Delicious! Love the dressing with the black berries! Every recipe I have made from your site has been amazing! Thanks 🙂
Juli,
I loved this. I used your marinade for the steak and your salad dressing. I didn’t have almond butter and used tahini instead. It was great!
Love your posts and your recipes – you crack me up and keep me from eating the same boring thing all the time! 🙂
Karen