Asian Beef Salad

I am a voracious reader of all cookbooks and recently reviewed the Comfortable Kitchen, which has some interesting ideas including a Vietnamese beef salad. I liked the concept, but as usual made some changes to make everything more to my taste. I love making salad for dinner and this one is substantial enough to make a meal for four. Half of my plans for dinners most nights are turned around due to unforeseen plans or because I don’t have some ingredients. In the end, I think anyone who enjoys meat will like this one and if you are watching carbs, it’s a great addition to the table!

Ingredients

¼ cup neutral oil (canola or avocado), plus 1 tbsp.

2 tbsps. red wine vinegar

1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion

6 Cups Arugula

2 cups Halved Cherry Tomatoes

2 avocados peeled, and cut into slices

2 Persian cucumbers sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 inch piece ginger, grated

2 tbsps. soy sauce

1 tsp. fish sauce

1 tbsp. rice vinegar

1 tsp. Chinese five spice powder

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

1 ½ lbs. sirloin steak

1 tsp. sea salt

½ tsp. fresh ground black pepper

2 cups snow peas, trimmed and strings removed

1. Spread the arugula, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced red onion, cucumbers and avocado in a large platter and set aside.

2. In a small measuring cup, whisk the neutral oil, red wine vinegar and fish sauce until combined. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, combine the garlic, ginger, soy sauce, fish sauce, five spice powder and cayenne pepper. Stir to combine. Remove half and place in small bowl. Add the steak to marinate and turn on the grill.

4. When the grill is ready, grill for about 6 minutes per side testing until the temperature for medium rare reads on a meat thermometer at 130 F to 140 F. Remove and let the meat rest while completing the dish.

5. In a small skillet, heat a tbsp. of oil and when hot add the snow peas to cook with the left over soy sauce mixture. Remove when complete and toss with the set aside salad.

6. To serve, drizzle the vinaigrette over the arugula salad and toss to combine. Cut the steak into one inch cubes or slices and add continuing to toss the ingredients together. Serve immediately