To our friends and family, it is no secret that Mike and I love to cook. We love food, and we love good food. In the past two and a half years of our relationship, we have attempted many new recipes. Some of them were amazing and some were just plain weird. (Wingin’ homemade ramen didn’t really go well for us.)

Anyway, this dish was a concoction I created when I worked as a waitress during college. At the restaurant where I worked, we were able to place an order at the end of our shift, and this salad was a result of my creative (and starving) mind. It was a combination of our green goat salad and steak kabobs. I served these dishes all day long and I wanted the best of both worlds. Therefore, I took the steak and roasted veggies from the steak kabob and put them on a kick-butt salad, that I dubbed “The Effing Salad.” All of the kitchen and wait staff knew me well and they knew what I meant when I told them I wanted The Effing Salad. When I was feeling really glutenous, I would even have warm pita and homemade hummus on the side. To. Die. For.

All I know is if you see the picture of this salad and you don’t want to make it, then I haven’t done my job of showing how utterly delicious this meal is.

Have I tooted my own horn enough now? Let’s get to the recipe.

 

Effing Salad Recipe

Ingredients

• Choice Cut of Steak (I usually like a filet or new york strip, and Mike and I will share one for both our salads)
• Roma Tomatoes
• Cippolini Onions
• English Cucumber
• Mixed Greens
• Olive Oil
• Salt & Pepper

 

Optional Ingredients

• I love to add cooked and chilled asparagus and feta cheese, but neither are necessary to still have a scrumptious end result!

Directions

1. Make your balsamic dressing (see link below) and let chill in the fridge while you make the salad.
2. Wash your roma tomatoes and peel your cippolini onions.
3. Drizzle olive oil, salt, and pepper over your tomatoes and onions.
4. Place tomatoes and onions on a sheet pan and roast in the oven for roughly 30-40 minutes at 350º F. The tomatoes are done when the peel cracks so don’t worry if that happens!
5. About 10 minutes before your vegetables are done roasting, you can start on the steak. To cook the steak, season it with salt & pepper and grill it on a preheated grill or cast iron skillet. Our piece was about 3/4″ thick and we cooked it about 4 minutes on both sides.
6. Take your steak off the heat and let rest for 5 minutes before cutting.
7. Your veggies should be done right around the same time as the steak. You can’t really over roast the vegetables (in my opinion), so I let mine stay in the oven until I cut the steak.
8. Put a large helping of salad greens on your plate, along with some diced cucumber (and whatever else suits your fancy!). Then you can place your roasted veggies and steak on the salad and top it off with your tasty, homemade dressing.
9. Enjoy and try to eat slowly to savor the flavors 🙂

 

 

Balsamic Dressing Recipe

Balsamic dressings are all very similar, but what makes the dressing for this salad extra creamy is a secret I learned while working at the restaurant, that isn’t really a secret at all. One of the chefs at the restaurant taught me that when you take the balsamic vinegar and blend it with your oils (canola, vegetable, olive, what have you), it emulsifies and creates a creamy and delicious consistency that won’t separate.

Also, what makes this dressing taste so amazing is the roasted garlic. You absolutely can NOT skip this step because the roasted garlic still has the same garlic flavor, but adds a bit of sweetness to the sauce, that fresh garlic does not.

The picture above shows everything I used in my dressing, except the roasted garlic. In total, I used balsamic vinegar, olive oil, canola oil, dijon mustard, honey, roasted garlic, and salt & pepper. I didn’t really measure out exact measurements but I found a great recipe by Giada De Laurentiis that I think matches closely with what I made.

Enjoy!