Michael Smith's Tuscan Steak Salad

Tuscan Steak Salad
From The Best of Chef at Home
My Honey said it was his best meal ever!

Printable Recipe

Hands-on time: 5 minutes
Marinating time: 2hours to overnight in the fridge
Grilling time: 20 minutes for a full striploin, 3-4 minutes per side for individual steaks
Serves 4

Ingredients:
Marinade:
8 cloves of garlic, pureed
1 tbsp dried oregano
A few splashes of premium extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1 striploin (2lb/1kg) 4” thick (Note: I couldn’t find a full strip loin, so I bought individual strip loin steaks)

Salad:
4 handfuls or so of baby arugula leaves (Note: I used a spicy greens mix – figure double handful per person)
Handful or 2 of fresh basil leaves
Zest & juice of 1 lemon
Large chunk of authentic Parmigiano Reggiano,

Directions:
1. Several hours (or overnight) before dinner, puree the garlic & oregano with olive oil. Slather over the steak (In my case slathered all sides of the steaks)

2. When you are ready to grill, preheat at highest setting (Note: unfortunately I don’t have a BBQ – it would be my preference, but a Griddler or grill pan works quite well). Make sure your meat is at room temperature for best cooking.

3. Season meat with salt & pepper. If you’re using a whole strip loin, grill slowly, but allow to sear, flipping as required so that it doesn’t burn. (about 20 minutes total) If, like me you are using individual steaks, I suggest 3-4 minutes per side for medium. You really don’t want it over done. As Chef Michael says…it would be criminal.

4. Once the meat is cooked, take it off the heat and let it rest for 10 minutes or so giving the meat a chance to “relax” and reabsorb the moisture. I like to cover mine with foil. After 10 minutes, thinly slice the meat across the grain. I did this at an angle with the individual steaks – across the width (narrower side). Note: the Tuscan way is to actually bring the steak, uncut, to the table on a cutting board.

5. While the beef is “resting”, mound the arugula and basil leaves in the center of a large serving platter. Arrange the slices of beef around the arugula. Sprinkle everything with lots of olive oil, coarse sea salt, lots of freshly ground pepper. Then “theatrically” zest the lemon over the salad and squeeze the juice. Lastly, using a vegetable peeler, garnish the works with shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano.