Recipe for Success: Nicky's Favorite Summer Salad with Flank Steak
The first official NickyNom recipe!
Good afternoon my fellow foodies!
I am proud to present to you all the first recipe for the blog! I promised family recipes and my own take on new ones along side Frugal Finds and Scrumptious Spotlights.
Being Cuban and a lover of meat, steak was a once or twice a week night dinner in my house. Normally paired with white rice and either black beans or platanos maduros (sweet plantains), Mom would always prepare the flank steak with sazon completa (complete seasoning), garlic and onion powder. Naturally, this is a dish that triggers memories and salivary glands.
A few weeks ago, Mom and Dad went on a mini getaway to escape from the daily craziness that is Life to Key Largo, FL, so I decided to whip up a quick summer salad and a seared flank steak for my brother and I while they were gone, kind of like our own little piece of summer. Here's how it went down:
For the Summer Salad ~
Ingredients:
Arugula
Baby Spinach
Avocado
Heirloom Tomatoes (I substituted Cherry Tomatoes instead, [personal preference])
Goat Cheese
Chopped Walnuts
and Pomegranate Seeds
To assemble the salad, it is purely up to you. I like to start with the greens as the base in the bowl to hold the rest of the ingredients on top. Next, I took the cherry tomatoes and sliced each one in half (they were extra juicy, delish!), and arranged them randomly on top of the greens. Then, I took the avocado (which was perfectly ripe, by the way!) and diced it up; tossed it in the bowl atop the tomatoes. Now for the goat cheese: here's where I found it a little tricky. Goat cheese is naturally pasty and thick, so dicing it into small squares without it falling apart and turning into a little ball of goop was, honestly, the hardest component to this salad. I find what helps is to store it in the fridge as long as possible and take it out right before you're planning on cutting it. That way, the cheese stays as firm as possible, and you don't end up with half the cheese on your fingers, lol. Then, of course, scatter the cheese over the avocado. As for the chopped walnuts, it's as easy as ever: chop the walnuts, and dust them over the cheese. Finally, the unsung hero of this salad: Pomegranate Seeds! You can do one of two things: You can either buy the pomegranate fruit and extract the seeds yourself, or you can buy the seeds by themselves. If you're going with the latter, they usually come in plastic cups with a peel back lid. Just open them up and sprinkle them on top to finish the salad. By this time, not only have you finished the salad, but the colors are so fresh and vibrant from the greens and the reds, to the dark pinks and the bursts of white from the goat cheese. To dress the salad, I chose the balsamic vinaigrette from Panera Bread (they sell their salad dressings in supermarkets now!).
If you're lucky enough to get a little piece of everything on your fork, it's the definition of summer: light, bright, and a burst of freshness! The arugula and baby spinach were fresh and crisp, and the goat cheese was creamy and slightly tart. Add the juicy cherry tomatoes when they pop in your mouth and it definitely awoke my palate! The chopped walnuts added a nice salty crunch, and the avocado was deliciously creamy, yet just firm enough to hold it's shape, but I absolutely loved the add of the pomegranate seeds! They were so yummy and tart, they really rounded out the salad. For the Flank Steak ~
Ingredients:
6-8 Ounce Flank Steak (Mine was about 8 ounces)
Sea Salt
That's it. Keep it simple, stupid (As my mom would always say). Lol. Now, for the crowning glory: The perfectly seared flank steak.
To create the perfect sear, I've learned both, by watching my dad, as well as watching cooking shows, you don't, I repeat, DO NOT want to move the meat once it's touched the pan. Wherever it lands is where it stays. If you move it and start tugging at it and pressing down on it, the juices will run out and leave you with a dry piece of steak at the end. I don't know about you, but it's so unpleasant to have to wrestle with your meat to cut it. Along with being simple to cook, flank steak (Or any steak, for that matter) is extremely simple to season, as well. All it takes is a little bit of sea salt and a touch of love (Altogether now, "Awwww") to really bring out the flavor of your meat. The more seasonings and flavors you put on it, the more the true essence of the steak gets hidden, leaving you what ends up being your spice cabinet with a side of steak. We don't want that. What you want to do (If you're not marinating the flank steak) is season one side of the meat when it's room temperature (About 10 mins out on the counter, right before you're ready to cook it), and drop it in a pan about medium heat, drizzled with some olive oil (I use extra virgin, but that's just a personal preference of mine). I love my steak medium-rare, so I cooked each side for no more than two and a half minutes per side, again, not moving it. When it's ready to turn, flip it over, and continue cooking it for the remainder of the time. Once it's fully cooked to your liking, take the meat out of the pan, placing it on a cutting board (That wasn't in the previous use; It must be a clean cutting board, unless bacteria and viral infections are your thing) to allow the meat to rest and for the juices to redistribute. This process should take no more than 5-7 mins. Once the meat has rested, and all the juices have been sucked in again, you can either slice the steak on a bias, or leave it whole like I chose.
Needless to say, I was so proud of myself for creating such a succulent steak. The meat was tender, juicy, seasoned every so slightly, and out of this world delicious. As soon as it touched my tongue, my taste buds began to dance and the steak began to melt. The flavor of the steak itself was so fresh and mouth-watering, it was the perfect protein partner for my vivacious summer salad.
As I turn in for the evening to watch my favorite shows, I wish you all nothing but love and delicious noms from me to you.
Exquisitely yours,
Nicky
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