It’s no secret that I LOVE summer! My little girl and I share a July birthday and combined with all the beach days, bicycle rides, bbqs, ice cream cones and outdoor concerts…well it pretty much encompasses all the things I love in life.
As far as our dinners around here, I have definitely been switching things up and making my menus a bit more light and grill friendly. This yummy recipe was an older one I stumbled across in my recipe folder filled with lots of handwritten recipes and torn out pages from magazines. You will NOT be disappointed! The hubby and I SCARFED up our food, it was that good.
To make it a little kid friendly I just sliced up the steak, made her a simple salad of lettuce, carrots and garbanzo beans on the side and added a slice of the DELICIOUS grilled ciabatta . She was happy!
So get all the ingredients before this weekend and make sure you don’t forget a nice bottle of wine to go with! This is perfect for a relaxing dinner on the patio.
Makes 4-6 Servings
40 minutes
Ingredients:
1 pound hanger, skirt, or flank steak
1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more
Freshly ground black pepper
1 medium tomato (about 6 ounces) halved
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/4 cup plus 5 teaspoons of olive oil, divided
4 spring onions or 6 scallions, bulbs halved, dark-green parts discarded
5 1/2- inch thick slices ciabatta
8 cups mixed summer lettuces (such as mizuna, baby mustard greens, and tatsoi) *I just used baby herb greens and it was great!*
3/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn into 1/2 inch strips
Preparation:
Season steaks with 1 teaspoon salt and pepper; set aside. Grate cut sides of tomato on coarse holes of a box grater into a medium bowl down to the skin; discard skin. Add shallot and vinegar; whisk in 1/4 cup oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside. Vinaigrette can be made 1 day ahead.
Heat a gas grill to high. Toss spring onions in a medium bowl with 1 teaspoon oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill onions until just tender, 2-3 minutes per side. Transfer to a cutting board and cut into 2″ pieces.
Grill steak until seared and cooked to desired doneness, 3-5 minutes per side for medium rare, depending on steak’s thickness. Transfer to a cutting board. Let rest, about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, make croutons. Brush both sides of bread slices with remaining 4 teaspoons (or more) oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill bread until dark golden brown and nicely charred in spots, about 2 minutes per side. Set toast aside until cool enough to handle, then break into roughly 1″ pieces.
Thinly slice steak against the grain. Toss lettuces, basil, spring onions, croutons, and some of the vinaigrette in a large bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add steak and toss gently to coat. Serve with remaining vinaigrette along side.
Enjoy!!
I had completely intended on posting one or two posts before Christmas hit. But alas plans were a bit altered when I realized I had to get my butt in gear to host the holiday and I only had a few days to prep before the in laws came to visit. Christmas came….we ate, we drank, we laughed, and lounged…a lot. My tradition each holiday is to NOT make the same ol’ thing. This years’ menu contenders were a hit and I may just have to put a few of the dishes on holiday rotation.
The Christmas Eve table setting…..
Unlike holidays’ past, I decided to take down the decorations and completely de-Christmasfy the house before New Years. I am just done done done with jingle bells, reindeer, glitter, etc. DONE! I left a few wintery items up like the knit pillows and the Pendleton blankets on the sofas and chairs however.
Well with the cleaning out and lightening up of the house, I usually also feel the need to internally “clean house” and eat lighter. The rain has come back today in So Cal and this soup (recipe here) is just the thing to start eating healthy again after all the rich holiday foods. Fresh chicken meatballs, spinach, a light broth….yum!
The hot weather that has been plaguing the Southern California area this month is just about getting on my last nerve. After a long sweltering summer, I would love for the weather to turn a little cooler so I can sport my new boots and make yummy comfort food. But alas, I think it will be a few more weeks before we feel a significant change towards Fall.
Last Friday, was the annual school carnival at our kiddo’s school. This is a huge fundraiser for the school and they hold a large bake sale as part of the fundraising efforts. This gave me the perfect chance to try out a recipe I’ve had in my file for a while now. I baked two batches for school and after treating myself with one of the cupcakes as reward for my hard work, I knew that weekend I would have to bake up another batch for the family.
THEY WERE SOOO GOOD!
I promise I won’t tell on you if you decide to have one with your morning coffee.
Of course I didn’t do that…
*wink wink*
but you can!
ha!
I love St. Patrick’s Day! Green happens to be one of my fav colors, I love Irish beer, Leprechauns are funny and Ireland is across the water from my fav country…Scotland! Hee hee!
But seriously, every year the thought of corned beef and cabbage just makes me drool. I absolutely love it and it reminds me of my childhood. So of course I have a pot of corned beef brisket simmering away on the stove until this evening when it will just fall apart and be absolutely yummy! Also, this year I attempted Irish Soda Bread..we’ll see how that turns out this evening when we have some with dinner.
Ireland has a soft spot in my heart since it was part of our 1 year wedding anniversary trip back in 2005. I had never been across the pond before and well, being an anglophile…this was a problem! My husband lived in London for a short time on a study abroad right after college. So of course he felt it was his duty to show his girl where he had spent some time in his younger years and tell me all the funny stories of his time there.
I could go on and on about that memorable trip. It seriously was a life changer for me. We even took a very long train ride to Aberdeen, Scotland to see where my family is from and my family castle. Well, if you can call it a castle. But hey, how many people can say they have one of those in their fam right?!
From Scotland we took the ferry ride over to Northern Ireland…. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE! Northern Ireland not the ferry ride. We were told things were calm, safe and totally normal while we were there. Well, I guess so, but I will say that we got quite a few looks when we would walk back to our bed and breakfast every day which happened to be in the Catholic part of town.
