It’s hot.
Like so hot I don’t want to do anything except sit on my floaty in the pool and not move.
And it’s only JUNE people!
This is my first first summer in Florida and I know it’s only going to get hotter so I’m trying to add quick, easy, summery, light meals to my menu so that I actually end up making dinner more than once a week throughout the hot, muggy and uninspiring summer.
I made this the other night and it was a huge hit.
I made it with venison steaks from the mule deer my husband got a couple hunting seasons ago. It’s the last of our back straps from Montana so we savored every bite, so delicious.
Thankfully I have found a local meat shop that sells venison so I should still be able to get my hands on more, it’s just not quite the same when you haven’t harvested the meat yourself and put a little sweat and effort into it. Hopefully we’ll be able to find a place to go hunting next fall and stock up again.
You can certainly use any meat of your preference though, beef, elk, goat, lamb. Chef’s choice!
I also made my own croutons out of week old bread that needed to be used up. I make fresh traditional sourdough every week on Tuesdays and usually there is at least half a loaf left that just isn’t really great to nibble on anymore but is perfect for projects like this. Homemade croutons and bread crumbs from old bread are amazing, I use them for any breading project I have, pork schnitzels, chicken fingers, whatever SOOO good.
You can totally purchase your favorite croutons or grab a loaf of artisan bread at the store to make your own in the same way if you aren’t really a bread baker. Sadly mine all got eaten before I photographed this and I completely forgot to make more for the photo shoot! Whoops! (((shhhhh don’t tell anyone!)))
The dressing I used for this is out of the bread book I follow for making my sourdough, Tartine Bread, I highly recommend it if you are interested in learning to make incredible bread. There’s a learning curve when it comes to bread baking, and I’m still not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but once you figure out the technique it really isn’t hard.
- FOR THE DRESSING
- 2 lemons
- 3 cloves garlic
- 6 olive oil packed anchovy filets or 1 tablespoon anchovy paste (I promise you can't taste fish!!)
- 1 large egg yolk
- salt
- 2 cups olive or avocado oil
FOR THE SALAD - 6oz steak
- half loaf of day old sourdough bread (or store bought croutons)
- olive oil
- 1 large head romaine lettuce, chopped
- parmesan cheese, shaved
- freshly ground black pepper
- sea salt
- Start by making the dressing (and preheating your oven to 400˚ if you are making your croutons).
- Combine all the dressing ingredients **EXCEPT the oil** in a blender, blend until smooth.
- Turn the blender on and take off the center part of the lid and slowly drizzle the olive oil in, in a slow steady stream to form an emulsion.
- Once all the oil has been added, set the dressing aside until ready to assemble the salad.
- Tear up the bread loaf into bite size pieces and place on a rimmed baking sheet.
- Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and toss to coat.
- Place in the oven and set a timer for 5 minutes.
- ***You can continue with the rest of the recipe while these are baking, just keep coming back to them!***
- When the timer goes off, give the croutons a toss so they bake evenly and set the timer for another 5 minutes. Continue doing this until they are nice and crunchy then remove from the oven so they can cool a bit.
- Next turn on your grill or heat a sauté pan to medium high.
- Sprinkle the steak with salt and pepper and coat with olive oil.
- Grill or sauté steak until desired doneness is achieved. We like medium-rare, emphasis on the rare, you can use a meat thermometer to test if you need to.
- Rare 130 to 135°F
- Medium Rare 140°F
- Medium 155°F
- Well Done 165°F
- Once the meat is done, take off the heat and set aside to rest while you assemble the salad.
- Place your chopped romaine in a large salad bowl, top with croutons and parmesan shavings, sprinkle with salt and pepper (I like LOTS of pepper personally) and drizzle with the dressing.
- Toss to evenly coat.
- Slice the steak into thin pieces.
- Divide the salad between serving plates and top with a portion of the steak.
- Huckleberry Plum Pie - January 1, 2017
- Fresh Mango Sorbet - July 17, 2016
- Steak Caesar Salad - June 8, 2016
