Salad Week: Steak and Gorgonzola

I'd like to wrap up "Salad Week" by first starting with a little love note to two things I use in all my tossed salads. The first is Romaine lettuce (vs. iceberg lettuce). It has such a high nutritional value compared with the much less useful iceberg, stays fresh in the fridge for a very long time, lots of flavor and plenty of crunch, too. My future kids will never know from iceberg lettuce, because Mommy doesn't like it. Look how pretty!



And the second item is my salad spinner. I use the OXO Good Grips spinner, which I got as a wedding gift. I hadn't registered for one, I just got it as an office gift with other salad supplies. Now I wonder, how did I ever live without this thing? I find it is the easiest way to clean the lettuce. Spin it up, and "Bob's your uncle." Never any gross water in the bottom of your salad. Lots of gadgets are unnecessary, I find, but this one is a must for me. (No one is paying me to say that, but they are certainly invited to do so.)



Anyhoo, this salad uses an inexpensive cut of meat, and for the life of me, I can't remember what it is. I just grabbed a sirloin-something-or-other that cost under $4, and looked fairly lean. Two very small steaks were plenty for two people (salad stretches meat nicely). You could also use leftover steak. I marinated this one in chili oil, olive oil, chopped garlic and soy sauce. Then I grilled it in my grill pan, let it rest a bit, and sliced it up. I used gorgonzola crumbles, red apple chunks, carrot shreds, (yes, I buy pre-sliced apples and shredded carrots, and it is totally worth it), pecans, and scallions.



For the dressing, I like something light to balance out the "manlier" flavors in this one. I love Paul Newman's raspberry and walnut vinaigrette (even though he hasn't given me a dime, either... and I thought he was into charity cases?)