Leftover Steak Recipes

Jay loves beef.   Hamburgers, meat loaf, beef stew, prime rib (okay – no argument there), pot roast, tri-tip, whatever.  If it moo’d at some point in its life, that’s probably what he wants for dinner.  Plus, we live in Arizona where most households find that firing up the grill is more frequent than sex.  We have two grills.  One standalone model with a rotisserie unit and infrared.  That thing is probably the single best purchase I’ve made in years.  We also have a built in grill, as part of our Margarita Bar. That’s the one we use for steaks.  It gets hot, really really hot, and sears that slab of meat like it was being cooked at Morton’s or Ruth Cris.  For Jay, this is the Holy Grail of home steak preparation.

As you can imagine, we eat a lot of steak.  Which means we end up with leftover steak.  Never enough for an entire meal, and if I leave it in the fridge too long, Jay will piss me off by wasting expensive prime beef on steak and eggs.  Over the years, I’ve learned a couple of ways to stop him from doing that (and, more importantly, avert a quarrel about something pretty stupid like what to do with leftovers).

One thing I do is ask him to leave the stuff alone, that I’m going to use it for dinner.  The effectiveness of that is somewhat dependent on the size of the carving knife I’m holding at the time the threat is issued.  Then, I usually hide the leftover steak in some hidden corner of the fridge, hoping that he’ll forget all about it.  That works pretty well if we’ve had a bottle of wine with dinner or a couple of cocktails.

It’s gotten easier lately to get away with this, primarily because I’ve found some really tasty ways of using up the leftovers.  Sure, steak sandwiches with arugula and blue cheese dressing are always an option, but I thought I’d share a couple of the beef salad recipes I’ve developed.  Let me know what you think, or better yet, add your own to the comments!

Grilled Steak Salad With Peppers and Pickles (trust me – this one is REALLY good)

For salad dressing:

3 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
3 – 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup red or yellow bell pepper, diced
2-3 tablespoons dill pickle, preferably garlic dills, diced
2-3 scallions or shallot, chopped
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and chopped lightly
4-8 hot cherry pepper slices, chopped (Mezzetta brand is great)

Whisk together vinegar, mustard, oil, and sugar.  Stir in remaining dressing ingredients.  Salt and pepper to taste (go light on the salt as the capers and dill pickles are salty).   Let stand about 30 minutes to blend flavors and get to room temperature.

For the salad:

Leftover steak, sliced and cut into bite sized pieces.  About one cup.
Romaine or iceberg lettuce
Mound lettuce on two plates.  Put steak pieces on top of lettuce.  Spoon dressing generously over steak and lettuce.   Top with fresh ground black pepper to taste.  Serves two.

Yum Nuah (Thai Beef Salad)

Ingredients

Leftover steak, sliced thinly (about 1 cup)
3 tablespoons lime juice
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup green onion, chopped
1/4 cup carrots, thinly sliced
1 cup cucumber, sliced
1/2 cup tomatoes, sliced (optional)
1/4 cup red onion, thinly sliced
1-2 tablespoons sriracha sauce (preferably Huy Fong Sriracha Chili Sauce)

Putting it together

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.  Serve alone or on a bed of iceberg lettuce or with steamed rice.  Garnish with additional cucumber and carrots, if desired.

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