New Recipe: Asian Beef Salad

So, although this was to be expected after a year on Weight Watchers, Torsten and I have found ourselves in kind of a recipe rut recently. To fix this, we spent quite a bit of time searching for new recipes last week, and unearthed quite a few. Then we booked a Zipcar for a solid two hours, enough time for leisurely trips to both Whole Foods and Giant, and purchased a whole bunch of ingredients to make these new meals.

That trip, incidentally, reminded me of how good it is to finally have a nicely stocked kitchen. We had many, many of the staple ingredients required for the new recipes. A lot of what we had to buy was produce, or different types of meat, or ingredients for a new sauce. Things that we didn't already have around. But we didn't have to buy flour, or pasta, or spices, or oil. Things that I used to buy on an as-needed basis, resulting in daily trips to the grocery store and an excess amount of money going toward groceries, especially when I inadvertently bought something we already had. Which is why we now have three jars of bay leaves in our cabinet.

Anyway! On with the point of this post, the recipe. This is one of the first recipes that we tried, and although I was not on the ball enough to take pictures as I was doing it, it was totally worth posting about because it was delicious. I will print the recipe as I found it, with my own commentary and adjustments in italics.

Asian Beef Salad: Makes 4 servings; 8 WW points per serving

Ingredients:

• 3 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar [Torsten doesn't like vinegar, so I didn't bother buying rice wine vinegar just for this. Instead I used some red wine vinegar we already had, and not nearly as much as the recipe called for.]
• 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 1/2 Tbsp peanut oil [I couldn't find this at the store, so I substituted sesame oil we already had.]
• 1 pound lean sirloin beef [I used three quarters of a pound because it was only for the two of us and it was a Friday night, meaning I couldn't bring the leftovers to work the next day for lunch.]
• 8 cups mixed greens [I used as much as fit in the salad bowl I had, which was probably more like four cups.]
• 1 cup canned unsweetened mandarin oranges, drained
• 1 Tbsp hoisin sauce
• 1/3 cup packaged chow mein noodles

Instructions:

1. Combine garlic, vinegar, soy sauce, oil and hoisin sauce in a large bowl [I also added a splash of Asian hot sauce for a bit of extra bite.] Add steak. Allow to marinate in the refrigerator for 2 to 4 hours or overnight. Remove steak to plate; reserve marinade.
2. Preheat grill or broiler. Grill or broil steak for 8 minutes on each side for medium or longer until desired doneness. Remove and slice steak into thin strips. [The piece of steak I had was very wide and thin, and I couldn't figure out how to get the whole thing into the liquid to marinate, so I chopped it ahead of time and reduced the amount of cooking time to make up for it. I broiled it for about six minutes without turning it and it came out very slightly overcooked.]
3. Meanwhile, pour reserved marinade into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil; cook 1 minute more, stirring occasionally.
4. To serve, place 2 cups greens on each of 4 plates. Top each with about 3 ounces of steak, 1/4 cup of oranges and 1 heaping tablespoon of noodles; drizzle each with about 1 1/2 tablespoons of cooked and cooled marinade. [I just mixed everything in the salad bowl ahead of time, except the chow mein noodles, which we each sprinkled individually on our own plates. Also, I like warm salad, and the beef was hot anyway, so I didn't bother waiting for the marinade to cool completely before I added it to the salad.]

And it came out delicious! The sauce was tangy and delicious and served as a great dressing, the beef was tender even though I probably should only have broiled it for five minutes, the oranges added a nice sweet aspect to the whole thing (and I'm not usually big on sweet/savory combinations), and the chow mein noodles were deliciously crunchy. Plus the whole thing was super easy and quick to make. It was a great meal for a summer evening; light, but also totally filling.

Verdict: This recipe has been added to the pile of recipes to use again. And we will likely do so soon.