Pioneer Woman Beef Flank Steak Salad

There's not much better to me than a delicious salad with sliced steak over the top. This is a take on a restaurant favorite. Lots of steps, but worth every second. Great for company!

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There are few things I love more than a big green salad with sliced grilled steak on top. Whenever Marlboro Man and I land at this steakhouse or that, I'm always drawn to the steak salads on the menu because they're the best of both worlds. Juicy medium rare steak. Girlie green salad. And usually, plenty of adornments ranging from freshly fried bits of peppered bacon to sauteed mushrooms to different kinds of grated cheese.

I repeat: I love a good steak salad.

I'll take the dressing any old way, too. Blue cheese is a mainstay, and probably my first choice if all things were equal. But for this one, I went for more of a vinaigrette with just a little bit of sweetness. And for the rest? I looked for culinary inspiration from none other than…

None other than…

None other than…

DAVE AND BUSTERS.

We love Dave and Busters, and I don't care who knows it. We love Dave and Busters because when we take our children to the big city ninety minutes away from home for a long day of soccer games and sweat, Dave and Busters is the perfect place to land before we make the long drive back home. If you don't have a Dave and Busters in your neck of the woods, it's basically one of those kid restaurants with a bunch of games…but not just for kids, and the food isn't bad pizza. It's absolutely respectable bar and grill food. So there.

Anyway, we went Saturday following our soccer games and I ordered the steak salad, taking note of all the things I enjoyed about it. I implemented some of them for today's recipe.

This is a multi-step salad and fun to make…but you can eliminate some of the more complicated aspects (candied pecans, anyone?) and just adapt it to be more of an easy weeknight meal.

You'll love it.

THE DRESSING

Grab the ginger and slice off the peel, then cut the ginger into very thin julienne sticks.

Then rotate the julienne sticks and slice downward to mince finely.

Grab a mason jar and throw in the ginger with ALL the other dressing ingredients, of which they are many. You can see the printable recipe below, but I basically grabbed whatever I could find and threw it in. Oil, a couple of kinds of vinegar, garlic, ginger, lime juice, worcestershire, hot chili oil, sugar, and…probably a few other things that I can't remember right now.

Oh! Lots and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Lots.

Shake it all up…then shake it up some more.

Then give it a taste and add a little more of whatever you think it needs! Make it all yours.

THE STEAK

Next up: steak! Normally I have a ribeye in the fridge, but this is a KC Strip.

And I'm okay with that.

You could also use flank steak or sirloin. Whatever you have on hand.

If the steak has excess fat, trim it off. Steak fat in a salad ain't cool.

Throw the steak into a large zipper bag…

Then pour half the dressing mixture right on in. Note: Give it a good shake before you pour it in, just to make sure the ingredients stay evenly distributed.

Seal up the bag, then refrigerate it for a good couple of hours; longer if you can!

THE PECANS

Chop up some pecans, then spread them out on a heatproof cutting board, baking mat, or sheet of waxed paper.

Next, place sugar and a little water into a saucepan or skillet. Bring it to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring a couple of times and shaking the skillet here and there, until the mixture is clear and darkish amber in color. If you have a candy thermometer, it should read anywhere from 270 to 290 degrees; if you don't, just give it about five to six minutes.

Pour the mixture evenly over the pecans…

Then stir it and poke it around quickly to get it as distributed as possible before it sets and gets too sticky.

Let it sit and set for awhile, until it's nice and firm.

THE ONION STRINGS

(Note: See the archived recipe for more complete step-by-step instructions.)

Very thinly slice a couple of onions.

Pour in a couple of cups of buttermilk.

Make sure most of the onions are submerged, then let the onions sit in the buttermilk for an hour.

THE STEAK, PART 2

When you're ready to make the salad, grill the steak (or saute it in a skillet with a little oil.)

Let the steak sit for a few minutes to rest, then slice thinly against the grain.

I like medium rare. Can you tell?

THE PECANS, PART 2

Back to the pecans, which should be totally set: use a fork or knife to chop-chop-chop them into smaller bits.

This is really weird. But they taste yummy.

(Of course, you can use plain pecans instead.)

THE ONION STRINGS, PART 2

After the onions have soaked in the buttermilk, pull them out in batches, then dip them into the flour mixture.

Plunge the onion strings into hot oil, then throw 'em on a paper plate to drain.

THE SALAD…FINALLY!

Throw a bunch of greens into a large bowl. I did a total mix of romaine, baby greens, arugula, radicchio, etc. You could even throw some herbs in there if you're feeling particularly herbaceous.

Throw on plenty of good crumbled blue cheese. I like to throw it in before tossing the salad, because it gets a little beat up and becomes more part of things.

Next, throw on some grape tomatoes, which I sometimes eat like candy. Yum!

Give the remaining dressing a good shake, then immediately splash in a little.

Not a lot…a little! You don't want to overdo it.

Toss it around with very clean hands and check the dressing amount.

After it's all mixed up, throw in a handful of candied pecans.

Gorgeous.

To serve it up, just heap a pile of salad on a plate, along with half the sliced steak. Then heap some onion strings right on the top.

No regard for moderation!

Make sure you get plenty of tomatoes, blue cheese, and tomatoes on each plate.

And there we have it: total bliss on a plate. You'll love this one!

(Please don't be afraid of the rareness of the beef. I'm married to a cattle rancher. I'm also part wolf. But you can cook yours a little longer if you'd like.)

Here's the handy dandy printable:

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Source: https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a9514/big-steak-salad/

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