Fiery Thai Beef Salad

My friend Shirley hosted a brunch at her place this past Sunday. I was expecting something pretty low key but Shirley went all out—we even ate off her china! Each of us were responsible for an item, but Shirley nonetheless still made several dishes as well. One of them was a Thai styled beef salad.

Shirley had clipped this recipe from an old Cooking Light magazine—July 1999, to be exact! All these years she kept the recipe and finally used it this past weekend. Shirley noted that she omitted the fresh lemongrass because she couldn't find it and thought it would be too fibrous in the salad. However, she was able to find all the other ingredients very easily.

The outcome? I loved this and will definitely make it myself too. It was very tasty and the cilantro and mint provided with a great, unique flavor.

The recipe, from Cooking Light, is as follows (for 4 servings):

Dressing:

• 1/3 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon Thai fish sauce
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 Thai, hot red, or serrano chiles, seeded and minced

Salad:

• 1 (1-pound) flank steak
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• Cooking spray
• 6 cups torn romaine lettuce
• 1 3/4 cups quartered cherry tomatoes
• 1 cup thinly sliced red onion, separated into rings
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh mint
• 2 tablespoons sliced peeled fresh lemon grass

1. To prepare dressing, combine first 7 ingredients in a bowl; stir well with a whisk.
2. Prepare grill or broiler.
3. Sprinkle both sides of steak with salt and pepper. Place steak on a grill rack or broiler pan coated with cooking spray, and cook 6 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Let stand 10 minutes. Cut steak diagonally across grain into thin slices; cut each slice into 2-inch pieces.
4. Combine steak, lettuce, and remaining ingredients in a large bowl; add dressing, tossing to coat.