This Was Good, No Thai!

I often follow some of our local food bloggers in the area and the other day Peggy Lampman, who blogs for AA.com, posted the most delicious looking Composed Salad. I've always liked the idea of a “composed” salad as opposed to a salad gone wild. This recipe is Thai-inspired and the flavors spoke to me so I decided to give it a go for tonight's dinner. I made one fatal mistake however and sent my husband to the grocery store. Consequently, the recipe was not made exactly as it appears. That really never bothers me too much as I often tweak almost all recipes I see and make do with what's on hand. If the ingredient isn't one that I'm wild about or if it doesn't seem that essential I'll plow ahead undaunted. If however, let's say, I'm making beef burgundy and have no beef, now that would give me pause.

So dear husband forgot the English cucumber and brought home Italian parsley instead of mint claiming it smelled like mint! Ha! Possibly it was NEXT to the mint? Ah well..........

Composed Thai Grilled Beef Salad

1 recipe of Thai Beef Marinade*
1 ½ pound flank steak
1 recipe for Thai Salad Dressing*
2 cups shredded green cabbage
2 cups shredded purple cabbage
1 cup shredded carrot
1 English cucumber cut in half seeded and thinly sliced
½ cup dry roasted unsalted peanuts
1 cup uncooked sticky purple rice (I didn't have purple!)

Directions for Thai Composed Salad

A day ahead or early in the morning make the marinade and put it and the flank steak in a ziplock bag to marinate in fridge.

Make the Thai Dressing

Toss the cabbages and carrot in ½ of the dressing and refrigerate

Toss the cucumbers and peanuts with ¼ of the dressing and refrigerate

Make rice according to package directions

While rice cooks, heat grill to high. Oil grates and remove beef from marinade. For medium-rare beef, grill meat about 4 minutes per side and let rest 5 minutes, then cut in thin strip across the grain.

Compose all your ingredients on individual dinner plates and drizzle the remaining dressing over all.

Thai Beef Marinade
2 t garlic
Red pepper flakes a couple teaspoons
¼ cup fresh lime juice
3 T fish sauce
½ T grated fresh ginger
1 T finely chopped lemongrass

Thai Salad Dressing
½ cup Thai basil washed and chopped
1 cup cilantro washed and chopped
1 cup mint washed and chopped
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
¼ cup water
2 t minced garlic
1 T sugar
2 T sliced lemon grass
2 t red pepper flakes
3 T fish sauce

Combine all ingredients and refrigerate.

PS-He also forgot the peanuts!