The Lunch Hour - Thai Beef Salad

I have two notes for the following recipe.

1. I would not recommend this recipe if you are in a small kitchen with sprinklers and no ventilation. The smell permiated the whole building and we got some complaints and many more hungry people ready to join our lunch. You cook the steak in high heat so you can end up with some smoke. We'll not be able to cook this recipe at work again, but everyone enjoyed it who tried it.

2. If you are new to fish sauce, do yourself a favor and do not smell it. You will learn to appreciate the smell after a while, but it is the flavor that you want that makes it worth while. Jed and I really like the smell of fish sauce and it is a very common condiment in our home, but for those of you still starting out - take it easy. Jed's mom is still hesitant to use it in cooking, but we use it every time we go over to cook for them.

This is a simple summer recipe that Jed and I eat on a fairly regular basis. The short version is: You make a paste for your steak then grill that, place the thinly cut steak over greens and pour sauce over it. Ta-da!

Paste for the steak:
About a cup of cilantro stems (save the leaves as you'll use those for the salad a bit later)
2 tbsp of oil
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of salt and freshly ground pepper

Place all ingredients in the blender(or something similar) and blend until it becomes a paste. Cover the steak with the paste and leave until you are ready to cook.

Salad:
1 head of red leafy lettuce (I use 2 because I love the lettuce)
3 good sized tomatoes quartered into bite size pieces (I usually end up with 8 pieces if the tomato is big)
1 good sized cucumber sliced into thin-ish (1/4 inch) rounds
cilantro to place after the meat is mixed into the greens

Notes on steaks:
You want something a bit thick. If you prefer your meat well done then use a steak that is about an inch thick (or slightly less) otherwise use something thicker. The meat should be rare in the center. Once you have the salad ready then place your steak on a hot skillet that has a little bit of oil, cover and cook for 4 minutes on each side. Once done take out and let it cool a bit on a cutting board. Once cooled then slice the meat thinly and place onto the salad. Sprinkle with cilantro and pour sauce on top.

Sauce:
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp fish sauce (use less if you wish but do not add more soy)
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp brown sugar

Mix everything together until the sugar is dissolved and pour over your salad. Toss salad if desired and eat with rice on the side. I would highly recommend Jasmine rice. Enjoy!

Oh, and as with most of my recipes - I remembered to take a picture only after we had finished the whole bowl of salad.