Steak Salad with Queso Fresco

We received a cheese cookbook to review: Cheese, Glorious Cheese! If you like cheese, you’ll love this cookbook. As in this recipe, cheese isn’t always the star ingredient, but the cookbook and the recipes are still very good.

This salad is excellent. Quite refreshing and will be really nice on a summer day. It’s not a heavy salad, but it’s still very filling. The recipe calls for steak, but you could easily substitute chicken if you prefer. The chipotles give this salad a kick, but it’s not too spicy, because the sweetness from the honey balances the smoky kick of the chipotles.

The salad is also really easy and quick to prepare, which is a big plus in my book!

Chile Glaze:

• 1/2 of a small 7 ounce can of chipotle chiles in adobe
• 1/4 cup honey

Assembly:

• Pour the chipotle chiles with adobo sauce and the honey into the food processor. Process until smooth. You can also use a blender.

Salad Dressing:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 4 TBSP lime juice
• 1 TBSP Chile Glaze
• 1/2 tsp salt

Assembly:

• Combine the olive oil, lime juice, chile glaze, salt and pepper in a small bowl and whisk to emulsify.

Steak Salad:

• 1 pound flank steak
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 head of romaine lettuce
• 1 small red onion (we used 1/2 of the onion)
• 1/2 red pepper (we used the entire pepper)
• 1/2 green pepper (we used the entire pepper
• 1/2 small jicama
• 2/3 cup black olives (we omitted)
• 1 to 1.5 cups tortilla chips
• 3/4 crumbled Queso Fresco
• 1/2 cup corn, roasted (we added)
• 1 avacado, diced (we added)

For the Steak and Corn:

• Rub both sides of the meat with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sear both sides, and turn the heat to medium. Brush the remaining chile glaze onto the meat while it’s cooking, and turn it often so the glaze caramelizes on the meat. Cook 8-10 minutes.
• For the corn, take a piece of foil and spray with nonstick spray, then place on the grill with the steak. Corn is done when it’s hot and has a roasted taste. If you’ve never grilled corn or corn on the cob before do it, because it’s delicious!

Assembly of Salad:

• Cut the lettuce
• Slice the onion, peppers, jicama, and olives thinly about 1/4 inch thick
• Dice the avacado
• Place chips in a plastic bad and press down on them with a rolling pin to crush them into small pieces (we just served the chips on the side)
• Slice the steak thinly
• Combine the lettuce, onion, peppers, jicama, olives, corn, avacado, and steak in a large salad bowl. Drizzle the dressing on top and toss well. Add the chips and the cheese.

ENJOY!

Cookbook:

Steak Salad: