Spike's Sensual Beef Salad | Quickfire Wines

Spike's Sensual Beef Salad

Ingredients:

1 pineapple, peeled, cored, and diced

1 bunch radishes, cut into thin rounds

1 cucumber, cut into thin rounds

1 bunch cilantro, stemmed and chopped, a few sprigs reserved for garnish

Leaves from 5 sprigs mint, a few leaves reserved for garnish

Salt and pepper

1 cup Sprite

1/2 cup fish sauce

1 cup fresh lime juice

4 jalapeño chiles, sliced into thin rounds

1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

One 1 1/2-pound skirt, flap, or hanger steak

1 tablespoon olive oil

Pinch of red pepper flakes

Directions:

Combine the pineapple, radishes, and cucumber in a large bowl. Toss with the chopped cilantro and mint leaves. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
For the lime dressing, combine the Sprite, fish sauce, lime juice, and chiles in a large saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil. Cook to reduce to 1/2 cup, about 15 minutes, then add the vinegar.
Season the steak with olive oil, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Grill or broil to the desired degree of doneness, 3 to 4 minutes per side for medium-rare. When cool, cut into thin strips, slicing against the grain of the meat.
Toss together the fruit salad and three-quarters of the dressing. Arrange the salad on 4 plates, topping each with one-quarter of the sliced steak. Drizzle each plate with dressing and garnish with cilantro and mint.

Recipe taken from Top Chef: The Cookbook (or Top Chef: The Quickfire Cookbook), Copyright Bravo Media LLC/Published by Chronicle Books LLC.