Asian Beef Salad

I was going to cook a chili crusted chicken Napa salad last night, but changed things up and became inventive.

We had some sirloin that needed to get cooked or frozen. It lent itself ve

ry nicely to the chili crust, but my thumbs have burned since last night after seedi

ng the jalapenos! The only relief has been soaking my fingers in milk when they start heating up again. Milk does help!

I used two jalapenos and a mystery chili from the garden.

I bought a pack of "Carnival Mix" pepper plants, and was under the impression they were sweet. I have a chili and a plant that is forming black peppers. They are lovely! I didn't pick any of them yet. The chili is most certainly hotter than a sweet chili for sure. The black pepper may be a Hungarian Hot Black or it may be a sweet black pepper. If the fruit turns reddish yellow I'll know its the Hungarian.

The peppers were chopped fine, mixed with a T of himalayan pink salt and mixed berry peppers freshly ground, about a teaspoon. I rubbed this on the sirloin and let it sit until the meat was room temperature.

In a glass bowl I squeezed two limes, added a T of honey, and 1/4 c. loosely packed each cilantro and peppermint, 3 pieces fresh ginger the size of a quarter minced and 2 cloves garlic minced. Whisk all together and slowly drizzle in 1/2 c. olive oil until mixed. Let stand while you cook the meat on the grill.

As the meat cooks, cut a medium head of napa cabbage into thin strips. Add 1 medium carrot cut into 2" long toothpicks, a sweet bell pepper also cut into toothpicks, 4-6 radishes sliced, 1 medium cucumber sliced, 1/4 c each cilantro, peppermint, 1/2 c. loosely packed Thai Basil and Italian Flat leaf parsley and toss with 1/2 the lime juice dressing.

When the steaks are medium-rare to medium remove from the grill and let sit for a few minutes tented with foil. Slice the steaks at an angle across the grain. Plate the salad and top with the steak. Pour more dressing over if you desire.

It is a refreshingly light way to get your veggies and protein into a summer dinner.

Today I added some pomegranate vinegar to the lime dressing, some more olive oil and used it as the dressing for five bean salad. The chicken is coming out of the fridge and getting covered in cowboy rub. I had to cave and get potatoes at the store, but the yukon golds will be great with onions and chives. Great stuff.