I’m not a steak dinner kind of gal. It’s too heavy and I spend the rest of the night feeling like I have lead weights attached to my butt. My hubby would eat it every night but the poor guy gets meat drunk and then he’s out for the night. So, a salad that has all the elements of an amazing steak dinner and that leaves you ready to still tackle your busy evening seems like a perfect compromise.

The combination of fresh greens, sweet sautéed onions and savoury mushrooms, with creamy goat cheese, a little spice from pepperoncini peppers plus a great steak make this a meal to keep on speed dial (does that still exist?). Even my most carnivorous of friends have left the table feeling completely satisfied and enjoyed every bite.

I plate this salad before serving. I can only imagine the wars that would break out at the table if people didn’t feel like they got their fair share of the caramelized onions. 

I have probably been making this salad for 8 years and for the most part the elements remain the same. However, I have found different ways of playing with it that make it special every time. Here are a few ideas:

-grill campari or small tomatoes and place those on the plate
-replace the goat cheese with blue cheese
-pan fry the steak with butter and rosemary
-add bell peppers, cucumber or any other veggies you like

I know that most vegetarians will never get far enough down the page to even read this but I think it’s still worth saying… I would eat this minus the steak. If you grilled a portabello instead of using button mushrooms this has some awesome veggie potential.

Update: I got a new camera since I first wrote this post so I have updated the photos. I also switched up the recipe a little to separate the onions and the mushrooms and added a recipe for the goat cheese dressing I made this last time

This recipe is meant to serve 4

Onions 

1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 thinly sliced onions
1 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
salt 

Mushrooms

1 Tbsp Butter
small splash olive oil
2 cups thinley sliced button or cremini mushrooms
1 clove of garlic finely minced
1 Tbsp of either chopped chives, thyme or a pinch of fresh rosemary
salt

In two seperate pans over medium heat add the butter and olive oil. For the onions begin sweating the onions until they become translucent, then splash on the balsamic and salt. Reduce the heat to low and continue to cook for as long as you have.

For the mushrooms add all the mushrooms to the pan and saute. Once the have softened a little add the garlic and a pinch of salt. Continue cooking until they have reabsorbed all the moisture in the pan. Add the fresh herbs and reduce to low.

Steak Marinade

2 tbsp red wine
1 clove smooshed garlic
1 tsp Dijon
1 tbsp worchestire
pinch of rosemary

Combine all the ingredients in a shallow dish. Place the steak in dish and allow to rest flipping once so each side gets some love.

Salad

A generous handful of greens per person
1 pint cherry tomatoes
about 12 pepperoncini peppers thinly sliced

Layer the salad on individual plates, starting with the greens and then topping with the remaining ingredients

Cooking the Steak

I am not going to try to say I am the steak expert so I here are two great links for making an awesome steak: One for grilling and one for pan frying.

Slice the steak against the grain in thinnish slices. Top your salads with the onions and mushrooms then fan the sliced steak over the top. I like to serve this salad with warmed foccacia and butter, because you need bread with everything (at least I do).

This last time I made the salad I had a lot less goat cheese then I realized. I improvised and made a herb goat cheese dressing and it was awesome. This is not an exact recipe but I wanted to share because it was so yummy!

Goat Cheese Dressing

1 Tbsp Mayo

3 Tbsp Plain yogurt
1/2 small tube of soft goat cheese
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp(ish) of chopped fresh parsley, chives, oregano and basil (really whatever you have in your garden or on hand)

Mix it all together and season with a pinch of salt

This dinner is a part of one of my weekly meal plans. If you’d like to see how I use this dinner in my meal plan here’s the link, Meal Plan

You can also follow me on Instagram or Facebook where I post nightly meal inspirations and weekly meal plans