Steak and Mint Thai Salad

During the grilling season which has just started, I often have some day-after steak leftovers. They are perfectly fine but often not plenty enough for the whole dinner. Just recently, I got an idea on how to use them. They can be turned into a wonderful salad which can be served on the next day for lunch.

This is the salad that my Thai friend shared with me one of those days when she was teaching me Thai cuisine. At that time we grilled steaks for that purpose, which of course would taste even better but those leftovers can be great too. Spring is a season when herbs start to pop up in the gardens, and this salad also calls for a generous amount of fresh mint.

I love this salad because although made with meat, it is also very fresh and crunchy, like many Thai dishes. It is nutritious but at the same time light and aromatic thanks to vegetables and herbs. A perfect lunch on a warm and sunny day.



Steak and Mint Thai Salad
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
2 grilled beef steaks,
1/2 red onion, sliced,
1/3 cup cilantro leaves,
4 spring onions cut into inch long matchsticks,
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves,
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in halves,
1 cup thickly sliced cucumber.

For the sauce: 2-4 chilies depending on your taste,
4 limes,
1 tbsp soy sauce,
1 tbsp sugar,
1 garlic clove minced,
4 tbsp olive oil.

Preparation:
1. Cut steaks into thick slices.



2. Prepare all the vegetables.



3. In a medium bowl mix beat soy sauce and sugar until sugar melts. Add lemon juice, minced garlic, lime juice and thinly sliced chilies.



4. Mix steak slices with vegetables and herbs. Pour over the sauce. Toss gently, and serve.

Fava Bean Salad with Herbs--Greek Style

This simple salad comes from the Greek tradition. I found it in a book about Mediterranean food. I made this salad for the first time in the summer, two years ago, to serve with grilled meats. I think it turned out pretty good. Someone even asked me for the recipe. Recently, I made it again to use the rest of my most delicate herbs from my garden, which already suffered a few cold nights.

First time, I made this salad with Fava beans and mint, which the recipe called for. Since I am not a big fan of Fava beans, last time I used baby Lima beans (can be fresh or frozen) and I like this version better. I also replaced mint with the last harvest of dill from my herb garden.

Bean salads, especially this one, enriched with feta cheese, can be very filling. But chopped herbs (dill or mint) and lemon juice neutralized this sensation. In fact, I find this salad rather refreshing, although also nutritious.

Fava or Lima Bean Salad

Ingredients:
2lb baby Fava or baby Lima beans (fresh or frozen),
juice from half a lemon,
lemon zest grated from one lemon,
1 cup crumbled feta cheese, preferably Greek,
1 garlic clove, minced,
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil,
1/ 3 cup chopped chive,
2 tbsp chopped fresh dill or mint,
freshly ground pepper.

Preparation:
1. Cook beans in a large pot with a tbs of salt, until soft. Drain and cool down. Transfer to a serving bowl.
2. In a small bowl make dressing by whisking lemon juice, lemon peel, olive oil and pepper.
3. Add feta cheese, chives and dill or mint to the beans. Mix gently to coat the beans with feta and herbs.
4. Pour the dressing over the beans and again gently mix all the ingredients.

Leave in a refrigerator for 30 minutes to let the flavors infuse. Serve cold.

Life Savers--Apple Juice with Mint and Honey Lemonade

Around the world, August is probably the most popular vacation month of the year. Not only, traditionally, in France and Italy, but even in the culinary blogosphere. Blog hosts leave on vacation, close their blogs for the entire month, and later share more pictures of the places they visit than recipes. Check Mowielicious, What's for lunch, Honey?, Jul's Kitchen, and some others.

Well, I am on vacation too, far away from DC, at the Masurian Lakes, my native region in the north east of Poland. But even here I cannot forget about my blog and not only do I collect new recipes and copy the old ones, some of which I forgot about a long time ago, but also continue to write and--despite many technical difficulties and the lack of a decent camera--try to post new blogs from time to time.

I found a recipe book that I created more than thirty years ago. It was my culinary bible for many years. I wrote down in it and clipped out into it the recipes from all over the world, which were then so rarely appearing in Polish magazines. There are even traces of whipped eggs, also more than thirty years old, that I splashed on my notebook when I was using it to make some of the cakes that became very popular with my friends and family. You would not believe how many of these recipes I recreate at least once a month at my American home. And you would not believe from how many different cuisines of the world they come from. There you find the Croatian pumpkin, Flemish beef, Czech dumplings, German Quarktorte, Cypriot noodles, and hundreds of others. I will try to share the most interesting ones in my posts, starting this fall. But, until then, I also will mostly write rather than cook, but hopefully not only for those who just like to read about food.

Anyway, it is very hot here which means that not only fruits and vegetables are at their peak and taste great but, most of all, we drink a lot.

My younger son is addicted to a very Polish summer drink, which is apple juice with mint. It is very simple to make but I have not found it anywhere else, even though apple juice is probably even more popular for instance in the United States than here. I will try to imitate something similar by adding to it fresh mint leaves from my garden, or by mixing apple juice with cold mint tea--this should work one way or another.

Honey lemonade is another very refreshing drink for these boiling hot days. Honey is very popular in Poland and considered very healthy, as opposed to sugar. Our bees make it from many different flowers and in different colors. At this time of the year, honey is very fresh, wonderfully running, and aromatic. I will not specify any proportions for this lemonade as there is nothing simpler than this. Just squeeze into a pitcher of spring water a few lemons and/or limes and add some running honey, according to your taste. Chill it down with a few ice cubes and enjoy the respite this wonderful homemade drink provides on an unbearably hot August day.

Yogurt and Mint Cucumber Salad

A cucumber salad called "mizeria" is one of the oldest and most popular summer salads in Poland. It is served with a sour cream dressing and often also with dill. It is just another version of a Greek "tzatziki" salad which is made with cucumbers, yogurt, and garlic. Recently, a simple Afghan yogurt, mint, and cucumbers salad became very popular in my home. It is a wonderful accompaniment to many Afghan dishes. A refreshing taste of dried mint makes it even more desirable during a hot DC summer. But after all, this is yet another version of a cucumber salad, so popular in many cuisines.



Yogurt and Mint Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:
1 English cucumber or 3 Japanese cucumbers,
1 clove garlic,
1 tsp dried mint,
1 cup of European, Greek, or Turkish yogurt,
salt and pepper.

Preparation:
1. Cut cucumbers into thin slices,
2. Mix yogurt with mint, spices and garlic.
3. Pour the yogurt dressing over cucumbers, mix, and serve.