When I first met my now-husband, he was a single father to a pre-teen lad.
It was in the summer and he was new to being the single parent.
He cooked on the barbecue grill and he made salads.
They actually ate very well – only had the occasional frozen pizza.
His 2 specialties were steak and Caesar Salad.
It was only logical to cook extra steak and toss it into the salad the next night.
Then I came along.
Horrors! I made pasta salads. I also started cutting the steak into strips and stir-frying it. I was already doing the mushrooms….
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Click here to Pin Steak Caesar Pasta Salad
PrintSteak Caesar Pasta Salad
Use your favorite steak for this. We had top sirloin but flank steak would also be good.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Category: Salad
Ingredients
- 1 steak, 10oz (300gr), sliced into strips
- 1 tbs chili powder
- 2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 4oz (125gr) mushrooms, trimmed, sliced
- 2 tsp oil
- 1 tbs Worcestershire
- 1 1/4 cups (4oz, 120gr) of bite-size pasta – fusilli, shells, penne
- 1 tbs salad olive oil
- 1 avocado, sliced
- 1/2 cup (1.5oz, 45gr) cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- Caesar dressing:
- 2 cloves garlic. minced
- 1 tbs Dijon-style mustard
- 1 tbs lemon juice
- 1 tbs tarragon white wine vinegar
- 2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 anchovy filets, mashed or 1 tsp anchovy paste (optional)
- 1/2 cup (4oz, 120gr) Greek yogurt
- 2 tbs salad olive oil
- 1 tbs snipped fresh chives
- 3 tbs grated Parmesan
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package instructions.
- When done, drain, put into a large serving bowl and toss with 1 tbs olive oil.
- Mix chili powder, Worcestershire and garlic.
- Toss steak slices with chili powder mixture.
- Set aside while you cook mushrooms.
- Heat 2 tsp oil and 1 tbs Worcestershire in large nonstick skillet over medium heat.
- Add mushrooms and stir to coat.
- Fry until soft and starting to brown, 5 – 7 minutes.
- Remove and set aside. Reserve the skillet for the steak.
- Make dressing:
- Put garlic in small bowl.
- Add mustard, lemon, Worcestershire, vinegar and yogurt (and anchovies, if using). Mix well with wire whisk.
- Slowly drizzle in olive oil whisking constantly.
- Add Parmesan and chives. Set aside
- Re-heat skillet.
- Add 1 tbs oil, beef slices, and stir-fry over medium-high heat, 2 – 3 minutes.
- To assemble:
- Add half the steak to the pasta.
- Add 2/3 dressing to pasta and toss to mix.
- After mixing taste and add rest of dressing if you like.
- Spread the remaining steak in a circle on top.
- Add the mushrooms in the center.
- Arrange avocado slices and cherry tomatoes around the edge.
- Serve.
Notes
I use anchovy paste. Anchovies are traditional in a Caesar Salad but skip them if you prefer.
A tongs works great for mixing salads.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/2 recipe
- Calories: 874
- Sugar: 10.6 g
- Sodium: 1837.4 mg
- Fat: 54 g
- Saturated Fat: 10.2 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 69 g
- Fiber: 12.3 g
- Protein: 33.3 g
- Cholesterol: 47.2 mg
Keywords: pasta salad, steak, caesar salad
Another steak salad: Beef, Chickpeas & Feta Pasta Salad
A few more photos from our vineyard tour….
This is the back of the chateau.
They made a lovely courtyard area which is where our tour started… with a glass of their sparkling wine.
From there we went out into the actual vineyard, meandering through the grapes.
Sadly, because June was cool and damp, they, along with the other vineyards in the area, lost about 70% of their merlot grapes, which is the predominant red wine grape in the area. Now we’re having a dry heat wave, which the grapes like if it’s not too long and hot.
The white wine grapes, which we were in, are doing great!
There were gardeners working taking care of the paths and flowers.
The property was lovely, the wines were good, and it’s amazing to see the amount of work and risk that go into it all.
The gardens look beautiful… what a place to stroll and sip !
It’s a lovely property – and huge gardens!
This salad looks wonderful! We did a tri-tip on the smoker last night and I wish I’d seen this yesterday, but I ran out of time or I’d have convinced hubs to have this tonight instead of the tri-tip as is again tonight. 🙁 But! I will definitely plan ahead next time.
My grapes were going gung-ho but have really slowed down so I don’t know if I’m going to get my jam made this year or not. If they end up not doing well, we’ll go without. I refuse to buy and go through all the work of making the jam. By the time I get done with all of that with the cost of buying them, I might as well just buy good jam when I need it.
We had ‘table grapes’ at our last house. I never made jam but I definitely ate a lot of grapes. The vines were on the path to the veggie garden and I snacked in both directions. They were fantastic! Seeds, but I was eating them outside lol
I eat them while I pick them and yes, they’re seedy. But they’re so good! It takes a bit of work because of the seeds and I have to lay in a good amount of cheesecloth because sometimes, I have to strain and squeeze each batch twice but I want all that pectin as well as the juice. The champagne grapes are just so, so good, I almost hate using them in the jam. Almost.