Grilled Steak Salad
Ribeye off the grill, blue cheese, avocado, and a blender balsamic that keeps a week in the fridge. Make the dressing ahead and this becomes a twenty-minute dinner that does not read like one.
Method
Start with the dressing. Cook the garlic and the ½ cup of olive oil together in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the garlic is fragrant and softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Let it cool slightly — hot oil in a blender is a mess you only make once.
Tip the garlic and oil into a blender, add the balsamic, sugar, salt and pepper, and blend until it is very smooth. Pour it into a jar and refrigerate until you need it.
Now the salad. Get the grill going at medium-high, let it heat for a full 5 minutes, and clean the grates properly. Drizzle the onion slices with the teaspoon of oil and season with salt. Season the steak generously with salt and pepper.
Grill the onions, turning once, until char marks appear, 2 to 3 minutes a side. Grill the steak, turning occasionally, until an instant-read thermometer in the thickest part reads 130°F for medium-rare, about 6 minutes a side. Move both to a cutting board, let them cool slightly, then slice the steak thin against the grain.
Arrange the arugula on a large platter. Top with the steak, onions, avocado, tomatoes, blue cheese and basil, and drizzle the dressing over it just before it goes to the table.
Notes from the line
The dressing keeps a week refrigerated, so make it whenever it suits you — Sunday afternoon, the night before — and what is left on the night is a hot grill and ten minutes of assembly.
130°F is the only number on this page that matters, and it is a pull temperature rather than a finished one: the steak climbs a few degrees on the board while it rests. Cutting against the grain matters just as much — the same ribeye sliced the wrong way eats tough, and no dressing fixes that.
Adapted from Delish. Headnote and method rewritten for Dad Made.