Except, for me, it wasn't steak. Nor was anything grilled. And I didn't take pictures--again. I have gotten very far behind on my cooking, baking, and writing. I haven't left my link on the last two TWD posts (although I did make the Lemon Loaf Cake--which I would highly recommend to anybody), haven't made the last TWD baked good, and haven't caught up with Cook This Now.
The last thing I made from Cook This Now was the Vietnamese Grilled Steak Salad, which I picked. I picked it because it sounded light and crunchy, might use up some of the veggies from my Co-op bag, and sounded like something that would fit well into my diet-of-the-week.
All of which were true!
I didn't look carefully at the recipe, didn't go to the store, and figured it was something that could be thrown together in a few minutes.
This was not true.
I made this with frozen shrimp. Unfortunately, they were already cooked frozen shrimp. I thought I had stopped buying those. They are very non-versatile. I thawed them and threw them into the marinade anyway--figured they couldn't be hurt swimming around in some orange and ginger for a while.
Then I read the part of the recipe where you are supposed to mix the cabbage, carrots, and cilantro together, cover it, and put it in the refrigerator for three hours. WHY???? Did anybody actually do this? And why would you? What a waste of time. I elected to slice up the cabbage and mix it with cut up carrots (I didn't feel like grating). Wait--I forgot to mention that I made this on a Wednesday night after a 5-mile Girl Scout hike (that was planned at the last minute, while I was still wearing work clothes--so was performed in work clothes and old tennies Natalie brought me), and I was super hungry (because of my diet-of-the-week) and super cranky. The thought of shredding my knuckles while shredding carrots sounded unattractive to me. And I didn't have cilantro.
I did, however, have a bunch of other vegetables. So I threw in sliced red pepper and chopped cucumber. I might have thrown in something else. I didn't have peanuts. I threw in chopped almonds instead.
I heated the shrimp in the marinade. What a waste of marinade. I honestly don't think the shrimp absorbed one drop of the flavor in the marinade.
When it was finally finished (it probably took me 20 minutes to throw together but it seemed like hours in my hungry, cranky frame of mind), I just wolfed it down. I don't remember much about it except that the shrimp was tasteless and the veggies were nice and crunchy. I really liked the chopped almonds because they were the same degree of crunchiness as the veggies. Often I find that peanuts have a softness to them which doesn't balance well with the Asian food they are trying to complement.
I actually would like to make this again when I have a little more time and the right ingredients. I probably won't make it with steak, but I'm thinking that if you marinate a really nice piece of Ahi, and then sear it, that would be pretty darn tasty on this salad.
I might even put it in the refrigerator for three hours just to see why that would ever be necessary.
