My forty-second recipe with Wednesday with Donna Hay is Beef and Caramelized Onion Couscous Salad, found in Off the Shelf on page 78, and you can perhaps find it online here.
The ingredient list: steak, olive oil, black pepper, spinach (obviously missing in my dish this week so I guess it's not really a salad after all), Dijon, onions, couscous, chicken stock, lemon juice, and sea salt.
Gaye chose this one for us this week and I was sorta hoping that the weather would be nice enough for Mark to grill the steak out on the grill, but no...we currently have 3 inches of freshly fallen snow with more joining it as we speak. No time for the grill. So, for the first time ever, I grilled a steak on my grill pan indoors...who knew that was so easy and delicious? This is why I join cooking groups, to expand my horizons and encourage me to try things I wouldn't normally try. This was a happy find indeed.
The couscous combination is one that I will definitely use again and again. It has caramelized onions and Dijon mustard in it, what's not to love about that combination...goes perfectly with steak.
There was supposed to be a third component to this dish...a nice bed of fresh raw spinach nestled under the couscous and steak, which is what makes it deserve the title of "salad" and which I am sure is going to be delicious when I try it correctly next time. I had spinach and last night I couldn't for the life of me remember what I was saving it for so we had a nice spinach salad to use it all up. Then this morning I remembered what it was I was saving that spinach for, but obviously too late, and who feels like going to the market when it is much more enjoyable to stay indoors and watch the snow falling from my windows? Next time. (The third selection pictured on this plate is the Roasted Asparagus and Gruyere Bread Pudding that I made from Nick Malgieri's new Bread cookbook. Will post that later.)
All of this was simple, easy, delicious, and one that I will make again. All the flavors went so wonderfully well together. And, of course, I can't wait to get more spinach and try it as a proper salad soon!
Wonder what the others thought? Gaye's post on this is here. Margaret's post is here. Next week is my choice: Vegetable Pies found in Modern Classics I, page 164. Join us and leave a link to your post, no commitment required.
