Tomatoes from our garden I have to admit, I didn’t like tomatoes when I was a child. Now that I’ve been a grownup for a number of years, I appreciate the juicy, refreshing taste and texture of tomatoes on a sandwich or in a salad. (Never alone--always in combination with food that complements it.) There’s nothing like the delicious blend of salty bacon and sweet tomatoes on whole-wheat toast in a bacon and tomato sandwich.
Because my husband, Steve, is a gardener, we enjoy tomatoes everyday in September. So, besides freezing tomato sauce when we have a bumper crop, I have collected a number of recipes to use them fresh. Here’s one I included in my cookbook, Mealtime Magic: Delicious Dinners in Half the Time. Intentional leftovers in this cookbook create completely new meals. So when you are grilling steak, add an extra to use in this hearty, main-dish salad.
Steak & Tomato Salad
1 cup penne pasta or macaroni
1 head Romaine lettuce
2 ribs celery
2 tomatoes or ½ cup grape tomatoes
½ cup petite baby carrots
1 cup cubed Cheddar cheese
1 grilled 16-oz.steak such as Kansas City strip, T-bone, Porterhouse, or filet mignon
Bottled red wine vinaigrette salad dressing
Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and cool. Meanwhile, place lettuce on a large cutting board. Using a serrated knife, cut into 1-inch strips. Gather lettuce into a large bowl and cover with cold water. Use your hand to stir the lettuce so dirt can fall to the bottom. Gather the lettuce, carrying it up out of the water and into a salad spinner, rotating to dry (or pat dry with towels).
Rinse and trim leaves and ends of celery; cut in half crosswise. Cut lengthwise into sticks, then crosswise to dice. Rinse tomatoes, dice, or for grape tomatoes, cut in half. Slice steak into ¼-inch strips. Cut strips in half. Toss pasta, lettuce, celery, tomatoes, carrots, cheese, steak, and salad dressing in a large salad bowl. Divide salad onto 4 plates. Good served with multigrain crackers. Yield: 4 servings
Because my husband, Steve, is a gardener, we enjoy tomatoes everyday in September. So, besides freezing tomato sauce when we have a bumper crop, I have collected a number of recipes to use them fresh. Here’s one I included in my cookbook, Mealtime Magic: Delicious Dinners in Half the Time. Intentional leftovers in this cookbook create completely new meals. So when you are grilling steak, add an extra to use in this hearty, main-dish salad.
Steak & Tomato Salad
1 cup penne pasta or macaroni
1 head Romaine lettuce
2 ribs celery
2 tomatoes or ½ cup grape tomatoes
½ cup petite baby carrots
1 cup cubed Cheddar cheese
1 grilled 16-oz.steak such as Kansas City strip, T-bone, Porterhouse, or filet mignon
Bottled red wine vinaigrette salad dressing
Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and cool. Meanwhile, place lettuce on a large cutting board. Using a serrated knife, cut into 1-inch strips. Gather lettuce into a large bowl and cover with cold water. Use your hand to stir the lettuce so dirt can fall to the bottom. Gather the lettuce, carrying it up out of the water and into a salad spinner, rotating to dry (or pat dry with towels).
Rinse and trim leaves and ends of celery; cut in half crosswise. Cut lengthwise into sticks, then crosswise to dice. Rinse tomatoes, dice, or for grape tomatoes, cut in half. Slice steak into ¼-inch strips. Cut strips in half. Toss pasta, lettuce, celery, tomatoes, carrots, cheese, steak, and salad dressing in a large salad bowl. Divide salad onto 4 plates. Good served with multigrain crackers. Yield: 4 servings
RSS Feed
