Delicious in so many ways

I am an omnivore, let me get that out of the way immediately. I do eat a lot of vegetarian food, indeed we try to do a meatless dinner in this house, at least twice a week. But I have never taken the plunge and gone veggie for two reasons: bacon and filet mignon. I'm sure many of you can understand my reasoning here. Whilst the meal we devoured last night chez Farrar wasn't filet mignon, it did give us our steak fix, but in a more healthy way than with your classic French fries accompaniment. Apologies to all the vegetarians and white meat aficionados out there, but occasionally, a spot of steak is quite delicious.

I have recently tried to introduce more entree salads into our diet, rather than just adding a side salad to a meal. Interestingly I am getting the most encouragement in this endeavor from my oldest son, who is going through that mad puberty growth spurt and growing like a weed at the moment. Given the fuel his body needs for such a speedy increase in size  (you can practically SEE his feet growing), you would think he would be a bigger fan of more classically filling, carbohydrate-laced offerings. But no, he loves nothing more than a big plate of salad. In order to satisfy all palates at the table (well, in order to attempt to do so, anyway), I always make sure there is a bowl of bread on offer too. I find this leads to less plaintive claims of impending starvation.

This particular recipe comes from Tyler Florence, and featured in a recent edition of Food Network Magazine. And here is the other way in which this recipe is delicious - quite frankly, Tyler Florence is delicious enough that if he asked me to enter the Temple of Doom and chow down on monkey brains, then I would probably do so.

"Why thank you Tyler, I WOULD like a second-helping of those monkey brains!"

As much as I worship Mr. Florence, I did not stay completely faithful to his original recipe, substituting nectarines for peaches. There is something about the fuzziness of peaches that is just not quite right. I also increased the quantities of pretty much everything, because otherwise, my entire family would quite feasibly starve, or at least complain so vehemently about the possibility thereof, that life with them would become most unpleasant.

Grilled Steak and Nectarine Salad
Serves 5

Steak:
1 1/2 cups olive oil
5 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 New York strip steaks (any kind of steak will do)
salt and pepper

Dressing:
1/2 lb blue cheese, crumbled
1/3 cup sour cream
1 TBSP fresh lemon juice
1 TBSP red wine vinegar
2 tsp chopped fresh chives

Salad:
2 nectarines, pitted and cut into segments
6 cups mixed lettuce
2 TBSP chopped fresh chives
3 TBSP sliced fresh basil
1 TBSP chopped fresh tarragon
black pepper

1. Prepare the steak: heat oil and rosemary in a small pan over a low heat for 8 minutes. Then remove from the heat and allow to cool completely to room temperature.
2. Season steak with salt and pepper then place in a large Ziploc bag. Pour over 1 1/4 cups of the infused oil. Refrigerate for 3 hours, turning occasionally. Remove from fridge and allow to come to room temperature, at least 45 minutes before you plan to grill.
3. Grill steak to your liking, then remove and allow to rest for 10 minutes, before slicing thinly across the grain.
4. Make the dressing: Whisk together 1/2 of the blue cheese with the sour cream, lemon juice and vinegar in a bowl until smooth. Fold in chives, cover and chill until ready to serve.
5. Make the salad: brush the nectarines with the remaining infused oil, and grill, turning until marked on all sides. Toss lettuce and herbs in a large bowl, and divide amongst plates. Top with steak and nectarines, drizzle with dressing, and top with remaining blue cheese crumbles. Season with black pepper.