Grilled Coffee Crusted Flank Steak Salad

Grilled Coffee Crusted Flank Steak Salad the perfect grilled salad for summertime. With fresh seasonal produce right from the farm stand, this meal comes together in under 30 minutes and will make both your inner grilling enthusiast and health nut happy. 

This girl does not appreciate salads. Not one bit. They are usually boring piles of iceberg, just wilting the life out of everything around them, designed to make you feel like you are doing something healthy for yourself. Ultimately going to make you just double down on the loaded baked potato when the time comes. I loathe salad. Probably because I had never had good salads. I always saw those house “side salads” and thought that was it. Two slimy slices of cucumber and a cherry tomato with hard croutons and some shredded cheese. Yay. ‘Cept not.

This ain’t that kind of salad. Grilled Coffee Crusted Flank Steak Salad is here to kick down the doors on the crappy salad movement and expose you to what eating fresh and local veggies piled high on a platter can be. Cram all these flavors onto one forkful and you won’t ever go back to the plastic sealed grab-and-go salad again. This is what salad should be, covered in beef.

Special thanks to the family over at Oak Ridge BBQ for hooking me up with their line of seasonings to try. As I was going through the box, this whole idea came to mind. I can’t wait to test out the other seasonings in the line to kick up my BBQ flavors.

Break the mold. Show them what salad can be. Grilled Coffee Crusted Flank Steak Salad

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Grilled Coffee Crusted Flank Steak Salad

Tested out a new spice rub from the group over at Oak Ridge BBQ for this steak - their coffee crust was spot on! If you can't wait for them to ship ya their secret family recipe, check out some of the other kicking coffee rubs on the market. Williams-Sonoma has a decent espresso powder that you can add some savory seasonings too to make a good at home version of this steakhouse favorite.

Ingredients

• 4 slices bacon cooked, fat reserved
• 2 lbs flank steak
• 2 tbs steak house coffee rub
• salt and pepper
• 2 to 4 tbs olive oil
• 2 heads Romaine lettuce washed and sliced in half from the core up
• 1 avocado sliced in half, pitt removed, skin on for grilling
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes sliced in half
• 1/2 red pepper diced
• 1/4 red onion diced
• 1/2 cup mushrooms sliced
• 2 scallions green part only, sliced
• fresh snipped cilantro

For the Honey Lime Vinaigrette

• 2 tbs local honey
• 1 lime zested and juiced
• 1- 2 tbs apple cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbs bacon fat
• salt and pepper to taste
• red pepper flakes to taste

Instructions

1. While the grill is coming to temp, and the grate is cleaned and oiled, prep your salad and steak. Everything fires while the steak rests for perfect timing to serve as a whole platter to let your dinner guests create their own plates.
2. Meanwhile, rub the steak with a thick coat of the coffee rub. When ready, grill for 12 to 14 minutes, a temp of about 140 for medium rare, flipping once half way through. Wrap in foil and allow to rest.
3. Rub the sliced avocado and Romaine lettuce in olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on the cool side of the grill and grill until nice and charred on all sides, 3 to 5 minutes.
4. Whisk the vinaigrette ingredients together in a large bowl, season to taste, and toss the sliced tomatoes, peppers, onion, and mushrooms in the vinaigrette.
5. Arrange the grilled vegetables to a large platter and top with the sliced veggies, and vinaigrette. Slice the flank steak, against the grain, on an angle against the grain and place over the salad. Sprinkle with crushed bacon, scallions and cilantro for a pop of color. Serve and allow people to create their own platter.

Recipe Notes

*I also grilled some fresh sweet corn and basted it in the vinaigrette