Steak & Blue Cheese Salad


Date Published: Jan 1st, 2024 | Last Updated: Jan 1st, 2025
Author: Abby |Category: salads, mains, healthy, easy, <30mins, low-cal, on the go
Serves: 2 large salads as a main | Prep time: 15 mins | Cook time: 6 mins

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HAPPY NEW YEAR! I can’t believe it’s 2024 already. 2023 flew right by! It seems like just yesterday we moved to Brooklyn from Australia and I still feel like we haven’t completely settled in. There’s so much good food around us that I haven’t had as much inspiration to cook in the kitchen this past year, despite FINALLY living in our own space and having all of my kitchen things all in one place. Welp, all this eating out has been catching up to our bellies, so we’re starting 2024 eating healthy and getting our weights down (original, I know).

This steak and blue cheese salad is a copy cat from the one at Panera’s which has since been discontinued. It was my all time favourite salad and I was heartbroken the day they took it off the menu. This salad has been on the back of my mind for a LONG time, but I never quite got it right to make it just like Panera’s. Their cabernet reduction sauce still remains a mystery to this day. After many years, I’ve given up on making it exactly the same, but I managed to make a quick and easy version that satisfies the craving. This recipe is so easy and cooks up quickly, great for a busy evening.

Anyways, without further ado, here’s the recipe! If you have any comments or suggestions, I’d love to hear from you in the comment section! You can follow me on instagram, youtube and facebook to see all the recipes I post!

Happy cooking!

Ingredients you’ll need:

  • 400g Sirloin steak(s), room temp
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 large romaine/cos lettuce heart, washed and chopped
  • Half a red onion, sliced thin
  • 1.5 cups of cherry or grape tomatoes, washed and halved
  • 1.5 cups of fried onions/shallots
  • 1.5 cups blue cheese/gorgonzola crumbles
  • Fresh ground black pepper
  • Balsamic vinaigrette glaze (also works with balsamic vinaigrette if you don’t have the glaze on hand)

Directions:

Salt and pepper the steak(s) on both sides. Set up your grill or grill pan to HIGH heat and add a drizzle of oil. Cook the steaks on HIGH heat until you get a nice sear on both sides and cooked to medium rare (roughly 2.5 – 3 minutes on each side, cook times will vary depending on the thickness of your cut). Once the steaks are done, remove from the pan and let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing.

While the steak is resting, assemble your salad: evenly divide the lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions/shallots, and blue cheese crumbles between two salad bowls. Add a sprinkling of fresh ground black pepper to each bowl then place the sliced steak over the salads. Drizzle the balsamic vinaigrette glaze over both salads. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

Summarized Recipe:

Steak & Blue Cheese Salad

Date Published: Jan 1st, 2024 | Last Updated: Jan 1st, 2025
Author: Abby |Category: salads, mains, healthy, easy, <30mins, low-cal, on the go
Serves: 2 large salads as a main | Prep time: 15 mins | Cook time: 6 mins

Ingredients:

  • 400g Sirloin steak(s), room temp
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 large romaine/cos lettuce heart, washed and chopped
  • Half a red onion, sliced thin
  • 1.5 cups of cherry or grape tomatoes, washed and halved
  • 1.5 cups of fried onions/shallots
  • 1.5 cups blue cheese crumbles
  • Fresh ground black pepper
  • Balsamic vinaigrette glaze (also works with balsamic vinaigrette if you don’t have the glaze on hand)

Directions:

  1. Salt and pepper the steak(s) on both sides. Set up your grill or grill pan to HIGH heat and add a drizzle of oil. Cook the steaks on HIGH heat until you get a nice sear on both sides and cooked to medium rare (roughly 2.5 – 3 minutes on each side, cook times will vary depending on the thickness of your cut). Once the steaks are done, remove from the pan and let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
  2. While the steak is resting, assemble your salad: evenly divide the lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions/shallots, and blue cheese crumbles between two salad bowls. Add a sprinkling of fresh ground black pepper to each bowl then place the sliced steak over the salads. Drizzle the balsamic vinaigrette glaze over both salads. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

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Spicy Asian Tuna Salad


Date Published: July 4th, 2020 | Last Updated: July 4th, 2020
Author: Abby |Category: sides/salads, <15mins
Serves: 4 | Prep time: 10mins | Cook time: 5mins

Jump to recipe | Watch the video

Last weekend Toby’s dad took us deep sea tuna fishing with a fishing charter in Portland, Vic. My fishing experience is fairly limited but thankfully the charter set up all the rods for us, so all we had to do was wait until a tuna caught on and we take turns reeling them in. Luckily mine didn’t put up too much of a fight but Toby’s gave him a good workout. There was a limit of two tuna per person. We drove around for hours and caught some here and there, but alas we were two fish short of our max. We were on the boat for roughly 6 hours total. We took 4 fish home in total, ranging from 10-15kg (good thing Toby’s parents have a big freezer back on the farm). We youtube’d how to fillet a tuna and we filleted one tuna that night and have been eating it ever since. I’ve been scrambling to find some good tuna recipes and came upon some asian-inspired ones and played around with them. This recipe is the result of it! (I also used up some tuna in the salmon chowder recipe and subbed out the fish type – turned out delicious!)

This recipe has asian-inspired flavours. Some ingredients aren’t very traditionally asian (like the cranberries and raw carrots), but they have their role to play and I promise the overall flavour packs a punch! You end up with a mildly spicy, kinda sweet, crunchy, sesame tuna salad in the end. This recipe is easy and comes together quickly! You can watch the video below to guide you through the recipe.

Anyways, without further ado, here’s the recipe! If you have any comments or suggestions, I’d love to hear from you in the comment section! You can follow me on instagram, youtube and facebook to see all the recipes I post!

Happy cooking!

Ingredients you’ll need:

  • Dressing:
    • 4 Tbsp mayonnaise
    • 1 Tbsp sesame oil
    • 2 tsp light soy sauce
    • 2 Tbsp asian chilli paste or sambal (I like to use the Lao Gan Ma crispy chilli oil (drained), but any chilli paste should do – you may want to adjust the proportions if your chilli sauce is very spicy). You can even use sriracha.
    • 1 1/2 tsp honey
    • 1/2 Tbsp ginger, grated
  • 200g cooked or canned tuna, flaked and drained well
    • You can use canned tuna, but for my purposes I was trying to use up the tuna fillets from our fishing trip so I quickly cooked the tuna in the oven at 180˚C for 10mins and flaked it for this recipe.
  • 1/3 cup dried cranberries
  • 3 Tbsp green onions, chopped (~2 stalks)
  • 1/3 cup carrots, chopped finely
  • 2 tsp sesame seeds
  • 1/2 tsp chilli powder
  • 2 Tbsp lemon juice

I was quite conservative with the spice level in this recipe – just spicy enough to leave your mouth with a slight tingle. You can choose to omit the chili powder altogether if you’re not into spicy or even double it if you’re a spice fiend. The spiciness of your chili paste will also determine how spicy your tuna salad is.

Directions:

In a bowl, mix together the dressing ingredients: mayonnaise, sesame oil, light soy sauce, asian chilli oil, honey, ginger. Set aside.

In a bigger bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients: tuna, cranberries, green onion, carrots, sesame seeds, chili powder and lemon juice. Once combined, add in the dressing and mix until incorporated. Serve!

You can serve this as a snack or appetizer or side dish. My favourite way to serve this is in some lettuce leaves as wraps. The crisp and freshness of the lettuce cuts through the heaviness of the salad. You can also have it with crackers or spread in a tortilla to make a burrito or even between some bread to make an easy tuna salad with a punch. I also like to serve it with lemon wedges for extra zing!

Watch the Video Tutorial!

Summarized Recipe:

Spicy Asian Tuna Salad

Date Published: July 4th, 2020 | Last Updated: July 4th, 2020
Author: Abby |Category: sides/salads, <15mins
Serves: 4 | Prep time: 10mins | Cook time: 5mins

Ingredients:

  • Dressing:
    • 4 Tbsp mayonnaise
    • 1 Tbsp sesame oil
    • 2 tsp light soy sauce
    • 2 Tbsp asian chilli oil (I like to use the Lao Gan Ma crispy chilli oil (drained), but any chilli oil/sauce should do – you may want to adjust the proportions if your chilli sauce is very spicy)
    • 1 1/2 tsp honey
    • 1/2 Tbsp ginger, grated
  • 1 1/2 cups (200g) cooked/canned tuna, flaked and drained
  • 1/3 cup dried cranberries
  • 3 Tbsp green onions, chopped (~2 stalks)
  • 1/3 cup carrots, chopped finely
  • 2 tsp sesame seeds
  • 1/2 tsp chilli powder
  • 2 Tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

  1. In a bowl, mix together the dressing ingredients: mayonnaise, sesame oil, light soy sauce, asian chilli oil, honey, ginger. Set aside.
  2. In a bigger bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients: tuna, cranberries, green onion, carrots, sesame seeds, chili powder and lemon juice. Once combined, add in the dressing and mix until incorporated. Serve!

Notes:

  • You can serve this as a snack or appetizer or side dish.
  • My favourite way to serve this is in some lettuce leaves as wraps. You can also have it with crackers or spread in a tortilla to make a burrito or even between some bread to make an easy tuna salad with a punch.

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