Steak and Panzanella

I was craving red meat tonight as well as some really fresh salad and so dinner became Steak and Panzanella.

While the grill was heating up, I sliced 1/4 of a baguette into 1/2-inch thick slices and brushed both sides with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. They went on the grill to turn golden brown. Once they came back in I rubbed them with a cut clove of garlic.

While the bread was grilling I made a vinaigrette in a mini food processor of olive oil, crumbled blue cheese and white wine vinegar which I set aside.

A couple of strip steaks simply seasoned with salt and pepper went on the grill to cook to medium-rare.

I moved on to the Panzanella by combining some mache greens with halved grape tomatoes, seeded and sliced cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, kalamata olives, and capers. I cut the grilled pieces of baguette into croutons and tossed everything with the vinaigrette.

After the steaks got to rest for 5 minutes, I sliced them up, plated them and partially topped them with the Panzanella and garnished with a little more blue cheese.

From start to finish, dinner took no longer than 25 minutes and was absolutely fabulous.