If you've ever had a nicoise salad then this will be a bit familiar. I'll say however, this steak and vegetable salad is much more family friendly. Tender cooked flank steak, baby potatoes, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, green beans and avocado! Drizzle over top a homemade lemon dijon vinaigrette.
When you prepare a salad for dinner, it should always be filling and packed full of good ingredients. Like this Italian chop salad with crispy chickpeas or chimichurri steak salad.
I just want to start off by saying this is the best salad to make for a family dinner. Everything about it surpasses all homemade salads and there are so many healthy ingredients.
Even the tiniest family members will love all the yummy vegetables, creamy lemon dressing and tender steak this salad has to offer.
If you have a picky eater in your home, portion each thing separately on their plate.
Hold off on adding the dressing, instead add it over each individuals salad. This helps to keep any leftover salad from getting soggy. This makes a great next day lunch.
I took a traditional nicoise salad and gave it a little twist to be something that my family would love, like adding avocado, colorful tomatoes and super delicious creamy lemon vinaigrette.
How To Cook The Flank Steak
This recipe calls for flank steak and it's prepared by pan cooking it.
I really like using my stovetop grill because it gives it those beautiful and tasty char marks! And then I can skip firing up the grill.
We'll be skipping the marinade this time around and just use a sprinkling of salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder.
If you want to be super exact with your internal temperature than you should invest in a meat thermometer. My favorite one I use all the time and that way, while I'm cooking my steak it just beeps when it's ready.
Using a thermometer takes out all the guesswork. When we're trying to get dinner on the table for our family, we don't have the time to be putting steak back on after finding out it's undercooked. Right? No one wants that.
How To Cook The Vegetables
Here's our list of vegetables and how each is getting cooked.
- baby red potatoes - they get boiled, then cooled and cut in half, skins left on
- eggs - hardboiled, cut in half, quarters or chop them up
- green beans - steamed (I put my steamer basket over the boiling potatoes), then dunked in an ice bath while they are still a bit crisp so they don't get mushy
- cherry tomatoes - these don't get cooked, just cut them in half
- avocado - no cooking, remove the pit and slice thinly
- lettuce - no cooking, use your hands and just tear off pieces
I cook the baby red potatoes by boiling them in salted water just until they are tender, you definitely don't want them turning to mashed potatoes so just check on them every so often.
By leaving the skin on the potatoes they will hold together better, just make sure to give them a good scrub when washing.
Before you add the steak to the salad bowl, drizzle on a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss everything around for some extra flavor.
What's In The Creamy Lemon Vinaigrette
Very few ingredients are in the lemon vinaigrette! Probably things you have on hand.
- organic sunflower oil - just my oil of choice for homemade dressing, you want something that doesn't have a flavor or odor and is a decent quality
- dijon mustard - it get's a ton of flavor from the dijon
- lemon juice - the main ingredient
- greek yogurt - greek yogurt is the perfect addition to this dressing, it gives it a little body and creaminess
- dried dill - our herb of choice, it pairs nicely with the vegetables and steak
- onion powder - for taste
- salt - to amplify all the other flavors
Preparing The Creamy Lemon Vinaigrette
You want to know what makes a restaurant salad so much better than our homemade salads?
Dressing.
It's all about that delicious restaurant dressing.
A bottle of dressing is never the same quality as a dressing made from scratch. This creamy dijon lemon vinaigrette is so delicious you'll swear it's from a restaurant.
With just a few ingredients it's easy to prepare!
You can vigorously whisk it together or put everything into a mini food processor.
More Main Course Salads
- Chimichurri Steak and Vegetable Salad - tender steak, crispy potatoes, tomatoes, fresh corn, asparagus, grilled red onion, and a delicious chimichurri sauce
- Italian Chopped Salad With Crispy Roasted Chickpeas – the perfect summer salad, served with crispy seasoned chickpeas, mozzarella cheese, salami, pepperoncinis, carrots, pepperoni, cucumber, red onion and tomato.
- Thai Peanut Chicken Noodle Salad – juicy chicken, rice noodles, shredded carrots, bell peppers, broccoli florets, green onion, cabbage, peanuts and the yummiest homemade creamy peanut sauce
- Juicy Buffalo Chicken Avocado Salad – chicken covered in buffalo sauce and served with tomatoes, avocado, carrots, celery and crunchy romaine
- Easy and Healthy Asian Chicken Salad – easy recipe filled with carrots, cabbage, pineapple, cucumber, green onion, romaine, edamame, peanuts and tender chicken
- Caesar Salad Pizza - when you want a salad but the carbs sound good too
Steak and Vegetable Salad With Creamy Lemon Vinaigrette
This steak and vegetable salad is a twist on the classic nicoise salad. This one is more family friendly, super easy to make and really good!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lb flank steak
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 12 oz baby red potatoes
- 6 oz green beans, trimmed
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- 4 hard boiled eggs
- 1 avocado, pitted and sliced
- lettuce, no set amount, however much you want, chopped up
vinaigrette
- ¼ c sunflower oil
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp plain yogurt
- pinch of dried dill
- ⅛ tsp onion powder
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Make the vinaigrette, put everything in a food processor or whisk it in a bowl
- Chill the vinaigrette in the fridge while preparing the salad
- Add the eggs to a pot of water just covering the top of the eggs, bring it to a boil, then cover with a lid and turn the heat off
- Cook the eggs for 15 minutes then rinse with cool water and peel and slice in half
- Boil the potatoes until a fork can barely pierce through to the middle, set them aside, leaving the water in the pot
- Put the green beans in a steamer basket over the potato water, steam until the green beans are al dente and still bright green
- Transfer the green beans to an ice bath, to stop the cooking process
- Season the steak with onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Rub it all around. Cook the steak over medium heat on a grill pan, to desired doneness
- Let the steak rest for at least 10 minutes, before cutting it
- Cut the steak into slices, or bite size pieces
- Combine all of the vegetables in a bowl (not the avocado) and toss everything together with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper
- Add the steak and avocado on top
- Serve with the creamy lemon dijon vinaigrette
Notes
My steak is cooked medium rare in the photos, I use an internal meat thermometer to get the temperature desired
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 362Total Fat: 21gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 161mgSodium: 304mgCarbohydrates: 15gFiber: 4gSugar: 3gProtein: 29g
This information comes from online calculators. Although moderncrumb.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
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