Grilled Steak Panzanella Salad with a Summer Tomato Vinagrette

As we travel to various communities for our fair trade rug events, we share many meals with friends, friends that we’ve known for years and sometimes that we’ve just met. One thing that is common to all of these times: sharing a meal together truly creates community.

We would like to start sharing some of these meals with you too! We’re gathering together some of our favorite recipes from our travels. Special thanks to Barb at Ten Thousand Villages in Cobourg, Ontario, for this recipe and our meal together.

Grilled Steak Panzanella Salad with a Summer Tomato Vinaigrette

1 1/2 pound hanger steak
1 1/2 pounds tomatoes from the farmers market (fresh tomatoes are a MUST!)
1 1/2 teaspoons Burlap & Barrel garlic powder
2 teaspoons Burlap & Barrel black pepper (choose your favorite black pepper!)
2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup fair trade olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 medium zuchinni, cut in half lengthwise
4 slices of crusty, homemade bread (Italian, sourdough or a whole baguette)
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 bunch kale, de-ribbed and de-stemmed and cut into thin slices (about 4 cups)
1 1/4 cup basil leaves, roughly chopped

First, let’s make the meat marinade.
Whisk together balsamic vinegar, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon garlic powder and 1 teaspoon ground black pepper. Pour mixture over steak, coating completely and let rest at room temperature for an hour.

Let the tomatoes do double duty
So, did you know if you chop up tomatoes, lightly sprinkle them with salt and drain them in a colander (catching the good juices that are released), you not only create a less-spritzy tomato for your salad, the collected tomato juice makes an exceptional base for a salad dressing! So, let’s prep those tomatoes. Take those chopped, farm-fresh tomatoes, sprinkle with salt and let set in a colander for roughly one hour. Don’t forget to catch the juices that are released!

Time to grill.
Remove the meat from the marinade and grill steaks on a medium-high grill. Turn occasionally until nicely charred on both sides and until the center registers 125F, roughly 8-10 minutes for medium rare. Obviously, cook a bit more if you prefer less red in your meat. Transfer meat to a cutting board and let sit before slicing into thin slices.

Don’t forget the veggies.
This recipe also grills both the bread and the zucchini. Brush bread and zucchini halves with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill until charred and tender, roughly 10 minutes. Slice cooked zucchini into 1/3″ half moons. Meanwhile, quickly grill bread slices on hot grill until lightly charred and toasted and then cut into 1″ cubes.

Back to the tomatoes
Take the drained juices from the tomatoes and whisk in mustard, vinegar, 1/4 cup olive oil and 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper. Dressing made! That was simple!

Time to toss it all together
Now, remember that delicious kale that you have sliced? Toss kale and bread with the dressing you just made. Add tomatoes, bread and basil and just toss lightly. Top with the steak and serve!

Barb served the salad separate from the steak and had us each create our perfect mix of steak and salad. For me, it was a lot of salad and a few slices of steak. For our teenage-son, well, the steak component was a bit larger but we took the sizeable kale consumption as a win!

Until our next meal on the road…