In this flat iron steak caprese salad juicy steak sits atop a bed of green lettuce and spinach and is complimented with smooth mozzarella and tomatoes, and is finished off with a little kick from the acidic vinaigrette. #ad

This past weekend as my husband and I were visiting the Madison farmers market (see here for a picture of the Wisconsin Capitol building I took from this weekend) with our friends, one of whom is an accountant, we reminisced about tax day. It comes every year. Year after year. Year after year after year. It’s never fun, and no matter who you are, you have to do it, and it takes lots of hours. Especially if you’re an accountant. My friend was telling us that in the month leading up to tax day they were required to put in a minimum of 60 hours a week, but that everyone easily stayed for 80+ hours! WOW that’s a lot of hours! She was clearly very happy it was over.

I originally posted this salad on tax day over on the Omaha Steaks blog, Steakbytes, but just had to share it with you, in case you hadn’t seen the recipe already.

In spirit of tax day, I made this flat iron steak caprese salad. Is it cheesy of me (no pun intended, but there is fresh mozzarella in the salad) that I themed a salad for tax day? I was thinking that the green lettuce is reminiscent of, duh, money. Isn’t that another term for money? Lettuce? Haha, ok, so beautiful green lettuce is topped with mozzarella and tomatoes (the traditional ‘caprese’ of mozzarella and tomatoes) and is then finished with flat iron steak and a vinaigrette, all coming together for one delicious salad.

You can make the flat iron steak ahead of time if desired, and then meal prep time would only be 5 minutes or so to put together the delicious meal.

To make the flat iron steak it’s quite simple. The method that I’ve found works best for a cut of meat like flat iron steak is to put a wire rack into a roasting pan, fill the bottom of the pan with a little bit of water, then season the meat and then bake it.

Flat iron steak is a great cut of meat for dishes like salads, because it doesn’t need to be marinated for hours, so it’s super quick to make. Also, it’s great on salads both warm and cold.

Yield: 6-8

Flat Iron Steak Caprese Salad

Print

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 (6-7-oz each) flat iron steaks
• 2 T extra virgin olive oil
• 2 T balsamic vinegar
• 1 T onion flakes
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp oregano
• ½ tsp pepper
• For the vinaigrette:
• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tbs brown sugar
• ½ tsp each salt, garlic salt, pepper
• For the salad
• 1 head of romaine, chopped (or 1 bag of lettuce)
• 1 lb of baby spinach
• 8oz fresh mozzarella, sliced
• 1 Cup cherry tomatoes

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325. Place a wire rack into a roasting pan, and fill the bottom of the pan with about ½ an inch water, just so that the bottom is covered.

Pat the flat iron steaks dry with a paper towel, then pat the flat iron steaks with olive oil and drizzle on the balsamic vinegar, then sprinkle seasonings onto the flat iron steaks and lay on the wire rack in the roasting pan. Bake for 20 minutes, remove from oven, allow to rest for 10 minutes, then slice and place on top of the salad.

While the steak is baking make the vinaigrette by simply whisking all the ingredients together. Also prepare the salad by putting the lettuce, spinach, mozzarella and cherry tomatoes in a bowl.

To assemble the salad place steak on top of salad, and then gently pour vinaigrette over, or let everyone dress their own salad.

Note: This recipe was made by a reader and featured on my Reader Recreation page. They made it alongside this roasted potato and kohlrabi salad. If you ever make a SweetPhi blog recipe that you’d like to share, just include the hashtag #Sweetphiblog on social media and/or send me an email to sweetphiblog@gmail.com, I love seeing your recreations!