Easy, one-dish steak salad perfect for a weeknight dinner.

Byline: The $10 Gourmet by Jim Boyd The Register-Guard

JODY HALL, former executive chef and now food and beverage director for the Hilton hotel and conference center in Eugene, offers an entree salad for today's edition of The $10 Gourmet.

Grilled Garlic Steak and Vegetable Salad, today's one-dish meal, is a salad he used to have years ago on the menu at Oscar's, the Hilton's ground-floor restaurant that was refurbished and rechristened the Big River Grille.

The salad is made from grilled vegetables, crisp romaine lettuce and slices of grilled steak.

"It's a good springtime salad," he said. "It's comfortable. It's easy. It's a good after-work - if you're doing it on a weeknight - salad. It's quick and easy to make."

Hall had his one-dish menu planned in advance when he went shopping at the Coburg Road Safeway.

After getting a bargain buy on sirloin steak, his bill for the steak, a head of romaine lettuce, an eggplant, a red bell pepper, a tomato, a cucumber, a zucchini and a red onion came to $9.45 cents.

The $10 Gourmet is a biweekly feature that allows professional chefs to share menu ideas with home cooks. The chef is asked to cook a meal for two that costs no more than $10, not including small amounts of common kitchen staples.

The items from Hall's pantry include three cloves of garlic; and the oil, vinegar, wine and seasonings for the vinaigrette dressing.

Hall likes to use a combination of tarragon vinegar and red wine to provide the acid for the dressing, but he said vinegar can be substituted for the wine.

"The dressing, truly, is something you can make out of your pantry," he said. "It's a very basic dressing."

Blue cheese crumbles would be a nice addition to the salad and probably would add no more than 50 cents to the cost, Hall said. So cheese crumbles are listed in the recipe as an optional ingredient.

Hall had no problem finding the ingredients.

"The only problem I had was, I had to buy more steak than I really wanted," Hall said. "I probably could have asked them to repackage but... I only wanted about 10 or 12 ounces, one top sirloin steak, and pretty much, they are all packaged a pound or a pound and a half."

Hall grilled the steak and vegetables over a charcoal fire in a Weber kettle in the back yard of his Eugene home.

He said pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot gris wines or an India pale ale would go well with the salad.

Besides his duties at the Hilton, Hall also teaches two or three cooking classes each quarter at Cook's Pots and Tabletops and a class in menu management at Lane Community College.

Grilled Garlic Steak and Vegetable Salad

For the dressing:

1/8 teaspoon dry mustard 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon paprika 

Dash black pepper

1/4 teaspoon dried basil (slightly more if using fresh)

1/4 cup salad oil

2 tablespoons tarragon vinegar

2 tablespoons red wine (or red wine vinegar)

1/4 teaspoon parsley

2 cloves fresh garlic, minced

For the salad:

8 to 12 ounces top sirloin steak

1 clove garlic, minced very fine

1 zucchini

1 eggplant

1 red onion

1 red bell pepper

1 tomato

1 cucumber

1 or 2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1 head romaine lettuce

2 ounces blue cheese crumbles or feta cheese (optional)

Salt and pepper

Combine all the ingredients for the dressing and mix very well.

Rub the steak with one clove of finely minced garlic, then rub the steak with approximately 2 tablespoons of the dressing. Set aside to marinate for at least 1 to 2 hours.

Note: Hall often puts the steaks in the refrigerator in the morning and allows them to marinate while he is at work.

Light the charcoal in your grill early enough to have a hot bed of coals when ready to cook.

Cut all of the vegetables as follows: zucchini down its length into slices about 1/2 inch thick (about 4 slices); eggplant into 1/2 -inch rounds; peel and cut red onion into two halves; bell pepper into 1/4-inch-thick rings (remove pith and seeds); tomato into wedges; and cucumber into 1/4-inch slices.

Rub the zucchini, eggplant and red onion with a small amount of olive oil flavored with a bit of the salad dressing.

Grill the zucchini, eggplant, bell pepper and onion over a hot fire, allowing them to develop grill marks but not get too soft. Season with salt and pepper.

(Typical cooking time: 4 to 5 minutes on first side, 2 minutes on second side.)

Grill the steak to desired temperature.

(Typical cooking time for medium rare: 5 to 7 minutes on first side and 3 to 4 minutes on second side.)

Season with salt and pepper. Allow the steak to rest and reabsorb its juices.

Meanwhile, dice the zucchini, eggplant and onion. Reserve some of the bell pepper rings for garnish and dice the rest.

Chop the romaine lettuce.

Hall uses the following procedure for the lettuce: Cut the head in half lengthwise, remove core at base of each half. Cut each half down its length into about 4 strips. Then cut the strips into two pieces with a cut across the middle of each bunch. Wash the lettuce and spin dry in a salad basket.

Toss the lettuce, zucchini, eggplant, onion and chopped bell pepper together with the desired amount of dressing. Place a helping of these salad vegetables in the center on each individual serving plate.

Thinly slice the steak and arrange over the lettuce. Place rings of bell pepper over the meat to garnish. Sprinkle with blue cheese crumbles, if you have some, or feta cheese.

Place cucumber rounds and tomato wedges around the edge of the salad.

Serve while steak is still warm.

Note: Chicken breast can be substituted for steak in this recipe, but for best flavor, it should marinate all day. Hall, who doesn't eat much red meat, says a topping of cooked white beans or grilled polenta or grilled salmon also may be used as a substitute for the steak.

SETTLING THE BILL

1 head Romaine lettuce:

89 cents

1 1/4 pounds top sirloin steak:

$3.59

1 eggplant: 99 cents

1 red bell pepper: 99 cents

1 tomato: 92 cents

1 cucumber: 44 cents

1 zucchini: 71 cents

1 red onion: 92 cents

Total: $9.45

THOMAS BOYD / The Register-Guard

CAPTION(S):

Jody Hall's spring salad is made from grilled vegetables, crisp romaine lettuce and slices of grilled steak. THOMAS BOYD / The Register-Guard Jody Hall grills the steak and vegetables in his back yard.