Greek Couscous Salad with Grilled Flank Steak

While it may not feel like it in Chicago quite yet, SPRING is officially here. Among other things, this means that it’s time to bring on the warm weather food!

I like to get a lot of my cooking for the week done on Sunday night because – despite what it might seem like – I don’t have that much time on my hands :). I usually try to make something somewhat-healthy that I can bring to work for lunch throughout the week. This week, in honor of the start of Spring, I made a simple Greek couscous salad with some grilled flank steak.

Ingredients:

Dressing/Steak Marinade
½ c. extra virgin olive oil
¾ c. red wine vinegar
Juice of 2 lemons
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
¼ of a small onion, grated
½ tsp. dried oregano
½ tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. honey
Salt and pepper, to taste

Salad
1 c. dry couscous (I used whole wheat, but regular would work too)
Chicken broth (~1 ½ c. to cook the couscous)
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
½ of a large cucumber, chopped
½ c. fresh mint leaves, chopped
½ c. crumbled feta cheese
½ - ¾ c. dressing (above)

Steak
1.5 lbs. flank steak
½ - ¾ c. steak marinade (above)
Salt and pepper, to taste


Directions

1. Whisk together all of the dressing/marinade ingredients in a large bowl. Add salt and pepper, to taste.
2. Marinade the steak in ½ - ¾ c. of the dressing for several hours or overnight.
3. Cook the couscous according to the package directions, but use chicken broth as the cooking liquid rather than water (tastes MUCH better).
4. When the couscous has cooled completely, toss it with the tomatoes, cucumber, mint, and feta. Add about ½ - ¾ c. of the dressing (to taste) and toss gently.

5. Let the marinated steak sit out at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Then, take it out of the marinade and sprinkle it liberally with salt and pepper.
6. Grill the steak about 7 minutes on each side (depending on thickness) until medium-rare/medium. I used a grill pan, but I would definitely use an outdoor grill if I had one. As you can see, the indoor grill pan kind of smokes up my apartment...

7. Let the cooked steak rest for several minutes. Then, slice it thinly across the grain.
8. Serve the sliced steak over the couscous salad.


Happy Spring!