Grilled Skirt Steak with Shaved Fennel, Orange, and Green Olive Tapenade

Name: Grilled Skirt Steak with Shaved Fennel, Orange, and Green Olive Tapenade
Yield: serves 4 as a main dish or 6 as a starter
Ingredients: Four 8-ounce skirt steaks; 2 tablespoons chili powder; Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper; 1/2 cup fregola (see Note); 1/2 large red onion, sliced 1/4 inch thick; 1 fennel bulb, top removed, halved, cored, and thinly sliced; 8 radishes, ends trimmed, thinly sliced; 1/2 pound arugula; Juice of 1/2 lemon; 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil; 3 navel oranges, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch rounds; 1/2 cup Green Olive Tapenade (recipe follows); 2 cups pitted green olives, such as Picholine; 4 salted anchovy fillets, rinsed; 2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped; 1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper; 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil; (makes about 1 cup)

December 9, 2011

I love thinking of alternatives to your classic steak and potatoes. This main course salad is hearty without being heavy and contains all of the elements of a balanced meal—meat, starch, and vegetables. Grilled beef, crisp fennel, chewy fregola (see Note), and bright oranges are finished with a drizzle of briny green olive tapenade in this Mediterranean-inspired skirt steak salad. Varying texture and temperature play a powerful role in the makeup of this dish, adding a whole other dimension. I’m a believer that opposites do attract; hot and cold—the grilled meaty steak and the cool crunchy salad—play off each other. Tapenade is a rich olive spread popular in the Mediterranean. The salty earthiness of green olive tapenade is the perfect complement for pasta, spread for crostini, or topping for baked sweet potatoes. Visit your market’s olive bar and purchase high-quality green olives; leave the little pimento-stuffed ones for martinis.

Recipe notes

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