Vietnamese Inspired Steak Salad

I'm divorced. That's my reason and I'm sticking to it.

Meanwhile, my cooking has elevated to another dimension that I could never have dreamed of before. I've been inspired over and over again and my passion has been re-ignited. On the verge of turning 29 for the first time this year, I resolve to follow my passion and keep developing this talent that people keep telling me I have. And to be honest, at this point, even I'd rather eat my own cooking than go out.

This salad was thrown together tonight based on a whim and a glimpse of a steak salad this morning on foodgawker (my favorite way to pass time at work is to stare at pictures of food until I'm inspired to create something). Somewhere recently I saw another picture of a vietnamese style steak salad and the idea stuck.

The kids have been obsessed with peanut butter sandwiches lately and that, too, gave me ideas. Funny how things come together like that to create a symphony of flavors.

Need:
Romaine lettuce, shredded
Fresh mint leaves
Julienned carrots
Sliced cucumber
Sliced green mango
Sliced scallions
Lemon juice
S+p
Tri tip steak

Peanut sauce:
1 tsp peanut butter
A splash of soy sauce
A splash of fish sauce
1/4 tsp of sesame oil
A splash of white vinegar
A splash of rice wine
1/2 tsp sugar
Sambal hot sauce, to taste
Garlic powder
1/3 C Vegetable oil

1. For the peanut sauce, throw it all in a food processor and blend til smooth, streaming in vegetable oil while it runs.

2. Toss the lettuce, mint, and scallions together with a bit of lemon juice, s+p.

3. S+p on the steak and grill to desired doneness. Let it rest. Slice it up.

4. Arrange the salad, cucumber, carrots, mango slices around the lettuce. Top with grilled meat. Then add peanut sauce as you like to the top.

For this, I also made some cilantro oil (fancy like that) to drizzle around the plate. I garnished with French fried onions and sliced habanero pepper.