Pasta Salad w/Steak & Blue Cheese Avocado Dressing
August 7th, 2009 | Filed under: entree, recipe, sides & bites | Tags: avocado, beef, blue cheese, pasta, salad, steak, tomato
I don’t want to get into a whole thing about girly foods versus manly foods. As a woman, I do love my salads, dainty cheese tarts and chocolate. But not any more than I love big, beefy burgers, buffalo wings and nachos. Food is delicious and I will not take sides!
Even after all that, I have to say, this pasta salad is a manly salad. It’s hearty and bold and full of freshly grilled steak. It is not a side dish. It’s an aggressive, filling entree. The first time I made this, I tossed everything with a little vinaigrette and topped it with diced avocado and crumbled blue cheese. It was good, but it was missing something to tie it together.
I tried again, this time making a creamy dressing with the avocado and blue cheese and … success! The dressing pulled everything together like mayonnaise usually does. The rest of the ingredients – pasta, tomatoes, red onion and steak – completed the salad.
I loved it, Tom loved it. This is a salad for all the sexes.
Pasta Salad w/Steak & Blue Cheese Avocado Dressing
For the salad:
1 lb. macaroni pasta (I used whole wheat rigatoni)
2 large tomatoes, diced
1/2 red onion, finely diced
2 handfuls of arugula (or spinach)
2 lb. skirt steak
salt and pepper
For the dressing:
4 oz. blue cheese
1 avocado, skin and seed removed and discarded
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp. sherry vinegar
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup water
Start by making your dressing. Combine all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Set aside or refrigerate for up to 2 days.
Next, make the steak. Heat your grill to medium-high. Sprinkle the steak with a little salt and pepper on all sides, then grill for 3 – 4 minutes on each side. It’s done when the outside is slightly charred and the inside is still pink. Remove to a plate and let rest for a couple of minutes, then slice into bite-sized pieces.
While your steak is cooking, boil the pasta is salty water. Once it’s al dente, remove to a strainer and run cold water over the pasta to stop it cooking. Drain completely.
In a very large bowl, combine the pasta, tomato, onions, arugula and steak, pour the dressing over it and toss. Serve at room temperature.
Makes 4 – 6 main servings.
The dressing sounds out of this world. We haven’t used sherry vinegar, so it’d be a new flavor.
This looks so yummy and easy!
I dont like to take sides either! Woman or man food..regardless that pasta salad looks AMAZING!!
Looks very tasty! But I haven’t found a blue-cheese dressing I like… any suggestions what could be substituted for the blue-cheese? Ranch-Avocodo perhaps?
[...] Bitchin Salad. By bonjour chérie I just returned from the annual cottage retreat in St-Pierre de Wakefield- we had some wonderful meals: sticky ribs, my mom’s infamous potato salad, hot dogs on the fire, and let’s not forget the DQ ice cream cake! Surprisingly, I’m still thinking of food and couldn’t resist posting Melissa Camero’s Pasta Salad w/Steak & Blue Cheese Avocado Dressing. [...]
Great combination of ingredients. Nothing goes together better than steak and blue cheese. When avocado is added – well, it is officially pushed over the top!
[...] Pasta Salad with Steak & Blue Cheese Avocado Dressing at Bitchin [...]
This was fantastic – we used spinach and didn’t have sherry vinegar on hand. We used red wine vinegar, and it was great! Definitely a keeper.
this looks and sounds delish! i can’t wait to try it out!
Hello, just stopping by and dropping you a note to say that I enjoyed your Blog. Keep up with the good work!
This is an inspired combo of flavors! Thanks for sharing. Unfortunately, I found it to be quite salty; next time, I will cut the salt in the dressing by half. But there will be a next time!