Smoky, crisp lettuce. Warm, pink steak. Thick, syrupy balsamic reduction. The first time I had charred romaine salad was on a visit to Alabama to see the folks. My dad made it for dinner one night while we were visiting and to be honest my first reaction was, “You’re going to char the what!? Just how many of those Guinesses did you have?” It turns out charred romaine lettuce is pretty darn good. Add some flame grilled steak, crisp veggies, sauted mushrooms and onions, a sweet balsamic reduction to bring it all together, and now you’re talking deliciousness.
Ingredients:
- Steak coated with your favorite steak rub
Chili-Coffee Rub - We used ribeyes for this, although sirloin, flank, or hanging tender would work just as well
- Mushrooms
- Yellow onion
- Cucumber
- Tomato
- Purple onion
- Whole romaine lettuce
- Olive oil
- Dry sherry
- Red wine
- Balsamic vinegar
- Granulated sugar (~2 tablespoons)
- Crushed red pepper flakes
- Red hot grill
Step 1: Start the reduction.
This is going to take a bit so get it started early. I start with infusing some olive oil with crushed red pepper. This helps to coax the flavors out of the pepper, along with giving the reduction a nice hit of heat. Let the crushed pepper simmer in the oil for just a few minutes at a low heat. If the crushed pepper stops bubbling or starts turning brown, turn off the heat and let it cool for a moment before adding any liquids. (Note: adding room-temp liquids to hot oil will cause the oil to splash out of the pan). Once the oil cools, add the balsamic vinegar, red wine, sherry, and about 2 tablespoons of sugar. Bring the mixture to a slow easy boil. Keep an eye on this every 10 minutes (i.e., do not overcook!). The goal is to reduce it to about 20% of the starting volume. When reduced, take it off the heat. The reduction will not thicken until the mixture cools. The goal is to have the cooled reduction at a consistency close to maple syrup.
Step 2: Dice the veggies.
Check the reduction. Dice up the tomatoes, cucumbers, and purple onion into eighth inch cubes or finer. They should be small enough such that you get all the flavors in each bite. Set the diced veggies off to the side until final preparations.
Step 3: Caramelize the onions and mushrooms.
Check the reduction. Slice the mushrooms and onions into equal width slices. Coat a pan with olive oil and place on medium heat. Toss in the mushrooms and onions and let them go for a while before turning. The brown bits are going to start sticking to the bottom of the pan. Once you have a nice caramel color going throughout, splash some of the red wine or sherry in the pan to deglaze. When the wine or sherry has reduced, take the pan off the heat and cover until final preperations.
Step 4: Char the lettuce.
Check the reduction. Char the lettuce when your fire is HOT. The lettuce will char quickly, so have all the supplies ready before placing the lettuce on the grill. Start by making an ice bath in a large bowl. The ice bath will keep the lettuce from getting wilted after grilled. Slice each romaine heart down the middle in half. Brush some olive oil down the middle. I like to add a little black pepper to give it a nice bite. Place the lettuce halves directly on the grill over the flame, cut side down. Leave them for about 30 seconds or until you see a nice char on the edges. Remove the lettuce (charred only on one side) and put it directly in the ice bath. Let them soak in the ice bath until final preparations later.
Step 5: Cook the meat.
Check the reduction. This part isn’t going to include a course on grilling the perfect steak. There is already a plethora of resources online that will tell you exactly how to do so. I’ll leave it up to you to get your steaks done exactly how you want them. For ours, we use a chili-coffee rub (coming soon) that we’ve been making for a while now and cooked them right at medium rare. Don’t forget to wrap your steaks in foil when they are finished.
Step 6: Final preparation.
Hopefully the reduction has finished and looks something like this when you dip a spoon in it:
If it doesn’t stick to the spoon, put it back on the heat and let it reduce a bit more. If the reduction is too thick, add a splash of vinegar or wine to thin it out a little bit at a time until you get a nice consistency.
To build the salad, start with the lettuce, spoon over the tomato-cucumber-onion relish, layer thinly sliced steak, and top that with the onions and mushrooms. Drizzle it all with the balsamic reduction. Make sure to get a little piece of everything with each bite– your mouth will thank you!
(Aim reminded me that pears and bleu cheese also go REALLY well on this! Give it a shot).
Rough Measurements 
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