Thai Beef Salad

Years ago, when we were in the grass-fed beef biz, we participated in an event pairing local beef with chefs in Santa Fe, NM.  We worked with the chef at Harry's Roadhouse.  For the life of me, I can't remember his name, but he was an incredible young man with mad skills!  He served our beef up in lettuce wraps, in a Thai Beef Salad style.  Oh my goodness, one of my top five beef meals ever!
Here's my version... It's always changing to whatever I have around.  I use up whatever leftover grilled steak we have, and when I grill I usually just season with salt and pepper, sometimes garlic or garlic salt.

Per person:
4 oz cold grilled beef (can use hanger, flank, sirloin, whatever you want). We like it med rare.  Slice thin.
Approx 1 cup salad mix.
I use mixed greens, baby kale, carrots, celery, cucumber, green onion or red onion, peppers, whatever you have on hand, this is a great place for crunchy and dense textures.

Dressing (this dresses about 4-5 servings, increase or decrease as needed.
1/4 cup lime juice
2 TBSP fish sauce
1 TBSP was grated ginger and garlic
1/4 cup chopped cilantro, basil and mint
Sometimes I use a tbspn of toasted sesame oil, but not always.

Let sit and serve up.
This is one of this dishes I make in huge quantities as it tends to get better after sitting in the fridge.  It is perfect on busy, hot summer days when we need healthy meals to keep us going from sunup until well after the sun goes down.
On a side note, my friend and her family send home the most beautiful canned beets and I love serving those along side this meal.

Enjoy!

Chicken Fried Game, Beef

Chicken Fried Steak, it is the meal I eat with the most feeling of comfort food associated. It is good, wholesome, tasty, easy to change up and did I mention, good? We chicken fry elk, deer (venison), beef, Barbary sheep (oh, so good!) - you name it, we chicken fry it!
You can do lots to make it your own, serve it up with green chili, put in a touch of lemon pepper to your flour mixture, etc. I dare say, almost anything can be chicken fried... and taste good.

My fondest memories are of Moms Chicken Fried Steak, I like mine, but her's is just that bit better because, well, she made it! So, here it is, and just in getting this written down, I learned a few things (like she uses water with her eggs, I use milk!) who knew, maybe that is her secret to making it the best!

Mom's Chicken Fried Steak and gravy
(most of my recipes are for a healthy family of 4 - try 'em out and see if it works and then adjust as you need)
2-3 lbs of meat, cut into steaks, about 1/2 thick (If thicker, just flatten them a little more)
1 cup flour
1 or 2 eggs
a few tablespoons milk, plus a cup or two for the gravy
2 TBSP oil
salt and pepper to taste
Tools: frying pan, cutting board, meat mallet or large knife, bowls or pie plates, fork or spatula

Pound meat until about 1/3 inch thick, using mallet or back-side of knife (hit meat repeatedly, moving across steak, then turn again so you are making a criss-cross pattern) turn over and do the same. Don't pound until you are blue in the face! Just get it good and tender and give it a try. If it didn't work, try again - it is a simple method but one that takes a little time getting comfortable with.
Put flour into bowl large enough to lay steaks in (a pie plate works great) and add a little salt and pepper. Break eggs into other pie plate and whisk until one color with about 2 TBSN milk.
Get your oil hot in frying pan in a medium to medium hot stove. don't let it smoke, this is a little too hot!
Take a steak, and lay into flour. Then, using fork, dip into egg mixture. Shake off, and back into the flour mix. Lay into hot oil, careful not to spash yourself! Repeat until your pan is full.
Turn when tanned. As done, take out and fill your frying pan until all your meat is cooked.
After done, add a bit of oil if there isn't any left in the pan. Add about 2 TBSP of flour from your flour mix and stir into the hot oil. Turn down the heat on the stove, and add 1-2 cups milk and mix into the oil/flour mixture. Bring to a boil, stirring the whole time and serve it up!
Umm, umm good. If it doesn't turn out don't worry - the mistakes arent too bad, and I have been making gravy for 25 years and it still gets a little lumpy or thin sometimes!