Summer Dinners - no. 9

My husband has mentioned that some of these al fresco dinners don’t have enough meat. Well this time, there is plenty of meat on the menu! There’s a one-platter steak salad for four, an Italian Meat Pizza, a conversation starter, and a Strawberry-Kiwi Popsicle for you this week.

You can, of course, grill a steak specifically for this Summer Steak Salad. But really, the easiest way to have a steak salad is to just grill an extra steak a couple of days before this meal, and then slice up the leftover steak the day you make the salad. I love that, because the salad can really be thrown together in just a matter of minutes. No grilling. No cooking. Just eating! Classic White Platter available here.

Summer Steak Salad

8 oz. grilled steak, cooled and thinly sliced

10 oz. assorted grape tomatoes, halved

olive oil

red wine vinegar

kosher salt

freshly cracked pepper

3 slices red onion, quartered

5 oz. Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

field greens

spinach

croutons

salad dressing

In a small bowl, combine halved tomatoes, a drizzle of olive oil, a splash of red wine vinegar, kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper. Stir to coat all tomatoes. Refrigerate 1-4 hours to allow flavors to meld.

To assemble salad:

Place a mixture of field greens and spinach on large, white platter, using enough for four, main dish servings of salad. Top with: grilled steak, marinated tomatoes, crumbled Gorgonzola, red onion slices, and croutons.

Serve with your favorite salad dressing.

Serves 4.

This is a classic, meat-lover’s pizza loaded with cheese and three types of meat. You can punch up the spice with a sprinkling of red pepper flakes, if you prefer. Pizza Peel available here, and Mezzaluna available here.

Italian Meat Pizza

1 store bought fresh pizza dough ball

3/4 c. pizza sauce

8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

12 slices pepperoni

8-10 slices peppered salami

5-6 slices salame calabrese (hot and spicy salami)

Cornmeal

Place baking sheet on bottom rack of oven, and preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Sprinkle another baking sheet with cornmeal. Roll/stretch pizza dough to a 12-14” round. Transfer to cornmeal-coated baking sheet.

Spoon sauce over pizza and spread almost to the edge.

Sprinkle most of cheese on pizza. Top with meats. Sprinkle with remaining cheese on top.

Using the cornmeal to help the dough slide, transfer topped pizza crust to preheated baking sheet in oven. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Makes 1—12-14” pizza.

This week’s conversation starter is all about family memories. I think you could extend the conversation by not only talking about your favorite vacation that you’ve taken with your immediate family, but also the favorite vacation you took with your family while growing up.

Everything fresh and pretty and completely summery in this week’s Strawberry-Kiwi Popsicle. You should adjust the added sugar depending on the sweetness of your strawberries. The strawberries I used definitely needed that sugar. Classic Popsicle Mold and Summer Popsicle Sticks available here.

Strawberry Kiwi Popsicles

1 pt. vanilla frozen yogurt, softened

3 c. strawberries, rinsed and hulled

2 t. sugar

5 kiwi, peeled and chopped

In a food processor, purée strawberries and sugar together.

Pour softened frozen yogurt into a medium bowl and whisk to remove clumps. Place a fine mesh sieve over bowl and pour strawberry purée through to remove seeds, pushing through sieve with the back of a spoon. Whisk together to combine.

Divide chopped kiwi into 10 equal groups.

Pour a small amount of yogurt-strawberry mixture into the bottom of each popsicle mold. Place one bunch of kiwi into each mold. Fill close to top with more yogurt-strawberry mixture. Using a knife, or a frosting spatula, gently plunge down into filled mold to release any air pockets caused by the fruit. Add additional yogurt-strawberry mixture to fill to top.

Insert sticks. Freeze.

Makes 10 popsicles.

I hope you enjoy making some great al fresco dining memories with these recipes!