By Joanne Sasvari

I’m the first to admit that I’m not the most frugal cook, nor am I the best at meal planning. I’m too easily seduced by exciting new recipes — and too easily bored with leftovers and dishes I’ve made before.

The one exception is what I like to think of as “grilling redux.”

I love grilling things, but because we have a classic Weber charcoal grill, it’s always a big time commitment. So if I’m making, say, burgers, I always throw a few extra things on the grill for another meal down the road. That could mean eggplant for a smoky dip, veggies for a grain salad or chicken for sandwiches. But my favourite thing to do is to throw an extra steak on the fire, and use it for a main course salad a day or two later.

For years, I’ve used these leftover steaks in a Thai-style noodle salad, which is delicious, but tbh, a bit of a pain to make. And if you’re cooking with leftovers, it should be easy, right?

Enter the Cobb-style steak salad.

It’s easy, virtuous, packed with flavour and super versatile. You can use any kind of steak – hanger, tri-tip, filet, strip – and you can leave out the eggs if you don’t feel like cooking them or any of the veg if you’re running low and shopping is still a day or two away. The blue cheese to me is essential, but you could probably manage without. Best of all, it makes use of leftovers without ever feeling like punishment.

Recipe: Cobb-Style Steak Salad
This is more of a formula than a recipe – measures are approximate, so if you want more tomatoes, add as a]many as you like. And if you want to serve more than two people, just increase the amounts accordingly.
Serves 2

Salad:
8 to 12 small boiling potatoes (aka, “gem”potatoes)
2 to 4 large eggs
1 small head of Romaine lettuce hearts, chopped or torn
1 leftover grilled steak, sliced
8 to 12 cherry tomatoes, halved
2 Persian cucumbers, cut into bite-sized pieces
Optional: 1 avocado, sliced
2 oz blue cheese (such as Stilton), crumbled
Optional: Chopped Italian parsley and/or chives
Salt and pepper to taste

Red wine vinaigrette:
5 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
Optional: 1 small shallot, chopped very fine
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring a pot of water to a boil, add the potatoes and cook them for about 15 minutes or until tender. Remove from water and cool to room temperature. Slice each in half.

Boil the eggs for 8 minutes. Remove from heat and place under cold running water until room temperature. Peel, and slice each in half.

Prep all the other salad ingredients, and whisk together the ingredients for the vinaigrette.

Toss the lettuce with about a third of the vinaigrette, then divide between two plates.

Arrange the sliced steak evenly over the lettuce, then divide the potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers and avocado (if using) between the two plates. Drizzle generously with dressing.

Tuck the eggs in wherever you can, scatter the blue cheese over the salad, and, if you like, sprinkle chopped herbs on top. Season with salt and pepper and any remaining dressing.