Bloody Marys on a Tuesday??

Ever since we were in San Fran and realized we were in the same city as the House of Prime Rib, I have wanted a steak or red meat of some sort that wasn't a burger.  I originally was going to make flank steak last night but Whole Foods was sold out so instead, I went with a tri-tip paired with a "Bloody Mary Salad" I got the idea out of Bon Appetit magazine but made some changes.  The ingredients for the steak were:

tri-tip steak

lime juice

paprika

cayenne pepper

brown sugar

olive oil

salt

pepper

I apparently forgot to take a picture of everything.  When I got home, I squeezed some lime juice over the steak and let it marinade for about 3 hours.  During this time, I had to run some errands so I just let it sit in the fridge for a bit to tenderize the meat.  Once I got back, I made a rub out of the dry ingredients and put it on the steak for about 2 hours and let it marinate in the fridge.  About 45 min before cook time, I took the steak out and let it sit to room temperature.  Right before grilling, I coated it in olive oil on both sides. 

I let it grill for a bit longer than usual b/c of the thickness of the steak.  It charred some on the top and bottom but the inside was good!  I let the steak sit on a cutting board with olive oil and kosher salt for about 15 minutes before cutting into it. 

I made the salad beforehand since I wanted it to be chilled when served.  The ingredients were as follows:

apple cider vinegar

red wine vinegar

worcestershire

jalapeno stuffed olives

olive brine

sun dried tomatoes

cherry tomatoes

kosher salt

horseradish

celery

onion

celery seed

olive oil

hot sauce

mozzarella balls

Basically, I put the same things in this salad that I would in a bloody mary.  The recipe originally called for sherry vinegar but I didn't have any on hand so I used what I had.  I also added the mozzarella just b/c it's delicious and the sun dried tomatoes too.  

To start, I chopped half the onion and put it in a bowl with the 2 vinegars.  I let the mixture sit and tossed every couple of minutes for about 10 minutes. 

While this was sitting, I cut the tomatoes in half and put them in a separate bowl.  Then, I chopped the celery and olives and added them to the same bowl.  I took a pic of the tomatoes by themselves b/c I really loved the mixture of colors.  Whole Foods currently has three different types of cherry tomatoes and you can mix and match them.  Even though the recipe called for red, I thought the colors would be a good touch.  The orange were my favorite.  

Once the onions were done, they were added to the bowl with the rest of the veggies.  At this point, the remaining ingredients were put in a different bowl and I slowly streamed in the olive oil while whisking continuously. 

I know, it looks oily but it really wasn't.  This dressing was poured on top of the veggies.  I forgot to add the sun dried tomatoes until later but usually I'd add them with the tomatoes.  I halved the mozzarella balls and added them at the end too b/c I didn't want them to soften too much or fall apart. Lastly, salt and pepper were added to taste.

So once everything was tossed, it went into the fridge until dinner time!  I tossed it a couple of times just to get the dressing throughout as well as the seasonings.  

So once it was dinner time, I couldn't decide if I wanted the salad on top or bottom so I did it both ways!

Now comparing the 2, I think I like the salad on bottom better just b/c the meat looks so good...but the salad is so pretty...I can't decide.  Thoughts???

So...this dinner was great.  The lime really helped the sweetness of the rub and the tip turned out incredibly well, especially considering how thick it was and the cut of meat.  The bloody mary salad was great.  I knew Eric would like it b/c he LOVES bruschetta and it's very similar.  It really worked with the steak.  It tastes surprisingly a lot like a bloody mary, minus the vodka.