Grilled steak on a mound of arugula – this is Italian inspired summer eating at its finest, and pretty much at its easiest. There are like 3 or 4 ingredients in this entire recipe and the whole thing can be assembled in as much time as it takes to grill a steak. Best of all, this meal is every bit special and tasty enough for a company and easy enough for every night eats.

You can use any steak you like for this recipe – many versions call for the classic BIG STEAK cuts, such as porterhouse or rib eye or New York strip – and these are all great (I am especially partial to a bone in rib steak…mmm rib steak…) but since you are going to cut this meat across the grain, you can alternatively, save a few bucks and get something a little bit tougher. Skirt steaks are good here (so are flank steaks, although they are maybe a bit too lean) as are blade steaks (meat from the chuck is always very tasty) or good old Cowboy sirloins.

That should give you enough choice…basically any kind of steak you want to use will work here!

Steak on Arugula

• 2 lbs of steak
• Salt and pepper
• Lemon wedges
• Olive oil
• Parmesan Cheese (not the pre grated kind!)
• About 6 ounces or arugula (6 or 7 cups) washed and dried

1. Salt and pepper the steak generously before you pre heat your grill and let the steak rest out on the counter for 20 minutes or so, or until the grill is good and searing hot.
2. Cook the steak to your desired doneness, and then let it rest on a covered platter for about as long as you cooked it for (this is all the juices don’t leak out, leaving you with a dry and tasteless steak).
3. Meanwhile, dived the arugula onto 4 dinner plates, the bigger the plate the nicer the presentation
4. Once the steaks have rested sufficiently, cut then across the grain into slices about 1/3 inch thick. It is important to cut perpendicular to the grain, especially if using a tougher cut of meat, so that your steak slices will be tender. (Be sure to catch any juices that escape – you will need them!
5. Arrange the steak slices attractively across the tops of the mounded arugula on each plate. There should be collected meat juice on the platter; divide and pour it equally over the steak and arugula on each plate.
6. Use about ¼ of a lemon for each plate and squeeze the juices all over. Drizzle generously with olive oil and add a good sprinkle of salt (crunchy fleur de sel sea salt is great here).
7. Use a vegetable peeler to peel thin ribbons of parmesan cheese and toss these generously across the tops of each plate.
8. Serve the plates garnished with extra lemon wedges and place the olive oil on the table, so that diners may adjust the seasonings as they like.

Serve with a good loaf of rustic bread.

So easy, so good – enjoy!