"This is, hands-down, one of the most popular dishes in my entire repertoire," Sabrina Ghayour says when describing her "Pomegranate Beef" recipe in her cookbook, Persiana.
I have to agree. This salad has an addictive quality I wouldn't have expected from a weeknight salad. It's probably from the combination of bold flavors: meaty steak, peppery arugula, and a sweet-tart dressing.
Ingredients
Salad
- ¾ lb steak flank, sirloin or hanger steak
- 1 Tbs oil
- sea salt
- pepper
- 10 ounces arugula
- ½ cup pomegranate seeds
Dressing
- ½ cup pomegranate molasses
- 2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
- 1 Tbs olive oil
- 2 tsp dijon mustard
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
PREP
- This comes together fast, so it's actually important to get everything out on your counter and ready:
- A cast iron skillet or heavy bottom pan, tongs, a cutting board to slice up the meat after it cooks, a mixing bowl for the dressing, a whisk, measuring cups & spoons, and all ingredients.
PREP & SEAR STEAK
- Heat a cast iron or heavy bottom pan on high heat. Rub steak with sea salt (or kosher salt) and pepper.
- Add oil to the hot pan, then add steak to the hot oil. Sear for about 3 minutes per side (or more for a thick steak). When it's done, set aside on cutting board and let rest for a few minutes.
MAKE DRESSING WHILE STEAK COOKS
- Whisk the pomegranate molasses, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and mustard together in a mixing bowl (or shake together in a jar). Add salt and pepper to taste.
SLICE & SERVE
- Slice the steak. Place on a bed of arugula. Drizzle with dressing and top with pomegranate seeds.
Nutrition
Nutrition: an in-depth look
This steak salad is quick and easy, but a little high in sugar. While I love this salad with all of the dressing, reducing the pomegranate molasses by half cuts out 5g of sugar and 61 calories.
Below is a table of calories and sugar per serving, broken down by ingredient.
| INGREDIENT | CALORIES | SUGAR (g) |
| steak | 281 | 0 |
| oil | 30 | 0 |
| arugula | 35 | 3g |
| pomegranate seeds | 36 | 6g |
| DRESSING | ||
| pomegranate molasses | 122 | 11g |
| balsamic vinegar | 14 | 2g |
| olive oil | 60 | 0 |
| dijon mustard | 4 | |
| TOTAL: | 584 | 22g (13 added) |
Recipe Notes
- Seeding a pomegranate. When I want this to be a very fast dinner, I buy a package of pomegranate arils (seeds). But when you have fresh pomegranates, there are a few tricks to seed them. This video shows 2 methods: hitting a cut pomegranate with a wooden spoon, and another method to submerge it in water. I like the submersion method.
- Choosing the right steak. For this recipe you want a steak that is thin, cooks fast, and is tender with minimal cooking time. Here's a list of cuts that are good for grilling, which is similar to the high-heat cast iron method we use for this recipe.
- Sugar. This recipe has more added sugar than a normal dinner - 13 grams. The recommended daily value of added sugar is about 20-26g, and for comparison a regular soft drink is about 39g.
Round out the meal
This steak salad can be a meal in itself, however you can make it a side salad to pair with a good bowl of soup, like a celeriac (celery root) soup or roasted cauliflower soup. You could also cut back on the amount of steak per serving and add farro or bulgur wheat to the salad.
Inspiration for pomegranate steak salad
As I mentioned earlier, this is from Sabrina Ghayour's book, Persiana (with only tiny changes to lower the amount of steak and pomegranate molasses per serving). A few of the other recipes I'm looking forward to making from Persiana:
- Spiced root vegetable cakes with tamarind & date sauce
- Pomegranate soup with meatballs
- Chicken, walnut & pomegranate stew
- Pistachio & feta dip