"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. It's probably from the combination of bold flavors: meaty steak, peppery arugula, and a sweet-tart dressing.
This salad is ready to eat in 15 minutes (thanks to a quick-sear on thin-cut strips of steak), and comes in under 600 calories.
If you like it, you'll probably enjoy the rest of the Persiana cookbook.
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.
- The pomegranate produce guide explains how to pick out fresh pomegranates as well as buying just the seeds from the store.
- 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.