garlic lime steak and noodle salad

For most of the last decade or two,my dadwas on a perennial low-carb diet, eschewing bread and often sugar, save forcarefully chosen exceptions. When family would come over for dinner, he’d always tell me I didn’t need to make anything special for him, but I enjoyed the challenge of coming up with a menu that would work for everyone. The results became some of my favorite meals to this day. Previously, dinner parties usually had a carb-assault at the center —lasagnaorspaghetti and meatballsormussels and fries— but in these, protein (and a great heap of vegetables) get the spotlight:chicken gyro salad, street cart chicken (one of my favorites inSmitten Kitchen Every Day),piri piri chicken, and manysteaksalads. As should be clear, these aren’t bread- or carb-free, but they’re set up in an assemble-your-own style that allows the carb-rejecting to eat as they wish, and the carb-demanding (ornot) children to get into the meal too. Everybody wins.

This is one of the more recent ones. I jokingly called it the Not-Really-Thai Steak Salad because I was craving a flavor profile, not authenticity. [While it’s probably closest toyum neua yang(grilled beef salad), it wouldn’t include noodles or greens beans, just for starters;neua naam tok(waterfall beef) would have even fewer extras, and is often served with rice.] The first time I made it, while it was delicious, I completely overdid it with fixings: chile-lime peanuts, crispy fried shallots, julienned mango, sheesh, almost full-sized salad bar of options. I was craving it again last Friday (whenthis handsome couplecame over) but vowed to keep it simpler, trying to distill it to its most essential parts — it’s the garlic, lime, and fish sauce marinade that I crave most — and landed on this, and it was so good, it’s officially in the summer rotation now.

Because this is an assemble-your-own situation, getting the ingredient amounts exactly right can be tricky. If your people love noodles, you might need more. If they don’t eat noodles but love steak, get extra; a half-pound per person is a fairly safe bet for crowds. Some people love the dressing (my kids, even!), others devour entire bowls of green beans before people arrive (coughme). What I’ve written below works for our family of four on a weekday night. The leftovers keep well, too, so don’t be nervous about scaling up.

And for the other side of the world:Six Months Ago:Bakery-Style Butter Cookies1.5 Years Ago:Root Vegetable Gratin,Cheesecake-Marbled Pumpkin Slab Pie, andBrussels Sprouts, Apple, and Pomegranate Salad2.5 Years Ago:Date, Feta and Red Cabbage Salad,Pecan Pie, andRoasted Leek and White Bean Galettes3.5 Years Ago:Pickled Cabbage Salad,Pretzel Parker House Rolls,Classic Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Praline Sauce, andCrispy Sweet Potato Roast4.5 Years Ago:Cranberry-Orange Breakfast Buns,Green Bean Casserole with Crispy Onions, and anApple-Herb Stuffing for All Seasons