Ranch Steak Bruschetta Salad

I'm not normally a big fan of salad recipes because I improvise on these instead of using a recipe. However, I saw this listed as an award winner in Cooking Light and figured I'd try it. YUUUUUM. Much better than I thought it would be, with really nice complex, spicy flavors. It's little bit complicated, though, there are a lot of different steps to it, but if you multi-task well, it shouldn't take too long to make. I've put aside the different pieces of this to eat it again tomorrow for dinner - Unlike most salads, which I tend to throw out leftovers of, if you keep things separate, it should keep for several days.


Salad dressing:

• 6 tablespoons ranch dressing
• 1 1/2 tablespoons prepared horseradish

Steaks:

• 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons ground coffee
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
  1 1/2 teaspoons ancho chile powder
• 4 (4-ounce) beef tenderloin steaks, trimmed (1 inch thick)
• Cooking spray
  

Remaining ingredients:

• 1/4 cup chopped shallots
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 cup chopped bottled roasted red bell peppers
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 12 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 6 cups loosely packed arugula
• 12 (1-ounce) slices French bread, toasted

1. To prepare salad dressing, combine ranch dressing and horseradish in a small bowl; cover and chill.
2. To prepare steaks, combine black pepper, ground coffee, ground cumin, and ancho chile powder. Rub both sides of steaks with pepper mixture, and let stand 10 minutes.
3. Heat a nonstick grill pan over medium heat. Coat steaks with cooking spray. Add steaks to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Remove steaks from pan; let stand 7 minutes.
4. Combine shallots, fresh basil, bell peppers, juice, and tomatoes in a small bowl; toss well.
5. Arrange 1 cup arugula on each of 6 serving plates, and top each serving with 2 toast slices. Cut each steak diagonally across grain into thin slices. Divide steak slices evenly among the toast slices; top each serving with about 2 tablespoons tomato mixture. Drizzle each serving with about 1 tablespoon of the salad dressing. Serve immediately.

Yield: 6 servings, 8 points each

Nutritional Information
Calories:
384
Fat:
13.2g (sat 3g,mono 2g,poly 0.8g)
Protein:
25.3g
Carbohydrate:
41.4g
Fiber:
3.4g
Cholesterol:
55mg
Iron:
4.2mg
Sodium:
565mg
Calcium:
88mg