Summer is nirvana for vegetarians. Soft summer fruit. Vine-ripened tomatoes. Local produce. And loads of delicious, substantial salads—bean, green, whole grain and egg. As a 99% vegetarian, I could easily park myself at 101 Cookbooks and eat happily ever after.
But here at Copywriters’ Kitchen, I’m surrounded by omnivores. And ever since my daughter—my vegetarian ally—decamped for college, I’ve been unable to ignore my clan’s carnivorous cravings. Not that my family is obnoxiously demanding. My teen son takes a stoic attitude, but I hear the wistfulness when he speaks of grilled steak in a resigned, I-know-I-can’t-have-it-Mom voice.
So, naturally, I make sure he can have it. And thankfully, I don’t have to participate in evil factory farming to do so.
The secret to delicious, guilt-free meat: local farmers
Today, unlike in the past, buying meat is not a huge culinary or ethical dilemma for me: I don’t have to support CAFOs, factory slaughter or diabolical Big AG. Because I buy my beef, pork and lamb from Spring Lake Farm, owned by Temma and Ingimundur Kjarval, parents of my Twitter pal, @NYCulla. The Kjarvals are meticulous about pasture-raising and humanely caring for their animals.
And that means my family gets to eat a lot more Laab Spicy Thai Beef Salad.
Thai cold meat salad: Fill up without weighing yourself down
When the weather turns steamy, nothing is more delicious than this pungent mix of cold, chopped beef tossed with red chili peppers, fresh mint and cilantro, minced shallot, scallions and lime juice.
Unlike a lot of salads, Laab doesn’t leave you feeling hungry an hour later. While it’s cool and light, it’s substantial. I like to nestle mounds of Laab into the curves of crunchy iceberg lettuce leaves alongside a spoonful of steamed rice.
I sprinkle more chopped cilantro and a little nutty, toasted ground rice over the top: The combo of hot rice and cold, lime-juice soaked beef is out of this world.
I usually make this traditional Southeast Asian dish with lean ground beef. But you can use any ground or shredded meat or poultry. Once the meat is cooked, it only takes a few minutes to assemble Laab.
In addition to steamed rice, try serving Laab with a side of sliced Kirby cucumbers splashed with rice vinegar and tossed with toasted sesame seeds.
Laab Spicy Thai Beef Salad
1 pound ground grassfed beef—or pork or chicken
Juice of two limes
2 tablespoons uncooked, brown rice, toasted and ground
1 shallot or half a small purple onion, peeled and diced
¼ cup fresh cilantro—or more, chopped
¼ cup fresh mint, chopped
2 scallions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fish sauce, optional
¼-½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons Demerara sugar
- Place ground meat in a medium bowl. Squeeze juice of one lime over the meat and let the meat marinate for a few minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
- Toast the rice in a small frying pan: Pour rice into the pan and place it over a low flame. Shaking and stirring the rice frequently, cook the grains until they turn golden and a few kernels start to pop. Remove pan from stove and pour rice onto a plate to cool.
- When rice is completely cool, pour it into a coffee grinder—be sure to clean out grinder with a squeezed sponge and paper towel first. Pulse rice until it forms a fine powder. Reserve.
- In a large frying pan, fry the ground meat, chopping it with a spoon as it cooks. Pastured meat is very lean, but if you see excess fat, spoon it out of the pan and discard. When meat is cooked and broken up, spoon the meat onto a plate lined with a double layer of paper towel. Cool the meat before continuing.
- When meat is cool, add one tablespoon ground rice, juice of the remaining lime and the rest of the ingredients, tossing to blend. Serve at room temperature or place in fridge and serve when cold.
- Just before serving, sprinkle the Laab with the remaining ground rice. Serve Laab with sides of steamed rice and chopped lettuce—or whole iceberg lettuce leaves used as wraps.
Serves 4.
