Morning! Deirdre here, attempting to capture the opening of a football-cooking Saturday.

Vic and Holly’s Michigan Wolverines face the sixth-ranked Indiana Hoosiers at noon in Ann Arbor. That should supply sufficient excitement for one Conference Room.

Representative Ilhan Omar is also facing a federal investigation concerning her immigration history. She denies wrongdoing. The claims about her identity and former marriage remain disputed; we cannot serve them up as established facts just because somebody on television sounds certain.

(Rep. Ilan Omar, alleged to be AKA Ilhan Nur Said Elmi. Accusations are not truth, but this a complex and brazen matter with elements of the whole human experience).

The Conference Table can debate the extraordinary distance between a childhood in war-torn Somalia and
a seat in Congress. The investigators will have to establish what happened along the way. Meanwhile, I have a more immediate jurisdiction: the refrigerator.

The Zingerman’s special order arrived yesterday. It is part of the annual replenishment I usually arrange as the holidays approach and our reliable bottle of balsamic vinegar runs nearly dry. A little goes into dressings, over vegetables, or even into tomato juice for a quick culinary pick-me-up.

Yesterday’s discussion concerned the awning. Today we are getting under it, figuratively speaking, and opening the groceries.

](FriIday ZIngerman’s speciality deliver! Next big buy will be the Reuben Sandwich bar for Spring).

There is also the tail end of a roast to deal with. Our periodic bulk buys from the protein suppliers in Wyoming, the Shenandoah Valley and Leesburg produce wonderful meals, followed by the equally important question of what to do with the remaining pieces.

Monday’s deliveries need room. Today’s football fans need lunch. Rocket’s steak salad brings those requirements into comfortable alignment.

We are using beef still within its refrigerated storage window. Cooked beef should be used within three to four days when kept at 40°F or below; making it into a salad does not restart the clock.

Thin slices of roast, crisp greens, tomatoes, avocado and a tangy balsamic dressing make a substantial lunch without requiring another substantial roast. There isn’t enough left to pretend we are serving a full steak dinner. There is plenty to make everybody happy with a fork.

ROCKET’S EASY STEAK SALAD
Serves 4 in the watch section, triple ingredients for a shift turnover or Creative Section Planning Meeting:

For the salad

1 pound cooked leftover roast beef or steak, thinly sliced against the grain
4 cups mixed greens: arugula, spinach, romaine or a combination
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
½ red onion, thinly sliced
½ cucumber, sliced
¼ cup crumbled feta cheese
¼ cup sliced almonds or chopped walnuts, optional
1 avocado, sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For the Galley balsamic dressing:

Made with balsamic vinegar ordered from Zingerman’s La Veccia Dispensa vinegar from the old town of
Castlevetro ;near moderna, Italy. This is our dressing, not a claimed Zingerman’s house recipe:
.
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
½ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Up to 1 tablespoon honey, to taste
1 garlic clove, finely minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste.

Directions:

1. Make the dressing.
Whisk together the vinegar, Dijon and garlic. Slowly whisk in the olive oil. Taste before adding the honey: a sweet, rich balsamic may need very little. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Prepare the beef.
Slice the chilled cooked beef thinly against the grain. Properly handled leftover beef can be served cold, which keeps this lunch particularly easy.
3. Build the salad.
Divide the greens among four plates. Add the tomatoes, onion, cucumber, feta and optional nuts. Arrange the beef and avocado on top.
4. Dress and serve.
Drizzle lightly with dressing just before serving. Pass the remainder at the table. The batch makes about a cup, so there is no requirement to drown the first four plates..

Starting with fresh steak instead?

Use approximately 1¼ pounds raw flank steak or ribeye to allow for cooking loss. Season with salt and pepper, then cook in a hot skillet with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Cooking time depends on thickness; use a thermometer rather than a fixed number of minutes.

Socotra Galley Variations:

Roasted peppers, leftover grilled vegetables or a few shavings of Parmesan fit comfortably here. For eight diners, double the salad and beef; make another batch of dressing only as needed.

Keep the salad chilled until serving and put out smaller batches if lunch stretches through the game. Refrigerate perishables within two hours.

That gets lunch and the afternoon onto the plates and clears a little room for Monday.

There are ten days until the November 3 election, which means the television is unlikely to become quieter. We wish the congresswoman a fair hearing and the Conference Table enough restraint to distinguish an allegation from a verdict.

As for Michigan and Indiana, the verdict should arrive this afternoon. Holly will have commentary.

Rocket can pass the dressing.

Copyright 2026 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com