Steak Salad with Black Bean, Corn and Mango Salsa

Wednesday 16 May
The real purpose of the Albuquerque Broil was to provide left-overs for this steak salad. Holt had read Adam Gopnik's critique in The New Yorker of a dinner cooked by Spencer in one of Robert Parker's (no relation, alas) novels, and was inspired. Spencer cut up the steak and cooked it—he may be the perfect post-romantic, post-feminist hero, but he ruined the steak. Holt made a salsa the day before, while waiting for the crawfish boil: two ears of sweet corn (cooked and removed before anything else went into the pot), soaked and cooked black beans (nearly 30 minutes in the pressure cooker), plus chopped red onion, cubed mango, juice from one lime, salt, and fresh coriander. All this rested overnight in the fridge. Then cubed the cold steak and added a little olive oil and a pinch more salt. Perfect summer food.