Steak on a Salad of Apricots and Cucumber

A steak rubbed with ginger, garlic, cilantro and lime zest, seared in a hot pan, finished in the oven and sliced thin over a salad of apricots, cucumber, grated carrot and greens with a mustard and apricot jam dressing. Out of season, use peaches, plums or mango.

For the steak:

• 1 steak (ribeye or strip, about 1 lb)
• 2 to 3 tablespoons avocado oil
• 1 thumb of ginger, grated
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• A handful of cilantro, chopped
• Zest of 1 lime
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon butter, for resting

For the salad:

• 2 to 2½ oz (50 to 70 g) mixed sturdy greens: arugula or spinach, mâche, parsley, romaine
• 3 or 4 apricots
• 1 carrot, grated
• 2 small cucumbers
• Juice and zest of 1 lime
• 1 teaspoon apricot jam
• 1 tablespoon grainy mustard
• Olive oil
• Tabasco, optional
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Serves two.

1. An hour and a half ahead, or up to a day, rub the steak with the ginger, garlic, cilantro, lime zest, salt, pepper and the avocado oil. Wrap it in plastic. Up to 2 hours it can sit at room temperature; longer, keep it in the fridge.
2. Halve the apricots, remove the stones and slice the flesh. Slice the cucumbers into rounds. Toss both with pepper, the lime juice and zest, and leave them to marinate while you cook.
3. Heat a grill pan or a heavy frying pan until hot. No oil in the pan: it is already on the meat. Lay the steak in and cook, turning every 1½ minutes, until browned on both sides.
4. Move it to a 400°F oven for 5 minutes, or until it is done the way you like it.
5. Transfer the steak to a board, put the butter on top with salt and pepper, and let it rest 5 to 7 minutes. Slice it thin across the grain.
6. Whisk the mustard with the apricot jam and a little olive oil; salt to taste, Tabasco if you like.
7. Lay the greens on plates and drizzle with some dressing. Add the apricots, cucumber and carrot, the rest of the dressing, and the sliced steak on top. Salt and pepper if it needs it.

The rub stays on the surface, where the oil pulls the aromas of ginger, garlic, cilantro and lime zest into the outer layer of the meat. Turning the steak often browns both sides evenly. Resting under a piece of butter lets the fibers relax and the juices settle back, and the melting butter mixed with those juices is your sauce. Slicing thin across the grain shortens the fibers, so every bite is tender. The salad does the work a sauce usually does: apricot brings sweetness and acid, cucumber cools, and the grainy mustard and apricot jam in the dressing repeat the sweet and sharp notes, so the steak and the salad read as one dish.

A ribeye or a strip about an inch thick. Thinner steaks skip the oven; thicker ones need a few minutes more.

A thermometer at the thickest part: 130°F for medium-rare before resting. The USDA minimum for whole cuts of beef is 145°F with a 3-minute rest.

Scrape the larger pieces of garlic and cilantro off the surface before it goes into the hot pan; the aroma has already gone into the oil and the meat.

Peaches, plums, mango, or a handful of raspberries or black currants. Anything with sweetness and acid.

Any heavy frying pan. The video shows how it looks in mine.

I am Marina Staver, a private chef in Miami and South Florida. I cook dinners in people's homes: birthdays, anniversaries, dinner parties, quiet evenings for two on a Wednesday. I plan the menu around what you actually like, shop for it, cook it in your kitchen and leave it clean.

From $200 per guest plus groceries, $2,000 event minimum. Your all-in quote comes within 24 hours. See what a private chef costs in Miami, or tell me about your date.

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Sources: USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart (beef steaks 145°F with a 3-minute rest), fsis.usda.gov.