Like everyone else, Iris loves free samples. She also loves the term “free samples.” The other night I tried to give her a kiss at bedtime and she said, “No free samples!”

They often have free samples at the meat department at QFC around lunchtime, whatever’s on sale this week. Iris will try *anything* they’re sampling. I am thinking of slipping them a twenty to offer things I want to make at home, or possibly decorating our dining room to look more like QFC.

A couple days ago it was sirloin steak, seasoned with lemon pepper, $5 a pound. Iris demanded some, and then she said, “I need another sample, because I love it.”

I asked her if she’d like steak for dinner, and she agreed. I like steak, but I like it best as an ingredient rather than the main event. Unless I’m getting a serious grass-fed or dry-aged (or both) steak, I’d take chipotle rubbed steak tacos or Thai beef salad over a big hunk of meat any day.

So I turned to a Cook’s Illustrated recipe I’d long been eyeing: Tuscan-style steak with arugula and parmesan. It’s a steak salad, and it couldn’t be simpler. While the steak cooks, you make a vinaigrette with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, S&P, and fresh herbs (I used thyme). Make some Parmigiano curls with a potato peeler and line dinner plates with a big handful of arugula. After the steak has rested, slice it, distribute the slices atop the arugula, and top with the dressing, cheese, and any accumulated meat juices from the resting of the steak.

Iris, of course, only wanted to cram as many bites of steak into her mouth as possible. In any case, this one is going into permanent rotation. Now, if QFC would feature free samples of sauteed fennel and radicchio, we’d be all set.