What could be more American than steak, potatoes, and a salad. The surprising thing, though, is that this dinner turned out much more delicious than any comparable dinner of recent memory. What is up with that?!
John sous vide the steak but because it is a last minute substitution for the scallops we are supposed to have, he starts it from frozen and he cooks it at 125F for 2 1/2 hours. This is followed by a quick sear on the grill. Wow, is it good! Our rib eye cap weighs only 10 ounces raw and we split it between us. We take small bites savoring the depth of flavor.
Rib cap steak, steamed new potatoes, salad
My contributions are some steamed potatoes which I cut up, oil, and salt first and a salad using up bits and pieces of what we have left – some salad greens, parsley, cabbage, a little cucumber, a couple of small tomatoes, and some feta. Somehow tonight our dinner is the perfect storm of deliciousness.
On Thursday as I was making the couscous for dinner I thought that I would put in some vegetables to give it some color and texture. But I was also thinking, I know I will have leftover couscous and I can turn the couscous with its vegetables into a soup.
For lunch today with the addition of a little turkey sausage I made couscous soup with vegetables and turkey sausage. We call this combination affectionately, sludge soup because the couscous tends to fall to the bottom.
Turkey sausage and couscous soup
And speaking of planned-overs, for dinner we defrost a container of spaghetti sauce. I made a large amount of spaghetti sauce in June and froze three containers worth. We had one container the first day we arrived in Utah, one tonight, and I will save the other one for when we are back at the end of October.
Spaghetti with meat sauce
Not only do John and I consider planning, shopping, and cooking fun, we also save a ton of money by not eating out. The dollars it costs to make your own meal are about 1/6 of what you would spend at a restaurant. I figure the amount we save must be at least $5000 a year. That it more than enough for a vacation!!
Today’s classic chicken is John’s sous vide chicken breast served au jus with my confetti couscous, and spinach. We are supposed to be having butternut squash but the cut up squash I bought has not liked sitting around for a week. Couscous is always a good quick substitute. I give a quick chop to a carrot, celery, green onion, and parsley and add them into the couscous for some color and texture. The spinach is Stouffer’s spinach soufflé from the grocery’s frozen aisle.
We are in the process of selling our house here in Utah and a couple of real estate agents came over on Tuesday to look at our house and give us their pitch. Needless to say by the time we were done with them no one felt like cooking dinner. So we had pizza. Our weekly menu is now pushed back a day and the dining out day has been eliminated (for now.)
Our vegan dinner this week is one of our favorites, chickpea stew.
Chickpea Stew
In order to make sure that we actually had time to do the prep and cook the stew, I cut up most of the vegetables in the morning. Doing the mise en place early makes the actually assembly very quick. As you can see there are carrots, onions, celery, greens, tomatoes, scallions, and garlic that need chopping up. After sautéing the vegetables I add the chickpeas and lastly the ditalini which cook for about 10 minutes. At that point you add the greens and let them wilt. I make this with half water and half vegetable stock. Tasty and nutritious!
Happy October! Our air conditioning is fixed and it looks like lower temperatures (inside and out) are on the way!!
We have made 3-cup chicken before using the America’s Test Kitchen recipe. We have had varying results. Because we are trying to not heat up that house too much, we decide to try making this dish using the sous vide method. I really like this method because it makes the time when you are going to serve the dish so much more flexible without any detriment to the meat.
Sous vide 3-cup chicken with rice and broccoli
We use the marinade and the garlic, ginger and oil in the vacuum sealed bag and cook it for about 2 hours at a temperature of 175F. I make the rice in our Instant Pot and sauté the broccoli. We decide not to thicken the cooking liquid as that would have meant using another pot. All in all it turns out pretty well and we will probably do it this way in the future.
Menu ends up being a little chicken heavy at the beginning of the week due to the air conditioning breaking and a substitute meal being inserted on 9/30/18.
Right now we are in the desert of Southwest Utah. Even though it is the very end of September the temperatures are still in the mid-90’s. Our air conditioning decides to stop working today. So throw the chicken dinner idea out the window. We are having a picnic in the hot kitchen.
We go to the grocery store and roam around for a while (because it is air conditioned there!) looking for something to take home and eat. We decide to get something microwave-able and a prepared salad. We end up with some ribs and potato salad. I will make broccoli salad at home. This meal is neither Dining Lite nor particularly nutritious. Oh well, desperate times call for desperate measures! (This is such a first-world problem!!)
You can make your burger extra-ordinary with a few simple ingredients. To give it an exotic taste this is all you have to do. (This is by no means authentic.)
Banh mi burger
Starting at the bottom you have a toasted roll followed by a mayo and Tabasco schmear. Then there are pickled carrots, onions, and cucumbers. Next layer is the pate. Since we are taking shortcuts we use a thin slice of liverwurst. Then comes the grilled hamburger patty. On top of the burger we put pickled jalapeño and a bunch of cilantro. The pickled jalapeño is very hot straight out of the jar so I add some oil and sugar to tone it down.
I love hamburgers in almost any form and this take on a Vietnamese banh mi is a real winner. I am thinking about what ethnicities to try next. Italian patty with tomato sauce and mozzarella? Middle Eastern kabob? Taco burger? …
This dinner is so, so good. If I had paid for it in a restaurant I would have no complaints. I think the key here is to sauté the shrimp tails in the wine first to get extra flavor. While John sautes the shells in white wine, the water heats up for the spaghetti, and I finely chop up some onion and garlic. Out come the shells and in go the onions and garlic. Spaghetti goes in to cook. A minute or so before the pasta is ready John adds the shrimp to the pan. When the spaghetti is almost done he reserves a cup of pasta water and drains the spaghetti. Spaghetti goes in with the shrimp. I cook them together for a minute or so adding some pasta water to make a sauce. When the shrimp are cooked through and the pasta is al dente I add the parsley. Correct seasoning and I am done. Yum!
Based on a New York Times Cooking recipe.
Tonight’s dinner, sort of fattoush and dal, I serve in two courses because John does the dishes and I want to cut down on his work. This way instead of four bowls we only need two. He says he likes to wash up which I find unfathomable. By keeping the mess down I figure he will keep on wanting to do the dishes.
Note: Vegans should omit feta and yogurt
First course is kind of fattoush. It is very difficult to find decent pita here in St. George, UT so I omit the bread and just go with lettuce, cucumber, tomato, and feta in the salad. It is simply dressed with some good olive oil and vinegar and seasoned well.
Tomato, cucumber , lettuce, and feta salad
The second course are lentils cooked in vegetable stock and flavored with onions, garlic, and ginger. The idea is that they should come out somewhat soupy. A dollop of yogurt and a drizzle of olive oil finishes off the dish.
Omnivore 