Seriously, this dinner only took about 40 minutes to prepare (with some careful pre-planning):
Sous vide tri-tip with roasted cauliflower, sauteed mushrooms and shallots, and pureed winter squash.
I was really worried that the tri-tip would be overcooked; after all, it was in my SousVide Supreme at the same time as my overcooked top sirloin from a few nights ago. I pulled the tri-tip out after 8 hours in the 140 F bath (while the sirloin was left for 24 more hours to turn into shoe leather), and put it in an ice bath before storing it in the fridge.
Before going to bed this morning, I preheated my SousVide Supreme to 130 F so it would be ready to reheat my tri tip when I woke up seven hours later. Luckily, the appliance only uses the energy of a light bulb (or so the promotional materials say). I washed and quartered 1.5 lb of cremini mushrooms and cut my cauliflower into florets. Serious Eats has a great video on how to cut up a cauliflower for those of us with shitty knife skills.
When I woke up, I tossed the trip tip and two frozen packets of Cascadian Farms winter squash puree into the Sous Vide Supreme. I preheated the oven to 450 F and threw the prepared florets onto a foil-lined baking sheet. I tossed the cauliflower with Casina Rossa Fennel & Salt with Organic Fennel Pollen, pepper, and extra virgin olive oil, and then tightly covered the whole thing with another sheet of aluminum foil.
I popped the sheet into the oven and baked for 12-15 minutes on the middle or middle lower rack. Afterwards, I removed the foil and baked for 10 more minutes, then flipped the florets and baked until brown in parts (10 more minutes)
While the florets were roasting in the oven, I chopped 4-5 large shallots in my mini food processor, and tossed them into a heated pan with 2 pats of butter. After the shallots were translucent, I threw in the chopped mushrooms and sauteed them with some salt, pepper, and deglazed with some Two Buck Chuck. Done.
Next, I heated my cast iron skillet to high for ~5 minutes and I quickly seared off my dried off trip tip (which I removed out of my Sous Vide Supreme after 40 minutes in the bath). Yay! It’s not overcooked!
I removed the puree packets from the Sous Vide Supreme and squeezed them out into a bowl with a pat of butter and salt and butter to taste. After a swirl or 5 to mix in the melted butter, dinner was ready. Voila!
Not only was dinner quick and delicious, but now I have lots of leftovers (that I can combine in various permutations) to bring to work!
