After working six 10-hour night shifts in a row, I’m normally lagging. But the one thing that always perks me up on my night is that no matter how shitty the shift goes, I’ll have a whole week off to forget about it. Tonight I’m extra jazzed because I’ll be off for 21(!) fricking days and that’s all sorts of awesome.
Before coming into to work, I got this on the table in ~45 minutes: Pan-seared sous vide chicken breast with mushroom sour cream sauce, roasted broccoli with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and winter squash puree. 
Before going to bed, I filled and pre-heated my SousVide Supreme to 130F so it would be ready and waiting when I woke up. I would’ve washed and chopped the broccoli ahead of time but I was too damn tired. Who am I kidding? If there isn’t visible mud or bugs on the broccoli, I just chop up the florets, season them up, glug on some melted ghee, and roast them . My sis used to work as a sous chef in some fancy-pants places around San Francisco, and she told me NO ONE ever washes the produce. Food for thought.
When I woke up, I preheated the oven to 425 F and plopped my pre-cooked chicken breasts and two frozen packets of Cascadian Farms Winter Squash Puree in the SousVide Supreme. Then, I prepped my broccoli for roasting and popped them in the oven once it came up to temperature.
While the broccoli roasted for 20 minutes, I sliced up a pound of mushrooms, finely chopped 2-3 large shallots in my mini prep processor, and squeezed 3 cloves of garlic through my garlic press. Then, I heated my skillet to medium high, and put in 2 tablespoons of butter. I like to throw my shallots in the pan right after the butter melts (but before the pan gets too hot) to make sure they don’t burn. Once the shallots were translucent, I added the minced garlic and stirred them around for 30 seconds. I added the mushrooms (with some salt and pepper) and sauteed the ‘shrooms until all the moisture had evaporated. Next, I poured in about a cup of canned low sodium chicken broth, a few dashes of Worchestire sauce, and tasted the sauce for seasoning. Once it came to a simmer, I removed it from the heat and added a heaping spoonful of sour cream and whisked it in. If I had some creme fraiche, I would’ve used that instead because it doesn’t break the sauce. Also, I would’ve thickened the sauce up with some flour or cornstarch pre-Paleo, but now I just accept the thin sauce. It does pain me.
By this time, the broccoli was roasted to my liking so I plated the florets and drizzled them with aged balsamic vinegar and roasted garlic flavored extra virgin olive oil. I heated my cast iron skillet to high and put in a heaping tablespoon of ghee. Once it was heated, I seared off my chicken breasts. Then, I removed the winter squash puree from the SousVide Supreme, squeezed it out into a bowl, and mixed in a pat of butter and salt and pepper to taste.
And in case you missed it the first time, here’s another shot of my dinner:
