I love having people over for dinner but I used to also hate it because I’d be dead-tired by the end of the night. Nowadays, I’ve learned to pare down my hands-on time so I’m not falling asleep while doing the dishes when the night is through. Tonight, I had almost everything prepared earlier in the day (at a much more leisurely pace) and all I had to do before dinner was sear my sous vide flank steak, plate my roasted veggies, and nuke my garlic cauliflower “mashed potatoes.”
Earlier in the afternoon, I prepared the garlic cauliflower “mashed potatoes" and put the finished side in a covered CorningWare. The puree totally reheats well, so I just put it in something I could nuke and serve it in.
Also, I roasted the portobello mushrooms ahead of time but kept them in the foil packs. After I was done roasting the other veggies in the oven, I put the packets in the oven (with thermostat turned off) to bring them up to temp before slicing and serving.
I roasted some carrots and sliced up delicata squash in a 425 F oven with some olive oil, salt, and pepper. Those trays came out of the oven by 5:15 pm and they were served room temp. To be fancy, I chopped up some Italian parsley and sprinkled them on top (along with my fancy balsamic vinegar). I go all out for guests ;).
The sous vide flank steak didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped. Yesterday afternoon, I seasoned it (almost directly out of the freezer) with homemade taco seasoning and some salt and pepper, then vacuum sealed it. I plopped it in the SousVide Supreme set at 135 F and left it in there for 24 hours. When it was time for dinner, I took the steak out of the bath and its bag, dried it, and fried it in my cast iron skillet with some lard. Next time, I’m gonna go with a lower temp and a thicker steak because the final product was too dry. Live and learn.
I’m stoked I was able to polish off a lot of veggies in our fridge because we’re leaving town in a few days. Yay!
