Monday Night's Steak Dinner

As planned, Monday night the hubby and I had a delicious steak dinner. I used our dear friend Shawn's recipe, and added sides of garlic sauteed spinach and roasted sweet potatoes.

It was freaking delicious. And so easy! This one's going on the repeat playlist for sure.

When I went to the butcher for steak, I wanted a very tender, flavorful cut but didn't want to spend a fortune. While the cuts of filet mignon were calling to me from the display case, their $26.99 per pound price tag kept me away. I love a good filet, and I cook them up for birthday and holiday meals, but for a regular ol' Monday night...not so much. So I was looking for the next best thing. My eyes landed on something called baseball steak, which looked gorgeous and had a price tag of $12.99 per pound. Definitely do-able, but what the heck is baseball steak?

So I asked and my butcher told me that it's part of the whole sirloin cut. The top 4 cuts of beef are, in descending order: filet mignon (often known as tenderloin), rib eye, new york, and sirloin. And that once the sirloin is deconstructed (his word, not mine! made me laugh), it ends up in 3 pieces -- the baseball steak, sirloin, and sirloin tip, with the baseball steak as the choicest of those 3. So...in other words, the baseball steak is the choicest of the worst of the best. Very clear, no?

Anyway, I went for it and both my husband and I (and the dog, who got a few scraps) were extremely pleased with this new little discovery. Baseball steak is a new favorite. (If you google it, you'll find varying accounts of how it got its name -- some say it puffs up when it's cooked, making it round like a baseball, others say it's a cheap cut that you eat after playing baseball.... I don't care. I just call it delicious.)

To prepare the steak, I salted 60 minutes ahead of time and followed the Steak a la Shawn recipe to the letter, and let the steaks rest for 10 minutes after cooking. The pre-salting really helped it develop a nice crust and stay tender, I think.

For the spinach, so easy: chop 4-5 cloves of garlic, add them to a couple tbsp of extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, let it get fragrant, and then add washed spinach. Toss and keep an eye on it and when it's cooked but still green, serve.

Roasted sweet potatoes, also very easy: Slice 2 sweet potatoes (I used the Japanese variety because I love their unique flavor) into thin-ish rounds. Toss with extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper and spread in one layer on baking sheet. (I always line with aluminum foil for easy clean up.) Pop into pre-heated 425 degree oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, depending on how well done you like them. Hubby likes them very well done.

Homemade Indian Take-out

This is what we had for dinner last Friday night, and it was soooooo good. My husband went bonkers over it, so we're having it again this week.

It's yummy, very nutritious, and easy. What more could you ask for?

(A note: as always, the ingredients I use are organic and local whenever possible -- meaning whenever I can find them. Luckily for me, in my case, everything but the simmer sauce and canola oil was organic!)

Dena's Homemade Indian Take-out

Serves 4

2 tbsp canola or other vegetable oil
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, diced
1 head cauliflower, roughly chopped
4 medium-sized red potatoes, cubed
1 block firm tofu
3 cups frozen spinach or 5 cups fresh spinach
1 jar of Trader Joe's Masala Simmer Sauce (yes, this is the secret ingredient!)
As much brown rice as you prefer - we use 1 cup per serving

First, set the tofu to drain: shake off excess water, place it on a plate, place another plate on top, and then set a heavy book (I use my largest cookbook) on top to squeeze the water out. Leave it for 15 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, chop vegetables. Par-boil potatoes and cauliflower so they are almost done but not quite.

Drain water from tofu and then dice uniformly. Fry it up in 2 tbsp canola oil set on medium-high heat, tossing frequently in your largest skillet -- I use a fantastic non-stick 12-inch skillet instead of a wok; it has more surface space so food doesn't crowd and thus steam instead of crisp. When the tofu is as browned as you would like (for me, this is after about 10 minutes or so), set tofu aside.

Add 2 tbsp olive oil to pan and add garlic and onion. When they are fragrant, add tofu back into pan. Let tofu absorb flavors for about 1-2 minutes, then add in spinach. After 1 or 2 minutes, add cauliflower and potatoes and entire jar of simmer sauce. Set heat to medium-low and let it all simmer together.

Serve over brown rice and enjoy a very hearty and healthy meal with no ordering, driving, or picking up involved. This would also be delicious with garbanzo beans added or subbed for tofu. Next time I'm going to use sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes.