1. I was in charge of preparing tonight's family dinner. Inspired by our first HelloFresh meal last week, Beef Au Poivre and Cheesy Potatoes Gratin with a Pear and Pecan Salad. (I forgot about the pecans.)
I thought I could reproduce this meal, inspired by, but not dependent on, the HelloFresh box of ingredients.
I went to Yoke's on Sunday and didn't find any cuts of beef tenderloin that were similar to what HelloFresh shipped to us, so, instead, I purchased six petit sirloin steaks.
I began my day of meal preparation late this morning by peeling nearly five pounds of russet potatoes, cutting the spuds into pieces about a quarter inch thick, and boiling the pieces until tender.
I layered a baking pan with potatoes topped by crispy bacon, a sour cream, garlic powder, and water mixture, and sharp cheddar cheese. On top of that I created a second layer of the same ingredients with the addition of Parmesan cheese.
2. I put the pan of Cheesy Potatoes Gratin in the fridge. I took them out bout an hour before they went in the oven to bring them back to room temperature.
This afternoon, I mixed a carafe of Sidecars, a tasty cocktail combining cognac, Cointreau, and fresh lemon juice.
I also made a honey Dijon dressing for the salad, combining Dijon mustard, honey, olive oil, fresh lemon juice, and minced garlic. Later, I put store bought spring mixed greens in a bowl with two pears thinly sliced and added the dressing I made.
3. Christy, Carol, Paul, and Molly arrived. After I poured them each a Sidecar, I put the potato dish in the oven and got to work on preparing the steaks. The others snacked on the cheese and crackers Carol and Paul brought. I had taken the steaks out of the fridge about 90 minutes earlier so that they were at room temperature.
I got out our cast iron skillet and the cast iron Dutch oven and heated them up before pouring olive oil and putting chunks of butter in each of them. Meanwhile, I poured a generous layer of black pepper on a platter and pushed both sides of five of the steaks onto the pepper, creating a coat. I then seared the steaks for about two minutes on each side and then put them in the oven at 400 degrees for about five minutes.
I put an aluminum foil tent over the steaks so they could rest and, with no heat under the the pan, then poured most of the fat out of the cast iron skillet and poured a half a cup of cognac in the pan and scraped up the steak bits with a wooden spoon. I then added a cup of heavy cream to the cognac, turned on the heat, brought the mixture to a boil, and then let it simmer and thicken. I was supposed to add butter to the cognac and cream and forgot. I am eager to make this sauce again with the butter -- it was tasty without the butter, but my guess is that the butter would raise the taste to another level.
We had red and white wine at the table.
We dug into our poivre steak with sauce, gratin potatoes, and mixed greens and pear salad and agreed that this was a splendid dinner and that I had succeeded in creating a HelloFresh meal on my own without the box -- a meal, by the way, that I never would have thought up on my own.
Tonight our conversations were especially scintillating. We yakked about the challenges of public education, the ways landscapes (or cityscapes) can work figuratively to deepen memoirs, fiction, poetry, and drama, and ways of understanding the Bible as a source of inquiry into the nature and workings of the Divine. It's a relief and a source of great satisfaction that we are not polarized as a family and can discuss these things enjoyably and experience the uplifting experience of helping one another see things afresh, with new perspectives.
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