If my lack of posting on the blog is any indication, my life has changed dramatically since starting work at the firm. Machiko and I wake up around 5:30/6, go on a walk/hike with Sophie, make tea, smoothies and breakfasts, and I'm out the door at 7:10 to make it court. On non-court days, I get to take a longer hike with them and maybe catch a couple of minutes of my podcasts, before heading out. I work, come home, walk Sophie for another 45 minutes and start prepping dinner.
(Writing that, I've suddenly become acutely aware of how boring my life is.) The system Machiko and Evan and I have worked out is pretty great. Essentially, we split grocery shopping with Machiko picking up produce (potatoes - sweet and yukon, kale, tomatoes, onions, garlic, and anything on sale lol) and interesting protein options (i.e. beef bones, pork belly) and Evan getting the trader joes staples (cheeses, wines, sweets and dough) and me picking up the specialty items day-of when I figure out what I'm going to make us. We try to eat only organic and lean toward lighter meals, although the recipes below feature lots of protein :)
So I come home, make dinner and Machiko and Evan do the cleanup. Boom. This is all memorialized in my Instagram posts. Since we started this, quite a few people have asked how I come home and manage to cook dinner for the three of us, especially considering the time it takes to prep, cook and execute a meal.
In reality, it takes about 20-30 mins to complete the following meals (not including cooking time). Part of this is that I've planned the menu ahead of time, my kitchen is clean and organized, I know how to slice and dice quickly, and I almost never follow recipes (they take too much time.) I have to thank my mom for the fooducation. We never ate processed foods growing up and rarely got take out, so cooking is just obvious to me. Like brushing my teeth or making coffee.
You just learn along the way what flavors go together, how long to cook certain types of food, etc. Of course, one always has failures. For instance, last night I tried to make a guava serrano chile sauce for my tilapia. It was AWFUL. Like disgusting. Like Evan had to immediately throw away the barf-inducing contents. I'd never prepared guavas like that (softened with onion and garlic) and apparently, you cannot do that. But the rest of the meal consisted of easy staples - quinoa (cooked in organic chicken broth) and roasted sweet potatoes, Bar Ama style alongside the coconut crusted tilapia.
Although I usually post recipes separately, I thought I'd do a roundup of the best meals we've had in the last couple of weeks where there was a special something elevating the meal from basic to luxurious.
MEAL 1: Coconut Crusted Tilapia with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Seasoned Quinoa.
Coconut Crusted Tilapia:
- Get fresh deboned tilapia fillets (We like the fish at Gelsons)
- Rinse and pat dry
- Prepare three flat plates with a lip.
- In the first, put in a 1/3 cup all purpose flour with a heavy dose of pepper and paprika
- In the second, whisk up two eggs
- In the last, mix 1/3 cup flour with a 1/3 unsweetened coconut flakes.
- Take a fillet, coat in flour, then dip in the egg, and then coat in the coconut mixture
- PRO-TIP: use tongs, bc it gets gummy; also just flip the fillets in the mixtures rather than spooning the mix on top.
- Do for all the fillets
- Heat up your choice of oil in a pan on medium (preferably one with a higher smoking point.)
- Once oil is hot, meaning you should hear a strong sizzle when you place the fillet in, place fillet in middle of the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes on each side, until each side is golden brown.
- Fish should be flaky and butter
- Serve with a sprinkle of salt and cilantro and a wedge of lime.
MEAL 2: Cast Iron Skillet Burrata Pizza with Balsamic Onion Jam, Fresh Basil, and Roma Tomatoes on a Garlic Herb Crust
* I get tired of tomato sauce on my pizza, so I whipped up some really quick onion jam to use at the base sauce.
- Take one big white onion and thinly slice
- Sautee onion in olive oil on medium until wilted and translucent - around 5-7 minutes
- Pour in a couple of tablespoons of balsamic (we used one flavored with elderberry)
- Cover, lower heat, and let cook down for 20 minutes
- You may have uncover and let the liquid cook off so its more jammy and easy to spread on the crust
- Use this as a spread over the unbaked pizza crust and cover with toppings
Meal 3: Ribeye Steak with a Green Salad, Parmesean Mashed Potatoes and a Veggie mix of Bell Peppers, Tomatoes, Garlic and Onions
*To be honest, I'm not a meat and potatoes girl, but I was craving comfort food and so I whipped this up.
- Take four big potatoes, peel and quarter
- Boil until you can poke them with a fork
- Drain and mash
- Add 1/2 cup grated parm, 1/4 cup heavy cream and olive oil and mix up. You can add more oil or cream to get the consistency you like
- Add salt and pepper to taste
- Chop up some italian parsley and mix in before serving.
MEAL 4: Honey Whisky Pork Ribs Served with an Avocado Green Salad with Homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette and Roasted Beets and Sweet Potatoes
* This was a bit of a cheat. Generally I cook ribs for 3-4 hours in a dutch oven until the meat is tender and falling off the bone. But I'm in a time crunch in the evenings, so I stole my mom's Nuwave and whipped these up in less than 40 minutes (INCLUDING COOK TIME).
- Rinse and pat dry pork ribs (always do this with protein to freshen the taste).
- Rub in salt and pepper and family spice blend (cumin, cayenne, garlic, ginger, etc).
- Douse with your BBQ sauce (I used a generic honey whisky base sauce, then added soy sauce, (more) honey, paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper since we had those things on hand and not much else).
- Place in NuWave, drop on a bit more sauce over top.
- On high heat, roast for 12 minutes
- Turn over and roast for another 12 minutes
- Serve with BBQ sauce
- PRO TIP: If you do have a NuWave, put chopped peeled beets and sweet potatoes in the drip pan so that the pork juices and sauce flavor the veg - two dishes in one!
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