Sunday, January 8, 2012

Meat and Potatoes

Potatoes are a bit on a controversial food for me. They aren't really an approved part of any Primal or Paleo diet but they are just so delicious and versatile it's hard for me to give them up altogether. Luckily I have found some great substitutes, like pureed cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes, but I still haven't found anything to replace really delicious roast potatoes. So, I just eat them. Not often because of the high carbohydrate content, but on occasion. Probably about once every two weeks.

In any case, Friday night I had some beautiful New York Strip to cook, and what better to pair it with than roast potatoes?
This whole meal is a great example of how simple food can be delicious. The steak was simply crusted with kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper then seared for about five minutes on each side in a cast iron skillet. For the broccoli, I just steamed it for about 5-7 minutes then sauteed it in butter with a little bit of garlic. This is pretty much how I cook most vegetables. It makes anything taste good.

The potatoes were a little bit special, though. I still had some duck fat left over from Thanksgiving so I coated the small halved potatoes with that. In addition to salt and pepper, I also grated a clove of garlic on the spuds and added a bit of rosemary. I put all of the potatoes cut side down on a baking sheet so that they would have a lot of contact with foil and get extra crispy. I roasted them at 400 for about 20 or 25 minutes. They turned out perfect, very crispy on the outside and soft in the middle, and the duck added an interesting flavor. I know not everyone has duck fat on hand though, and I think bacon grease would work equally well.

Overall, this was a very quick and simple meal, but it still felt special, a little celebration for the end of the workweek.

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