my digital lifestream ... unfettered
One of the inevitable outcomes of the several lockdowns during the pandemic was the welcome expansion of my culinary repertoire, for better or worse. All the dishes shown in the gallery below were my home-cooking, spurred no doubt by the mandatory closure of restaurants or restrictions on in-person dining, but also a result of my desire to otherwise re-create these dining experiences while safely getting together with family and friends in the comforts of home.
I owe a good friend of mine a promised homemade dinner for helping me on a recent house project (which I still need to write about). I've been wanting to get my hands on a tomahawk ribeye and I thought this was the perfect opportunity. A dry-aged, 2.25-lb (about 1 kg) prime tomahawk ribeye from Whole Foods was the best I could find around. After a generous sprinkling of Kosher sea salt and fresh-ground black pepper, the FoodSaver was put to work for the "vacuum-and-seal" step of the preparation.
I set the bluetooth- and iOS app- enabled Anova Sous Vide Precision Cooker for medium-rare (129-deg F), and it was an hour and a half wait after that. It was during this time that I roasted some red potatoes in fresh rosemary and balsamic vinegar and sautéed some veggies in EVOO (but who wants to see pictures of that, right?!?).
Finishing the steak on the grill followed next. Another generous sprinkling of salt and pepper, and proud to say, the perfectly seared, medium-rare ribeye was one of the best I've ever done. The Anova sous vide cooker really made it easy, guaranteeing an accurate 'doneness' level every time, but the meat quality was excellent to begin with.
Next time, I'm going to try cooking a tomahawk with a long and slow smoke in the Big Green Egg. This summer promises to be another exciting outdoor cooking season!
First really warm weekend this season and finding some perfectly ripe avocados at Whole Foods, of course I have to make some avocado ice cream. With the KitchenAid ice cream-making bowl in the freezer always ready, it was a snap.
In case you were interested in the recipe, here it is:
That's it! Mix it all together, pour into the ice cream maker, and run on low for 20 minutes. Transfer to a freezer-safe container and keep it in the freezer for a few hours before enjoying. But it would be irresponsible of me to not send out this heads-up - even though avocado is a healthy food, this ice cream is not exactly fat- or carb-free. Consume moderately, enjoy immensely. Fair warning!
