Fancy Tuesday

Darrell and I don't usually have evenings with nothing going on. In fact, we never have evenings with nothing going on. And while last night was no exception, we were actually able to cook dinner together, plus the other things we had going on weren't on any set schedule, so we were able to relax and do something a little nicer than we usually do. It started out simple enough--I've been trying to get better about purchasing produce that is seasonally available and subsequently well priced, and this week that particular item was cauliflower. Now, as the world's pickiest eater growing up, I had never touched cauliflower a day in my life before last night. But I found a recipe for roasting it that sounded good (despite my not knowing what cauliflower actually tasted like), so we decided to go ahead and give it a whirl. Darrell's been on a balsamic vinegar kick lately, plus he really thought a balsamic-y red meat would go well with the cauliflower. We dug through our recipe collection and came up with a lamb recipe that we made to celebrate our first year of dating, but haven't ever gone back to since because lamb is a little pricy. So we decided to try the same recipe on a t-bone steak (at least a little bit cheaper...)


The end result? A pretty spiffy meal if I do say so myself. I definitely felt like it was a special occasion chomping down on this meal on a Tuesday night.

I don't have the recipe that we used for the steak, but I will definitely share the cauliflower recipe. Like I said, I've never made it before, so I really don't have anything to compare it to, but I thought it was good enough that we're doing it again tomorrow!


Garlic Roasted Cauliflower
(discovered here, slightly modified)


2 garlic cloves, minced
1 head of cauliflower, trimmed and cut into florets
3 tbsp olive oil, divided
salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
3 tbsp pine nuts, toasted
2 tbsp lemon juice


Preheat the oven to 450*. In a large bowl, toss the cauliflower with two tbsp olive oil, garlic, and a few generous shakes of salt and pepper. Spread onto a baking sheet and roast 20-25 minutes, tossing twice, until cauliflower is tender. Scrape everything (any juices included) back into the large bowl. Add the remaining tbsp oil, pine nuts, parsley, and lemon juice; toss until well coated. Season with additional salt and pepper if necessary. 


I will say that the easiest way to ruin a nice dinner and a relaxing evening is to try to do four loads of laundry. Especially when one of those loads is whites that need to be bleached--which apparently takes 30 minutes longer in the wash cycle (at least when it is on the "whitest whites" setting). Definitely made for a little bit of a late night, but at the end of it I got all my work done, we got all our laundry done (and the beds remade), and our bellies were perfectly content the whole time. Still a successful evening in my book.