My boyfriend decided to reduce his red meat intake to just once a week. As much as I want to support his commitment to better health, a part of me craves more beef now, knowing that I can’t have it as much when I’m around him. I’m usually good at making shrimp or other dishes that we can both be happy with, but for some unexplainable reason, my cow craving skyrocketed to another universe last night and I could no longer settle on anything else but a juicy piece of Rib Eye steak!
We both agreed that we wanted to keep the dinner fairly light so we decided to make a huge plate of salad with our choice of protein. I selected the boneless Rib Eye steak and he got a pack of chicken tenders at Trader Joe’s. The old us would have made it easy on ourselves and just gone to a restaurant, but we’ve become a little more cost-conscious about our meals in the last few weeks, since I moved into a new apartment. I guess I can say that the good old days of dining out every night of the week has officially come to an end, but it doesn’t hurt that the kitchen here is so adorable and I want to spend as much time as I possible can.
I took the Rib Eye steak and grilled to a prefect medium rare, and poured the balsamic reduction sauce I made with garlic, shallots, red wine and balsamic vinegar. I sprinkled the leftover feta cheese on top and made a satisfying plate of arugula salad that can rival any overpriced restaurant dish.
My boyfriend took the chicken tenders, seasoned them with salt and pepper and pan-fried them with a little bit of olive oil. He deglazed the pan with garlic, shallots, and capers to make this amazingly aromatic sauce. Instead of making it a chicken salad, he ate the salad separately as a side dish. (The dish pictured on top.)
Speaking of saving money, the total for both of our meals, plus a bottle of wine, came to $14.79, or $7.49 per person. I would have spent that much on a glass of wine alone had we gone out to eat! And this, all without having to put on a makeup or look for a parking space! This is my definition of a perfect Saturday night dinner at home with the loved one. 🙂
Lavender and OliVE 
Is this salad Mizuna? I love Mizuna. It has nice flavor, texture and nutrition, hasn’t it?
We don’t eat red meat so often. I prefer pork than beef because of lots of vitamin B.
Beginning of our marriage, sometimes my husband thought I cooked beef even it was pork. If we pick right part of pork and cook right, the taste is similar to beef. seems like.
Hi Yoko! The salad is actually baby arugula but I really like mizuna too! I like the slightly bitter flavor and the crunch! I love reading about J’s farming endeavors! It’s so great that you have access to wonderfully fresh vegetables!
That’s so funny that J thought he was eating beef! I noticed that too, that depending on how you cook it, pork can taste like chicken and beef (so flavorful!). I grew up eating lots of pork (トンカツとか）so I have a special attachment to the “other” white meat! I hope regular supermarket makes those thinly-sliced pork like we eat in Japan! I could do so much with those, like 生姜焼き！