Dinner!

Dinner! ! !

Dinner.
Suddenly this has become (again) an important part of my dietary repertoire.
Tonight, I decided to use the yellow squash, zucchini, tomato and mushroom I'd purchased Monday after work. The meat to this dish was beef. Not filet, but a much less expensive cut of beef. One I was learning how to cook, how to manipulate, so as to get a tender mouth feel, a deep rich taste.

The meal -
begin with Plugra unsalted butter in my iron skillet and add a touch of Lucina olive oil. When the butter begins to sizzle, add the garlic (because everything tastes better with garlic). Lightly brown the garlic, then toss the meat into the mix. Sear the beef. Which means maybe three minutes total time in the skillet, really more like two minutes, with a lot of flipping around to keep from burning. Take the meat out, add the mushrooms, and a lot more butter, just a touch of oil to keep the butter from burning. The mushrooms take in the bulk of the butter, plumping up, filling out, becoming so tender, so juicy, it's practically criminal. Once the mushrooms have married to the butter, add the zucchini and yellow squash, touch more butter. I seasoned with white pepper, and cinnamon. It sounds crazy, I know, the cinnamon. Oh, but boys and girls, it was anything but, I promise. Let the squash simmer with the mushrooms for a few minutes, then add the fresh tomato. I used small vine-grown tomatoes, cut into quarters. As the tomato cooked down, I'd grab the skin and discard. No 'extra' in my pan! I turned down the heat, let everything simmer until the tomatoes were fully integrated into the dish. Now, to finish.

I opened a bottle of Ken Brown 2012 Nielsen Vineyard Pinot Noir - a young, impudent wine with a really round mouth feel, and just a hint of cinnamon - and liberally filled the skillet with this red wine. Heat turned back up, wine cooked down. Beef thrown back into the mix to absorb the wine flavor notes, and a few minutes later, presto! bingo! dinner was done.

Looking at the vegetables and meat in the pan had my mouth watering, but something was missing. Not wanting rice or pasta, I struggled with how to serve it. And then I opened my refrigerator, and there on the top shelf was a container of baby spinach. Of course! Serve this earthy goodness on top of greens, and grate fresh cheese - just a tad - over the mix.

All I have to say is this:  Oh.  My.  God.

SO damn good! So damn easy! So damn fast. 

I admit - I love food. It's a weakness of mine. And when it comes together in such a brilliant, healthy manner, well, I love it even more.

Here's to dinner!