This week the local grocery store had a good deal on beef tenderloin steaks that was too good to pass up.    We don’t each much of what I refer to as “hardcore beef” at our house.  By hardcore I mean large helpings of the well known cuts, filets, porterhouse, strips, etc.  We usually cut beef up into smaller pieces and mix with pasta, stir-fry, salads, or something like that. Frankly because these days the service cuts of beef, and pork (the other white meat) are much more affordable.  Even with the tenderloin steaks we had last night, the four of us split two 5-6oz cuts. 

As always, we were running short on time for dinner, so the plan for the tenderloin steaks was a very basic.  The beauty of a tenderloin steak is it doesn’t take much enhancing to get a great flavor.  It’s probably the most naturally flavorful cut of beef.  So I simply sprinkled a little garlic powder, salt, and pepper on each side, and seared it real good, about 3 minutes on each side, in a red hot pan.   The two steaks, in the skillet, were finished off in the oven for about 8 minutes at 375.  The plan was to do a nice reduction of burgundy or Marsala deglaze, but, oops, I forgot! 

For a side we had about 2.5lbs of red potatoes in the pantry, and some green cabbage that if it wasn’t used last night, wasn’t going to get used.  The potatoes were boiled for about 15 minutes, during that time I also diced about 4 cups of cabbage and 3/4 cup of onion, and sauteed them in butter until nice and tender.  When the potatoes were nice and soft, they were drained off, and mashed with 1/2 cup of milk and some salt and pepper.   My riff on Irish potatoes was finished by stirring the buttery cabbage into the mashed potatoes.

We needed a vegetable.  I was going to steam a bag of frozen broccoli, but the boy, already getting wind of the cabbage in the potatoes, was readying his fit for having more green stuff than he could handle.  Since the day had been long enough already,  I succumbed to opening a can of corn, enhancing it with butter, salt, and pepper.

We’re paranoid freaks about the kids choking on their food, and so cuts of meat are usually cut up for the kids into micro-diced pieces.  Tonight though this turned out to be an unnecessary concern as the steaks were so tender the knife easily tore the beef tore apart.  The tenderloin steaks tasted fantastic.  The boy ended up inhaling all his steak, looking for more, but the wife was joining us late and we had to save some for her.  The girl, she ate some of the steak without turning her nose up at it, and then proclaimed, “I’m tired”, after a few bites of corn.  That usually means, I want attention from not eating my meal.   In our house the kids have to try everything, so she was not allowed to leave the table until she tried a spoon of potatoes with cabbage in it.  She was not happy about this, but soon remembered Daddy doesn’t lose.  Already with a pre-disgusted expression, she tasted the cabbage only to verify the expression on her face.  And with that bite of forced nutrition, no matter how insignificant, she was free to go.

As for the potatoes, they were very good.  Judisious amounts of butter, like pork fat, seem to make everything taste good.  (Hmmm…. bacon would have been a good addition to the cabbage potatoes!)  The boy said he really like them, despite protesting, “Dad!  Why did you have to put cabbage in it?”  He did his level best to eat around the cabbage, but his ”green stuff” radar failed to track every piece.  The expression of surprised distain as he chewed the potatoes occassionally crunching down on some cabbage was hilarious.  In the end, the boy managed to somehow eat around most of the cabbage leaving his plate littered in cabbage pieces.

When the wife finally made it to dinner, she proclaimed the steak was just perfect.  She said the potatoes were very good, but I got the impression her Italian blood wasn’t overwhelmed by the subtle (some say bland) flavors  of Ireland.

In our house the kids noses get turned up by any suggestion of a meal served with fish that doesn’t involve tuna from a can.  It is unfortunate for the wife and I as we are big fans of the tilapia.  Perhaps some would say it’s fortunate for us, because it’s more for us!  The thing to really like about tilapia is it’s mild, slightly sweet taste.  For someone such as the wife, who is turned off by the strong “fishy” taste of many popular catches it’s something she finds very enjoyable.  Even better is the fact that tilapia is considered a “clean fish”, free of seeped toxins, is not at risk of being over fished, and like most fish is really, really nutritious.

So anyway, last night on short notice for dinner I whipped out about 6 small frozen tilapia fillets, and thawed them in the sink.   I hit them with a little salt and pepper, and cooked them over medium-high heat for about 90-120 seconds on each side.  At the same time, I fired up the broiler, and threw a couple tablespoons of flaked coconut on a cookie sheet, and put them under the broiler for all of 30-60 seconds, at the most.  Just long enough to get the ends of the flakes a nice toasted singe.  Put the fish on a platter, and topped them with the toasted coconut flakes.

To go along with the fish I made 3 cups of white rice, and popped a bag of those frozen mixed steamed vegetable thingies in the microwave.  Plated the rice, the steamy mixed veggies, topped with the coconut fish, and sat the family down to eat.  The wife loved it.  The daughter, well, she was in a mood, (that ended with her skipping dinner going to bed.) The boy picked out all the veggies, and the “ewe”, “icky” soft carrots, and made his way to asking for thirds, at which point he was stopped and forced to eat a handful of baby carrots first.   I thought the sweet coconut just melted into the sweetness of the fish perfectly.  It was great.

This morning while making the kids the highly technical “just add water pancakes”, I discovered some pumpkin in the refrigerator, (no doubt leftover from the halloween party cupcakes.)   I’m certain the discovery left me staring into the refrigerator with an evil smirk as I thought, even for the most fleeting second, I can use this, and it will be good for you!  MAWAHAHAHAH!  Within ten seconds, my dastardly good-for-you-pancake plan was hatched.

I decided to drop three tablespoons of pumpkin in the batter, along with a couple of dashes cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.  I thought they were really good, especially after you added syrup to them.  They truly tasted like pumpkin pie…to me.  The boy, not so much.  The wife, scoff.  The daughter told me they were really good, nodding her head frantically to “Do you like them?”, but then preceded to only eat about half of what was on her plate. 

I didn’t expect much from the wife, a self-proclaimed, traditional pancake eater.  Plain pancake, maple syrup.  The kids on the other hand like pumpkin pie, and I thought they might actually get some nutrition from eating pancakes.  Perish the thought!  Perhaps this was a “It’s good for you. Eat it!” moment, but after all, they were the unwitting subjects of Dad’s breakfast experiment conceived and executed (or mis-executed) in all of twenty seconds.