I bit about real simple cooking

So Sil and I used to live together - to start back at the beginning, we lived in the same dorm, during a semester we did in DC. 2 years later Sil graduated and i needed a new roommate - so in she moved to our Murray Hill 2 bedroom, converted to 3 and we had a fabulous year of wine and cheese on the balcony, snow storms, bachelor party adventures and more shenanigans then either of us care to fully remember.

As a Christmas present that year Silvie got me a year long subscription to Real Simple magazine and immediately i was hooked. Granted Real Simple is more geared towards the suburban housewife freezing meals so her poor inept husband and soccer/lacrosse/karate/oboe playing kids will have a home cooked meal each night then me, the then new to NYC, then totally single, then incapable of boiling water correctly to make pasta. But i loved it. my new years resolution was to learn to be more domestic and I took on the challenge the same way i take on a big cup of pudding. aggressively.

So the point of all of this - i actually have become a pretty ok cook - i love to do it, and love to try new recipes out, especially since Real Simple had the ingenious idea to give their dishes fancy sounding names, but still make them relatively easy to cook with nothing requiring Marsala wine or 14 different pans. (i have a very teeny stove)

I am going to post some of my delicious finds for you! all 4 of you! So I can feel like I am contributing to the blog, without actually writing anything spectacularly funny.

So here is my dinner from last night - I am writing it by memory, not by recipe, so if it doesn't work don't hate me.

Pepper Tuna with Oven Fries and Lemon Spinach

Purchase:
Tuna steak - we got 1 from Agata and Valentina - it was HUGE, so we felt like 1 was ok - but decide on how hungry you are before you purchase - this works for lunch the next day too (i just ate it) so if you want more tuna that's ok too.

Salt & Pepper - if you actually have to purchase this, maybe you should stick to toast. i like sea salt, just an FYI

1 lemon

a few potatoes - i got 3 but that was too many for the 2 of us. Also, i learned you should wash taters REALLY well and dry them REALLY well too. no idea why - but do it!

spinach

olive oil

1 shallot

that's it! amazing right!

To do:

-Heat your oven to 400 degrees

- cut up potatoes (i do them more like chips, then fries - flat and round) and toss in a big bowl with salt, pepper and olive oil (as much as you like - more olive oil makes them more crispy and easier to get off the baking sheet)

- lay potatoes on baking sheet and cook - this takes 40 minutes, so do it first so you aren't waiting for them in the middle of the rest of your dinner. (this happens to me a lot)

- when potatoes only need about 15 more minutes put the tuna on a plate and coat both sides with salt and pepper. Heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan (i use a grill pan, but you can use whatever pan you like)

- when the oil is hot hot hot (can you feel it) put the tuna on the pan. cook for 2 minutes on each side. (note, do not go and watch the Yankees 2nd inning when they are already losing 8-0, it will make you cook the tuna too long) did you know - Tuna, unlike other fish, continues cooking after you take it off the heat. Fact of the Day from EBJ

- In a separate pan, take another 2 tablespoons of olive oil and cut up the shallots into circles and cook em all up for about 2 minutes, then put the spinach in the pan. Get more spinach then you think you will eat, it gets super tiny when cooked.

- put the tuna and spinach on a plate (don't forget to take potatoes out of the oven) put them on the plate too.

-Spritz some lemon on the spinach - and you're done.

If you want to be fancy, you can put a lemon wedge on the plate as well.

The whole situation takes about 1 hour - but if you don't do the potatoes, and instead maybe a nice rice pilaf, or a pasta dish - it will make it shorter.

Enjoy!

Coming up tomorrow - I am walking around the world for the next 4 months. details to come.