Oscar Sunday- March 7

Face it. Football season is over. There's no waking up to cheerios + Sunday NFL Countdown leading to a full day of a glorious display of manly athleticism. So to fill the void, Hunter and I decided that every week we'd randomly flip to a new page in my new Thomas Keller Cookbook, Ad Hoc at Home, and cook whatever we flipped to each Sunday. We agreed on a few ground rules: each person has one veto each week and if the dish we flipped to was grossly out of season, we'd flip again.

Why this cookbook?



I've received many cookbooks as gifts (thanks, Annie!) and bought a couple myself, but Keller's latest cookbook features simple recipes that really break each step down and, most importantly, don't have a ton of ingredients!

On the previous Sundays (before we decided to start blogging), we've made:
- herb-crusted rack of lamb (p 59)
- caramelized sea scallops (p 88)
- whole roasted chicken on a bed of root vegetables (p 22)

The sea scallops were our favorite, but the others were definitely delicious and surprisingly easy.

This Sunday, we flipped to:
- peppercorn-crusted beef tenderloin (p 47)
- sauteed broccoli rabe (p 195)
and then Hunter was craving sweet potatoes, so we added:
- glazed sweet potatoes (p 232)

Wow. The beef tenderloin was peppery and incredibly tender. Keller's instructions were spot on and directed us to a perfect medium rare cut. We didn't have a roasting pan & rack, so we improvised with a pan with high sides and a cooling rack that fit snugly inside.

The broccoli rabe was vibrantly green and crisp with a hint of spiciness. I love the hint of crisp bitterness you get, especially paired with the tender steak and the sweet sweet potatoes.

And the glazed sweet potatoes? Ohhhhh man! Those were TO DIE FOR! Crispy and sweet and incredibly delicious. We'll definitely be making those again!



Final plating-


To finish up, we enjoyed mini cupcakes from Baked by Melissa. yummy.





Hunter says the best part of the meal was that we he only had to clean up 4 pans!

Yuck or Yum:
peppercorn-crusted beef tenderloin (p 47): dominique- yum! hunter- yum!
sauteed broccoli rabe (p 195): d- "meh, it's okay" h- "it's not yuck...is there a middle ground?"
glazed sweet potatoes (p 232): d- "i'm in heaven!" h-"dominant, decadent."