A former mentee from my pre-retirement days is coming to visit. I’d like to make her a nice meal and her response to “What do you like to eat?” was “I’ll eat most things… I’m usually pretty happy if there are vegetables and lean protein in their somewhere.” This will be afternoon but could be scheduled earlier for a lunch or later for dinner. I want to make something special for her, she was a great mentee and made me look like a great mentor and food is a way I can express my gratitude and fondness for her.
So I need ideas. Lean protein usually means chicken breast which is dull and lacking in flavor as is, but can I make it interesting. What other good options do I have? A lot of varieties of lean meat are not very flavorful, my preferences lean toward fatty meats loaded with it’s unhealthy and flavorful essence, but my guest’s preferences always come first. Tofu? Lean fish? Steak Tartar? I think she likes to eat meat but avoids fat so I think the fabulous gumbo my wife is bugging me to make would be the heavy kind of thing she’s avoiding. Maybe I need more details on that. I’m sure I’m gonna overthink this.
How about some great vegetable dishes or vegetable and meat combos? Been thinking about Brussel Sprouts if they still look good this late in the year. I use I make a lot of vegetables but usually as indistinctive sides. Maybe Jambalaya or Étouffée.
How about cold meals? I can make really nice cold seafood combos, not sure what vegetables to match with other than simple salads.
Anyway, please share your top shelf ideas for this. Especially if there are vegetable and lean protein dishes you really like. My thanks in advance.
I would buy some lean beef, marinate it, grill it rare, slice it thin, and serve with steamed broccoli and some bread or rice.
If you can still get good tomatoes, I’d also serve those, possibly in a salad, or just sliced with salt and pepper and basil, or a bit of thyme.
I like to do several simple dishes for guests, rather than one complicated one, because then if there are ingredients they are avoiding, they can do that.
That’s a prudent approach. Got great local tomatoes last week, don’t know if they’ll be available next weekend. Tomato and mozzarella slices with fresh basil is an excellent cold accompaniment to plenty of hot and cold dishes.
Thinking about it. It qualifies as cold food. I make great slaw. Can make multiple sauces. It think it needs to be served with a complementary dish.
If you want to try tofu I have made this recipe for omnivores and they loved it. It is very flavorful and good hot or cold. I substitute Tamari for the liquid aminos.
I recently hosted a lunch for several friends who are on the vegetables-and-lean-protein approach to eating, as am I. I served a Nicoise salad with all the ingredients separated, so each person could take just what they wanted.
The salad itself is so easy: Lettuce, good tuna, green beans, grape tomatoes, Kalamata olives, hard cooked eggs, small yellow or red potatoes cooked with the skins on. If you want to live large, add some marinated artichoke hearts and mushrooms.
The dressing: Olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic and Dijon mustard. Salt and pepper to taste.
You can do everything ahead, which is also nice when you want to spend your time visiting and not cooking. Offer a nice bottle of crisp white wine and bread if you or your guest want to partake of either.
The possibilities are so endless that the first questions are: what do you like to cook, and what do you consider are your best dishes?
If I was cooking …
This time of year I’m partial to a stuffed pumpkin as a company dish. The filling is whatever feels creative that day but always includes some brown, red, or black rice, some sort of beans, and greens. Sometimes hominy and chipotle and going for a pozole feel, sometime dried cranberries with pecans, ginger, and cinnamon, aiming more Thanksgiving feel. But not adding sugar. It is a savory main not a dessert. I’ve read recipes with potatoes and beef in the filling, and some with cheese.
The pumpkin gets roasted first, then filled and cooked some more with some of the pumpkin flesh mixed into the filling.
I like serving with roasted or grilled vegetables depending on the feel of the meal and what is in season. A salad goes well too. Or a side of sautéed mushrooms.
I serve slices like it’s a pie. It is always a fun dish to present.
Or chili.
Or smoked chicken with a beans side, your slaw, and maybe a potato salad.
They don’t usually carry it in the grocery stores around here. There is a place in Boston that may carry it. Not for this occasion, but something I have to try some day.
Long, long ago I had friends over for a Super Bowl party. I cooked an ostrich roast in my crockpot. All the adults knew what it was, but my friends did not tell their kid.
Everyone ate it and loved it. When the mom told her son (~10 years old) that he’d eaten ostrich he laughed, assuming she was joking. She told him to ask me and I confirmed it was indeed ostrich.
He ran to the bathroom and vomited repeatedly. Once he was done vomiting he began crying and screaming. He called his mom a bitch. They took him home. He never forgot or forgave!
Pork Tenderloin is very lean – and autumn and pork seem to go together. Assuming there aren’t religious reasons to avoid pork, that’s what Id make. Brine it first, if it doesn’t come pre-brined.
Alongside I’d make oven-roasted vegetables – brussel sprouts, onions, either sweet potatoes or a winter squash, whatever else looks good at the farmstand. I’d start with a green salad that includes chopped fresh apples and maybe pecans in a nice vinaigrette.
To keep with the autumn theme, something pumpkin for dessert. I’d do cake instead of pie, but that’s just me. If I didn’t put apples in the salad, I might make my favorite old-timey dessert which you never see any more – warm gingerbread topped with warm apple compote
How about a nice stir-fry? You got your lean meat and vegetables right there. Pretty easy to make, yet can be fancy enough for guests. If she’s low-carbing it, maybe serve it on some riced cauliflower. I’ve also been experimenting with bean sprouts as a low-carb rice sub.
