My Year in Food + La Luna Cooks Gooseberry Patch: Steak, Potato Skins, Chopped Kale Salad, December 5, 2014

Jeannene's mouth was recovered enough from her dental work by Friday night for her to feel like eating steak, so we had a nice evening in. I'd picked up a New York strip steak for her and a ribeye for me. I rubbed them with a seasoning mixture I keep on hand (about half a cup of salt, mixed with a tbsp. of pepper, a heaping tbsp. of garlic powder, and a pinch or two of cayenne), then melted a little bit of butter in a skillet and panfried the steaks to medium-rare, about 4 minutes on the first side and 3 on the other.

To accompany the steak, I made Stuffed Potato Skins from the Gooseberry Patch Fall, Family, & Friends cookbook I making my way through. To be honest, I've actually been avoiding making these for weeks now. They're the very first appetizer in the book, so this reluctance to try making them means I haven't made much appetizer progress at all in the book! I was afraid they would be too hard or too fiddly or not worth the trouble. I've never made potato skins before, even though I really like good ones. They always seem more like something to order in a restaurant, to me.

Even as I was making these, I was deeply skeptical about how they might turn out. The potatoes, cut into 8ths & sitting on the baking sheet all rubbed with olive oil, just didn't look right to me. I worried the insides would be a pain in the neck to scoop out and I worried the outsides wouldn't be substantial enough to hold the stuffing. I was also aggravated to discover that I was out of scallions, but I subbed some chopped leeks and dried chives, so that was fine. The rest, it turned out, was fine, too, and the potato skins were terrific! They'd be a nice appetizer, too, and the recipe seems easily adaptable to whatever number of people you have.

The Taylor Farms bagged kale salad, on the other hand, wasn't so delicious. I ate my salad out of obligation to have something healthy with my steak & potatoes. It had looked so good in the grocery, with not only kale, but also slices of brussels sprouts, radicchio, and a lemony vinaigrette. I think Jeannene's objection was the tartness of the dressing and the bitterness of the salad, but for me, I suspect it was the sweetness of the dressing. Ah, well, the rest of the meal was great!