Well, not so much. Tim made it pretty clear: He wanted meat. Red meat. And potatoes. Colored vegetables were optional.
OK then. He wanted to just grab a few steaks and throw them on the grill. But as he was home for dinner over the weekend, I suggested we cook together, and try London broil, or top round. Much more meat, just as tasty, for a much better price. In fact the two-pound slab of top round I bought was about $10. Even flank steak, once less expensive, was about twice that price.
I did a quick marinade with fresh herbs and olive oil, coarse salt and pepper. Then while the grill was heating up, we cut up potatoes, zucchini, and carrots.
We roasted the zucchini and carrots in the oven with a little olive oil and salt. Instead of whipped potatoes, which are not terribly hard but can be challenging for a new cook, we went with smashed potatoes.
They don't need to be peeled, just cut up, boiled, then literally smashed with a potato masher, with butter, salt, and a little milk. Even Tim was impressed with how easy it was.
The top round was grilled to a nice medium-rare, so good that the son who never eats leftovers took them home to his apartment for dinner the next night. Two nights in a row without takeout is a good start.
Contact Maureen Fitzgerald at 215-854-5744 or mfitzgerald@phillynews.com, or follow on Twitter@mydaughterskit. Read her blog, "My Daughter's Kitchen," at www.philly.com/mydaughter
