After days (*ahem…* sorry… weeks) of holiday-style eating, I’m ready to get back to normal. It’s a feeling I’ve become well acquainted with over the years: a craving for something healthy that will make fitting into my jeans feel like a bit less than a struggle. That said, while the feeling is familiar, the cure has changed quite a bit over the years.
When I was in high school, grapefruit was the only thing that made me feel right again. I’d get back to boarding school after a few months at home, and my first breakfast back, I’d grab two grapefruit halves and a cup of coffee for breakfast. I don’t know how the acid didn’t burn through my stomach like battery acid, but somehow, it helped.
A few years later, after traveling through Europe with my friends, a “big bowl of vegetables,” was the only thing that would do it. I would crave huge salads made of as many raw vegetables as I could think of… and often make do with a simple carottes râpées (or, on one occasion, a bag of washed lettuce and a plastic fork devoured on the steps of the Bordeaux Cathedral.
For a time, post-holiday-binge, I would cook a pot of little Puy lentils – cheap as chips in Paris – with a can of tomatoes and whatever spices I had in the cupboard. It was an inexpensive meal that was filling and felt incredibly healthy.
These days, a play on a Buddha bowl (albeit with a touch of high-quality meat) is usually more my speed. I like the variety and the bright zing of the lemon-tahini dressing, and the steak and roasted veggies make it feel like more of a meal than a raw salad. I also love the way that topping raw spinach with hot ingredients wilts it just enough (kind of like the microwaved spinach I used to enjoy – for lunch and dinner – at boarding school… but that’s another story for another day).
Steak and Roasted Vegetable Bowl (serves 2)
1 small sweet potato, diced
1 large parsnip, diced
10 Brussels sprouts, quartered
1 1/2 tablespoons melted duck fat, divided
1 6-ounce grass-fed steak
salt
2 tablespoons tahini
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 heaping handful baby spinach
1 heaping handful baby arugula
1/2 cup sauerkraut
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Arrange the vegetables in separate rows on a baking sheet, and drizzle with about half of the duck fat. Sprinkle with salt, toss to coat, and roast for about 20 minutes, or until golden.
When the vegetables are cooked, heat the remaining duck fat in a cast-iron skillet over high heat. Season the steak with salt and cook for about 3 minutes per side. Set aside to rest.
Whisk together the tahini, lemon juice, garlic powder, olive oil, and crushed red pepper flakes.
Combine the baby spinach and arugula and arrange in two bowls. Top each with half of each roasted vegetable. Slice the steak on the bias and arrange a few slices over the top. Top with sauerkraut and drizzle with dressing.