Sous vide steak and mashed potatoes
Sous vide steak again! I have nothing new or exciting this week. This is a simple meal for one. Granted it’s not a frugal meal, and I’m not cooking everything from scratch. I just want to demonstrate that cooking for one, doesn’t have to be from scratch and there’s nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed about by using prepared products like mashed potato and gravy.
Life’s too short to be mucking around if you’re short of time and you want something tasty and simple to prepare.
The centrepiece of the meal should be what takes all the effort and for this meal, it’s the steak. Everything else it there to support it. I’m sure I could boil spuds, put them through a ricer and mix in butter and sour cream to create a smooth mashed potato but for $3.30 I get two packets of mashed potato I can heat through with microwave radiation. For tonight’s meal that’s $1.65 for the spuds. I could also create a gravy from scratch using some wine, flour, butter, and stock, but a tablespoon of Gravox® and some boiling water is so much cheaper and easier.
You can buy the mashed potato from Coles.
You can buy Gravox Pepper Finishing Sauce from Coles.
So the premise for tonight’s meal is to highlight the meat and enjoy it with some spuds, gravy, and raw vegetables. Yes, I’m still on the raw vegetables kick for the health of my colon.
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I bought all the ingredients from Coles. No, Yummy Lummy is not sponsored by anyone.
Recipe
- 350 grams Sirloin steak
- Iodised salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Garlic powder
- Thyme
- Rosemary
- Red radish diced
- Red capsicum diced
- Green capsicum diced
- Carrot diced
- Celery diced
- Red onion diced
- Lime juice
- Olive oil
- Iodised salt
- Black pepper
- Queensland nuts Crushed
- Almonds Crushed
- Parsley Chopped
- 1 packet Birds Eye SteamFresh Potato Mash with Butter 400 grams
- 1 tablespoon Gravox Pepper Finishing Sauce
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Bring a sirloin steak to room temperature and season with liberal amounts of iodised salt, freshly ground black pepper, and garlic powder. Add sprigs of thyme and rosemary before vacuum sealing.
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Vacuum seal the steak into plastic bags.
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Set the Anova Culinary Precision Cooker to 55 °C/131 °F and when the water reaches cooking temperature, insert the bagged steak and cook for 3 hours.
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After the 3 hours, remove the steak and open the vacuum bag. Pat the steak dry with paper towel and sear the surface in a hot frying pan.
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Allow the steak to rest for 10 minutes and then slice the meat.
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Finely dice or slice all the vegetables and put into a mixing bowl. Squeeze over the juice of a lime and add a slug of olive oil. Mix and season to taste.
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Mix in some crushed Queensland nuts and almonds, and chopped parsley.
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Mashed potato and gravy bit
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Follow the instructions on the packets.
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Put the mashed potato into a bowl and pour over the gravy. Place the bowl on the serving plate and add the slices of steak and the raw vegetables.
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Shoot a photograph and a short video because Google now wants video on recipe cards.
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Eat the meal.
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Wash the dishes (hint, wash as you cook, it makes life easier).
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Write the recipe.
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Write the blog post.
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Hit publish and hope this blog post gets shared on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.
Recipe Video
Disclaimer
I have no culinary training nor qualifications.
This post is not intended to convey any health or medical advice.
If you have any health concerns about anything you read, please contact your registered medical practitioner.
The quantities are indicative. Feel free to vary the quantities to suit your taste.
I deliberately do not calculate energy for dishes. I deliberately default to 500 Calories or 500,000 calories because I do not make these calculations.
Photographs
I’m currently using the Gutenberg editor and galleries don’t seem to work. I’ve posted individual photographs. If you’d prefer a gallery, please complain to WordPress.
Sirloin steak from Coles 
Saturday dinner. Sous vide sirloin steak, microwave radiation cooked mashed potato, Gravox pepper finishing sauce, butter cooked mushrooms, and raw vegetables.
Questions and answers
What’s better? Packet mashed potato or mashed potatoes made from scratch?
Mashed spuds made from scratch will taste better if you use some butter, sour cream and garlic while avoiding milk.
If you’ve got time to use a ricer and all the palaver, that’s fine. The packet stuff tastes just fine.
What about the gravy from a tin?
Yea, well, if I had time and the inclination, gravy made from the juices of the meat you’re cooking will always taste better.
How was the steak?
It was delicious. It’s hard to go past sous vide steak. I know that readers who want a frugal or thrifty guide to cooking meals for one, won’t have access to a precision cooker and a water bath. This can be done with a thermometer and a saucepan, but it requires constant monitoring.
Rather than vacuum sealing the meat, a ziplock bag can be used so long as care is taken to displace the air in the bag prior to cooking.
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Final thoughts
Have you ever tried packet mashed potato and gravy?
Do you always make mashed spuds and gravy from scratch?
How do you like your steak cooked?
Sponsorship
Yummy Lummy has no sponsors but maintaining a blog isn’t free. If anyone or any company would like to contribute please contact me.
I watched and enjoyed your video – I now know you’re an Australian! A fabulous meal.
Thanks, Chef Mimi. It was a great meal, and yes, I am very much Australian 😃
When I was a child I actually preferred the potatoes from a box that you could mix together and heat up. I’d always make a big “well” in the middle for plenty of butter. While I prefer the homemade potatoes now, the boxed potatoes bring back so many good memories!
Yum, I loved making a mound of potato and adding a bit of butter and watching it melt and then mixing it through. Butter, real butter, makes it so much better.
Nice recipe – and I like the idea of adding crushed nuts to the veggies for added texture. I’ve never tried mashed potato from a packet and always make it from scratch, which is why I don’t make it very often as it’s such a faff. I do use gravy granules from time to time. If you pour in a bit of the meat juices, they make it better. And I cook my steak rare.
I love steak rare, but when it arrives medium rare I’m not put off. If I get a steak well done, I will complain.
I agree, meat juices really add flavour to a sauce.
Gary what are the Queensland nuts?
The original name for the three species in the genus Macadamia.
It was the common name before they were taken to Hawaii and made famous as Macadamia nuts.
When I was growing up I only ever knew them as Queensland nuts.
I used to buy frozen mashed potatoes Gary, the ones that are in the shape of little canisters…delicious but no longer as they have butter already included.
Yes, that’s what bought. They should sell them with a vegetable oil.
Your raw veggie dish added color and crunch. I’m impressed with what you do and your comment about time is true. I’ve never been fond of packaged mashed taters, but I will eat them. There are so many variations it makes more sense if you want a quick flavorful dish or side or addition to your casserole.
Thanks, Kris.
As much as I like to cook, I’m only doing it for myself so I don’t need to get too fancy 😃
I like real mashed potatoes. A few lumps assure me they’re not reconstituted. I like pomme frites from real
potatoes, too, not from the freezer. Everything tastes good when someone prepares and serves you.
When I make mashed sweet potato they’re pretty rough. I like a bit of texture as you say to make them feel real 😃
Never tried packet mashed potato and gravy…unless you count the one from KFC. Agree with you. If you’re short on time or just plain lazy. nothing wrong with buying pre-packaged foods for part of your meal. I like my steak cooked in between medium rare and rare.
Thanks, Mabel. For $3.30 for two packets, the instant mashed potato is worth it I reckon. It’s even better than the KFC mashed potato if you add a little Gravox® gravy.
It is hard to beat KFC but I take your word for it. Mashed potato is carb but one serving doesn’t hurt 😃
Last night I had potato gems. Oh the carbs 😃😃😃