Comfort Food Redux

I grew up in the 70s and 80s. My mother was a dinner-assembler, not a cook, so if it was fast, convenient and simple to do, my mother was all for it. If a meal took more than 20 minutes to prepare, it was called Passover. Cubed steak, a.k.a. "poor-man's steak" was a family favorite. Less work and slightly more luxurious-seeming than a hamburger, cubed steak is a special piece of meat. In its natural state, it'd probably too tough to eat. But when pounded with a meat mallot within an inch of its life to a thin cutlet, it's quite simply, delicious mediocrity. Slather on the A-1.

I marinated this cubed steak in worcestershire sauce, sauteed in a hot frying pan coated in a layer of ground salt and pepper. While that was scorching, I sauteed some cleaned, halved brussels sprouts, another favorite from my youth, only when I was served these, they were usually bought frozen. These babies are fresh. Salt, pepper, olive oil and a tiny dab of butter.

Finally, I slapped together a baby arugula salad with some quartered campari tomatoes. If this was true to a dinner at home in Rosedale, Queens when I was 12 and my mother was tired, the salad would have actually been a pot of instant mashed potatoes. Idahoan "mashed potatoes" were my mom's brand of choice. Oy. Not until I grew up did I actually taste the real thing (which, by the way, are supereasy and quick to make, especially if you like them skin-on like I do.) The instant ones don't even really taste like potatoes. They kinda taste like...hospital sludge? In any case, I'm involved in a lowcarb diet situation and the salad was delish, thankyouverymuch!