Maybe it’s because I’ve been away from an office for so long, but on a recent Bowl Night, I was craving the kind of bowl I’d build at a Sweetgreen, Fresh & Co., or other similar overpriced big city lunch build-a-bowl shops. I decided to create something similar at home and was happy to discover I could make something equally tasty for a fraction of the price. I also decided to finally use steak on Bowl Night. The moment I realized we’ve been doing this every Thursday for the better part of a year and hadn’t used steak as the protein, I knew I had to fix things.
Start by roasting a head of cauliflower (florets) in olive oil and everyday seasoning. I used this gorgeous purple cauliflower because my beau spied it at the store, but regular white cauli is perfect. Once you get the cauliflower in the oven, start your rice (I used brown rice medley) in the rice cooker. Those are the two things that take a bit of time, but only about 25 minutes total, more than enough time to get everything else ready. First, make your avocado sauce by puréeing an avocado in a food processor with a tablespoon of light sour cream, one clove garlic (grated), and salt. Add olive oil as you purée to get it to the right consistency. Now warm some frozen corn in a pan with some salt and pepper. Easy. You’ll have a spare minute or two at this point so take the opportunity to clean any dishes. As your cauliflower finishes up, season up some flank steak so it’s ready to go in when the veggies come out. I used a combo of Trader Joe’s umami seasoning, black garlic flakes, white pepper, salt, and crushed red pepper. I’m not sure of the exact mix – my beau handled the seasoning (and did so beautifully, I might add) – but that was the gist of it. Cook the steak under the broiler on high. My rule of thumb is 4 minutes per inch per side. When it’s done, take it out to rest before slicing it into cubes. Serve it all up buffet style and enjoy.
Any bowl – especially one featuring steak and avocado – will run you at least $15 at a restaurant. I would say I got the price of these bowls down to about $7 per serving, conservatively. This also goes to show that you don’t need a ton of toppings to make a rice bowl exciting. This was restrained as far as bowls go, but it had a ton of flavor. Everyone went up for seconds this time.
Peaches to Apples 