Simple bison tacos (not so simple)

 So, this is a weekday meal that you can prep ahead of time. 

• 2 cups spinach (1/2 a bag that I get at the farmer's market)
• 1 bucket of mushrooms (whatever that container is they come in in the supermarket)
• 1 lb. ground bison
• 1 red or green or yellow bell pepper
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 1 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp salt
  
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon 
• cilantro, avocado, chopped lettuce... the works
  

Simple directions:

1. make the spice rub. (you can do this ahead of time or at the time, no matter which.) You will end up using most of this for the meat, but reserve a little to sprinkle onto the peppers and onions.
2. use a food processor to coarsely chop up the spinach and mushrooms. (easy to do ahead if you, like me, do a lot of food prep at the beginning of the week.)
3. combine the spice rub with the bison. 
4. Put a tbsp of oil in a frying pan and cook up the ground bison.
5. When it is browned and really getting there, add the mushrooms and spinach. Combine well, let the moisture cook off. 
6. Check and effing correct the seasoning. 
7. In a separate pan, cook up the onions and peppers. Sprinkle with seasoning. 
8. at some point, make sure to chop the lettuce and the avocado, cilantro, or whatever else you need. This should probably be somewhere between step three and four. Whatever.
9. Heat the tortillas. Or make a rice bowl. Or just eat it. Bisony goodness.

 

Weekday Rice Bowl

 One of the bounties of the Santa Monica Farmers' Market was the availability of fresh ginger root, possibly the best ginger I have ever had. I began hashing together some ginger based sauces and came up with this for a weekday meal:

one inch ginger, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, microplaned

3 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp mirin

1 tbsp fish sauce

(You can double this recipe easily and store it, which is a nice way to save some labor for a meal next week).

If I am cooking salmon, then I sous vide up three fillets at 110 degrees for forty minutes (if frozen), and then carefully remove them and let them soak in the marinade. If doing mushrooms, then I presoak the mushrooms in the marinade. In either case, reserve the marinade as a sauce for the bowl.

Optional: add green onions, quartered or thinly sliced

Optional: sous vide some soft boiled eggs (8.5 minutes@194). This can be done up in advance, of course, but I find it a good protein for a vegetarian rice bowl.

While the cooking is happening, 

prepare a vegetable in the steamer. Get it ready to go. 

Get the rice ready to go, and then set them to be done all at the same time.

Chop up an avocado

If salmon, I typically dry the fillets and cook them at high heat to crisp up the skin. If mushrooms then, just strain out the marinade and cook.

Once the rice is ready, spoon into bowls, add the mushrooms or salmon (skin side up), cut the egg in half (vertically). Add the chopped avocado. Top with Bonito Flakes, sriracha mayo,  and the sauce.

I typically serve this with steamed bok choi, on the side.