After that aromatic butterbread I made the other day, I ended up being busy in the kitchen again. Totally unplanned. 😁 My fiancé’s dad went grocery shopping annnd just as spontaneously, grabbed some beef, both bone-in ribeye and part of a shoulder clod. I decided to take the already-cut pieces of ribeye, give them a quick rinse, pat them dry, season both sides with a bit of salt, gently pierce them with a knife and place them onto a sizzling hot pan with a teaspoon of pork lard.
At the same time, I grabbed a few potatoes and one carrot as you can see there in a photo. I peeled them, washed them, chopped them into smaller pieces so they'd cook faster and set them on the stove to gently simmer. I was planning to make a classic mashed potato buuut then...again, completely unplanned and impulsively, I decided to add a carrot as well. It gives the mash a lovely warm orange shade, plus it's healthy, plus it's tasty. So it is a win-win combination. 🥰
Once the meat developed a nice golden crust on both sides, I sprinkled in a mix of spices measured “by feel”: a touch of turmeric, some pepper, garlic, and finely chopped fresh parsley. Then I gradually added water and let everything simmer until the meat turned wonderfully tender and started to cling to my fingertips. So delicious!
Once the vegetables were cooked, I drained all the water and moved the veggies into the bowl where I planned to mix everything. I whip my mash with a mixer; first just the vegetables on their own, without adding anything, until they turn into a smooth, velvety mixture, almost like the perfect cake filling.
Then I season it with salt to taste, pour in a bit of hot milk until I get the texture I like and I always add a splash of oil that I preheat beforehand. When you pour it into the mash, it should make that little sizzling sound... that's how you know you did it right.
This time, though, I skipped the oil. Why? Well… honestly, I have no idea, hahahaha.
Oh, right, I almost forgot! Maybe the most important part of any lunch: "the salad". The type of lettuce that seems to be the most common in Serbia is what we call "puterica" -> a soft, buttery green lettuce. And it truly lives up to its name most of the time: juicy, tender, almost silky.
I prepared it the usual way: washed the leaves, chopped them up, added some vegetable oil, apple cider vinegar and a pinch of salt. And that's pretty much it; lunch was ready. I think the whole meal prep took under an hour, which honestly surprised me, considering I assumed that beef would take at least three times longer to cook. :)
So, what do you think of it all together? It's really the most classic kind of lunch: meat and potatoes. Then, depending on what you're in the mood for that day, you just choose the cut of meat and the form of the potatoes and voilà… three hundred variations on the same theme. Voila and enjoy! 😍
