You know that one of my favorite things in cooking is when one meal or dish is flexible enough for the leftovers to be transformed into a different version for the next meal or dish without too much difficulty. Cooking once for two or more meals is preferable! This time it was easy to use several parts of the meal and tweak them into a couple of different modes for the following days.
Day One’s version was a steak dinner. The beef steaks were cooked sous vide with plain butter, salt and pepper and then pan-seared for caramelization, the pan deglazed with red wine for jus. Asparagus was steamed and refrigerated before a quick last-minute sear in toasted sesame oil and soy sauce and tossed with a sprinkle of sesame seeds for serving. Russet and sweet potatoes were cubed and oven roasted in butter, salt and pepper. And a room-temperature salad of sweet kernel corn had crisped bacon bits, diced and seeded tomatoes, butter and lemon juice and lemon pepper seasoning it. Dessert was a soft lemon verbena custard (just eggs, cream steeped with a big handful of fresh verbena leaves from the patio plant, vanilla, honey and a pinch of salt) topped with fresh strawberries in honey.
Next morning’s iteration: chop the remaining asparagus into small pieces, mix it with the leftover corn salad, stir in two eggs, pour it all into a buttered microwave-proof bowl, put a couple of small squares of sharp cheddar cheese on top, cover it to prevent spatter, and microwave this instant-omelet on High for about 4-6 minutes (‘waves vary) until done. Fast and tasty. 
Dessert, later that day: another dish of lemon verbena custard, stirred with a tot of almond extract and a little ground cardamom and topped with sliced almonds and peaches. The beef was all gone at the end of the first meal, but even a few roasted potatoes of both kinds were left and made a fine mash with just a little extra butter and cream, and kept in the fridge for another meal yet. All this from one main preparation. Food is good. When it’s good enough, even better to get second helpings with ease.
Art-Colored Glasses 
Oh yum!
Just bring your appetite and a shirt you don’t mind getting food on, and we’ll have a good time at the table whenever you come! 😀
You are so multi-talented!!!
Takes one to know one!! 😉 (Do kids still say that?) I can’t claim to do much really well, but I’m a happy dilettante and dabbler and who knows, maybe the mere repetition of practice will make me at least better at a few things along the way. 😀
You really know how to put together a meal, Kathryn, with each item so thoughtfully prepared. Your photography ain’t bad, either. 🙂 These were some beautiful shots.
You are so sweet, John, but I am nowhere near your league! Someday I hope I can get you to teach me some Real cooking! Then we’ll practice seeing if you can also get me to take just the right shots of the event. 😀
Your culinary expertise is enviable; prompts wondering how you manage your time for it?
Easy, darling. Expertise is highly questionable, but I’m a pretty fair time manager. Have I not mentioned that I am phenomenally lazy and so, always on the lookout for shortcuts and simplifiers??? 😉
Yum and I admit that my passion is not cooking anymore, Kathryn! I’ve always loved to bake, but for obvious reasons, don’t need to do that all the time. But, if I could hire a cook, wouldn’t life be wonderful! I do cook, though, but it’s enjoyable only when I have the time and am not rushing because of evening meetings for whomever in our family! 🙂 xo
See, I’m very fortunate not only to be a homemaker-blogger so I don’t have a rigid outside schedule and can arrange my kitchen time to interweave with my other chores and my writing/drawing. In addition, having only the one other member of the household means I’m often going to the same meetings and events outside of his work time (and even a few within), so though very full, our calendar has fewer insuperable conflicts. I have it eeeeeeeasy. You, you need to sit down and put your feet up once in a while!!
xoxo