If you read this blog you will know that every Sunday John makes himself an omelet. I, on the other hand, have various dishes which incorporate eggs. This Sunday I made not quite a cheese omelet which was actually eggs scrambled with kale, mushrooms, scallions and cheese. When it got close to done a smooshed it into a rectangular shape mimicking an omelet somewhat. I like my eggs softer than an omelet allows so I think this is as close as I will ever get to an actual omelet.
White chicken chili is a recipe I got from the Neely’s of Food Network. You might like to make their chili because it turns out really tasty. We used a Fresno chile instead of a jalapeño, crushed in a handful of tortilla chips to help make it thicker, and cooked it uncovered a bit longer to help it thicken further. Otherwise it was pretty much as the recipe was written.
John ate our paltry leftovers for lunch today. I was jealous.
John tried a new technique for cooking the salmon that we saw on America’s Test Kitchen last week. He pre-heated a sheet pan in the oven set to 500F. When the oven reached temperature he took the pan out, sprayed it with olive oil spray, and laid the seasoned salmon on skin side down. While he was doing this I lowered the temperature to 275F. Then the salmon went back in the oven and cooked for 7 minutes. Our fish was only about 3/4 inch thick so we had to adjust the time for a shorter roasting time than the recipe suggested.
We were happy with the way the salmon came out. There was very little albumin seeping out and the clean up was easy since we had lined the sheet pan with aluminum foil.
John had made some rice earlier and I added cauliflower rice to mine so that my portion seemed larger. I heated the rice mix in the microwave and added some sliced green onions. The green beans were cooked in a little water in a pan and were finished with a pat of butter.
The mustard sauce really tied the whole dish together. It is simple to make. Mix one tablespoon each of Dijon mustard, whole grain mustard, and yellow mustard with one tablespoon of lemon juice, one table spoon of minced onion, one tablespoon of olive oil, and one to two tablespoons of water to thin it out. Easy-peasy. This is also a great sauce to serve with sheet pan turkey sausage and vegetables.
You could make this pasta dish with any shape you like. I do think it works better with shapes rather than strands. I chopped up all the vegetables ahead of time so the cooking went really quickly.
Using a large enough pan to hold the finished pasta and vegetables I started by sautéing the mushrooms in a little olive oil, then added 1/2 chopped onion, 2 sliced garlic cloves, and the stems of asparagus. Just before adding the drained pasta, I put in the zucchini and asparagus tips. I cooked the pasta together with the vegetables adding a half cup of pasta water and a pat of butter.
My portion was 3 ounces of pasta and a lot of vegetables. I could not finish my bowl so John got a bonus portion!
After getting a good start on Monday with my menu, things have gone off the rails. Tuesday we ended up eating lunch for dinner (open faced tuna sandwich and vegetable soup for me and I forgot to take a picture!) Then Wednesday we went to a friend’s house for lunch and had chili, salad, and cornbread. After such a big lunch we ended up with breakfast for dinner!
I am hoping to get back on track today since I have already bought most of the food for my planned menu. I think I will skip the chili this week since we had it for lunch on Wednesday. John votes for fusilli with mushrooms and asparagus for Thursday dinner. Sounds good to me!
John set up the polenta for me to stir as he got the shrimp ready to be cooked. We buy frozen 21-25 shrimp with tail-on so he removes the tail for ease of eating. As the polenta thickened and I stirred, he kept adding more water until it was about 6 parts water to 1 part polenta. It is seasoned with salt, 2 bay leaves and 2 garlic cloves. I put in a teaspoon of butter near the end of cooking. It comes out quite loose which is the way we like it.
In the time it took to cook the shrimp, I cooked the broccoli. So the dinner came together really quickly. The polenta made a kind of thick sauce for the shrimp and the broccoli. Dinner was great!
Medium-rare hamburger on a toasted ciabatta bun with lettuce, onion, mayo, and ketchup, yum! I misjudged how long it would take to cook the tater tots so mine had the texture of being microwaved. At least the underdone potatoes kept me from eating too many. I put the rest of them back in the oven so the guys could have crispier ones. John ate the rest of them in an omelet of leftovers this morning.
Saturday is our son’s birthday and our last day here in Utah. We are planning on eating a birthday pizza from a pizzeria we know makes decent pizza. I will cook up all the leftover onion bits to put on top. We plan on leaving for the long drive back to Northern California around 6AM on Sunday. Maybe I will plan next week’s menu in the car. I will surely be dininglite the next few weeks.
As a part of our vacation tradition every year our son makes us his “fancy dinner.” John and I are his willing sous chefs. Years ago we had dined at the now defunct Oak City Grill in Menlo Park, CA. The chef at the restaurant made a scallop dish which we all loved and that our son has created through his taste memory. It starts on the bottom with braised leeks, then mashed potatoes, followed by sautéed asparagus and mushrooms. This gets enrobed by a beurre blanc sauce. The scallops surround this mound of deliciousness.
For my part I made the mashed potatoes, and cut up the asparagus. John was in charge of prepping the mushrooms. Our son cooked the asparagus, mushrooms, leeks, and scallops. Then he made the sauce and assembled the dish.
It was so delicious! The scallops were cooked perfectly. Yes, it is an expensive and decadent meal. However, if we had gone to a restaurant for this dish it would probably have cost $150 and that is without tax, tip, and a bottle of wine. We spent about $60 for the ingredients and had a great time making it together!
Omnivore 