Recently Sarah got a 2-Good-2-Go surprise bag from Eataly, an Italian gourmet market. Among other things a package of six Merguez sausages was included. She looked through recipes and found one that we had all the ingredients for and made it for our dinner on Thursday. It was delicious!
Merguez is a spicy lamb sausage which is hard to find in grocery stores. I am wondering if we can make it again using a more readily available (and much cheaper) sausage. Here’s a link to the recipe she used.
We have been eating a lot of vegetarian dinners lately and this chickpea stew is one of my favorites!
Chickpeas with ditalini and kale
Ingredients
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped (optional)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 sprigs thyme (or herb of your choice)
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups water
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 can petite diced tomatoes and chiles with liquid (like Rotel)
Parmesan rind (optional)
½ cup ditalini
Big handful of kale or any type greens
Salt and black pepper
Garnish with a drizzle of olive oil and parmesan cheese (optional)
In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, celery, and onion. Cook until tender and the onion is translucent.
Add the garlic and herb then cook until the garlic is fragrant. Pour in the broth, water, and the can of spicy tomatoes with their liquid. Add optional parmesan rind.
Once the mixture is boiling, add the chickpeas and ditalini. Reduce to a simmer and cover with a lid. Simmer 10 minutes, or until the ditalini is tender. Uncover and stir in the greens and optional zucchini, letting them simmer until incorporated.
Your mixture will be quite stew-like. If you want the mixture to be more soupy, add some additional water. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish the bowls with a drizzle of olive oil and optional parmesan cheese..
I usually make this dish with kale instead of spinach but I felt the spinach would be softer in John’s mouth. I dressed my bowlful with the some yogurt mixed with salt and cumin and cherry tomatoes. John goes back to the dentist on Thursday and I am hoping he will give him the green light to start eating chewier foods.
It is definitely Autumn what with our changing to standard time, cool mornings and pleasantly warm afternoons. Given the season and John’s recent oral surgery it is definitely time for Autumn soup! This soup is kind of a lot of prep. There is a lot of peeling and chopping but once that is done it just burbles along for a while and when the vegetables are soft I purée it with a plunge blender. Then add the half and half or cream,the lemon, and if you like sweet things, the maple syrup.
I am including the original recipe with some deviations. For our soup today I added extra stock and cut the half and half to 1 cup. I substituted a turnip for the rutabaga and left out the maple syrup. I did not sieve the soup.
Last night I had a pretty straight-forward BFD (breakfast for dinner). I often jazz mine up while John is content with endlessly making an omelet.
This is two eggs scrambled with a bit of cheese, two tiny sausage patties, and a piece of country style bread with butternut squash and butter.
Since we are still taking it easy with soft food due to John’s oral surgery, I made a simple dinner of penne, chopped up Rosina meatballs, and Rao’s tomato and basil sauce. Not much work eating this and not much work making it either!
Well, boo, here it is Halloween and nobody came to our door. Sarah and John will have to eat the candy I bought. Clam chowder is our spooky dinner for Halloween night.
Sarah’s friend Mark has been here for a few days. One of the mandatory events for his visit is a lunch at Zeni, an Ethiopian restaurant that we all adore. We ordered their veggie platter served on and with injera. We also got some lamb, chicken, and a salad. It was soooo good. I cannot make this at home since I have no source for injera, the spongy bread that is used as a utensil.
We had a great time and eliminated the need for dinner. As you can see from the picture below, we really enjoyed our Ethiopian lunch.
Since John is healing from oral surgery we will be eating soft things this week. The broccoli was the only potentially hard food so I cooked it thoroughly and chopped it up with butter and sour cream in my mini prep. John pan cooked the fish until it as just done and I made a mustard sauce and reheated rice. It all came together well and we enjoyed our mushy meal.
John had oral surgery today so I was on my own while he just ate an omelet. Casting about for something to eat I saw a piece of turkey sausage. But no bun! So I cut up both sausage (hot dog) and a piece of bread (bun) and heated them in the microwave. I added a garnish of yellow mustard and relish. It tasted pretty good!
Omnivore 