My contribution to fancy dishes for dinner was shrimp in a Pernod cream sauce with rice. I made extra sauce, as you can see in the swimming pool of sauce above, because it is so delicious. Although there was a lot of chopping to get the vegetables (onion, garlic, celery, fennel, and red bell pepper) ready for cooking, I was really glad that I had gotten the prep out of the way before cooking. So tasty!
We are in Southern Utah enjoying our vacation with our son. In between all the golfing we spent a day sightseeing in some of the less visited part of Zion National Park.
After exiting the east side of the park we traveled down to Kanab, Utah for lunch at Escobar’s where we tried some lunch specials.
We tried something new for dinner. We had found some very thinly sliced beef. The pieces were top round but looked well-marbled. Jon did a quick pan-fry and we served the meat piccata style with noodles and broccoli. Unfortunately the meat was very chewy and basically tasteless. We have lots of leftover noodles that we will try serving with chicken piccata on Friday. Hopefully that will work better.
This is Jonathan’s go-to dinner for special occasions. It is so delicious! I was his sous chef busily cutting up the vegetables and getting the prep done. He was the cook braising the leeks in butter and a little water, mashing the potatoes, sautéing the asparagus and mushrooms, searing the scallops, and preparing the sauce. It was a fabulous vacation-worthy dinner.
Jonathan cooked on Monday. We had originally planned on scallops but there were none to be found at Harmon’s. We were promised that they would be available tomorrow. I helped out by chopping the onion, garlic, and mushrooms. Jonathan manned the stove. We did a blind tasting of red wines, one less expensive and the other twice as much. Actually we enjoyed both!
For our first cooking night in Utah John made probably the most delicious burgers ever. Rosy pink on the inside and nicely charred on the inside. We had tater tots and a small green salad along side.
Every Fall we take a week’s vacation with our son, Jonathan, to St. George, Utah where we used to have a vacation home. We sold it a few years ago and although we miss it a lot we don’t miss the expense and worry. Once a year we rent a condo for a week and it is a fine substitution. We love the scenery and Jonathan has a great time playing golf at all the courses around here.
We also love cooking and shopping together. Jonathan and I have a long history of food shopping. He was the most obliging of babies and was always happy to go shopping with his Mom wherever we lived. Near to where we are staying is a beautiful Harmon’s grocery store. Jonathan and I plan on going there most days.
We have our traditions associated with this trip and one of them is to get sushi from Harmon’s on the first night we are here. It takes about 10 driving hours to get here, so really 11 hours accounting for stops. Obviously we are not going to be doing a lot of shopping and cooking the first night we arrive. We pick up the essentials for our dinner and breakfast in the morning and collapse exhausted on the couches with our sushi.
Since we are going away tomorrow I wanted an easy dinner and one that would use up the tomatoes we have left. The chicken wings come prepared and frozen so all we had to do was bake them at 425F for 25 minutes. I had some pre-washed lettuce so I cut that up, added a lot of cherry tomatoes and banana pepper rings, and topped the salad with packaged fried shallots. Quick and tasty!
Tonight was Sarah’s night to cook and she took the shortcut route. With the help of Barilla spaghetti, Rosina’s frozen meatballs, and Rao’s vodka sauce dinner was ready in a flash. I make diners with shortcuts occasionally so I am in no position to throw stones. The bowls she served us were garnished with olive oil, Parmesan cheese, and a slice of garlic bread. Yum!
The clam chowder that I make is a cross between the traditional New England clam chowder and Rhode Island clam chowder. It is not so thick that your spoon can stand up in it but it is not just the ingredients in an almost clear clam or fish broth. It all depends on how much cream you are willing to use. The amount I use varies between 2 tablespoons and 1/2 cup of heavy cream. If all I have on hand is half and half I would use a little more. No matter what or how much dairy you use is up to you. It will still taste good.
Sarah and I came across a very good buy at Grocery Outlet a few weeks ago. Our family really likes Nathan’s all-beef hot dogs and here we had found Nathan’s hot dogs for 2 8-packs 2/$3.00! But they were not the usual style we buy. They were Nathan’s Hot and Spicy hot dogs!
I stuck them in the freezer feeling a little hesitant to use them because of the hot and spicy label. Finally on Tuesday we boiled them and guess what, they were hardly spicy at all! So my qualms were unfounded.
Along with the hot dogs I made canned black beans with red bell pepper, jalapeño, coriander, and cumin. I also added onion and garlic powder and caraway seeds to the canned sauerkraut. Just these small adjustments made the canned food much tastier.
Omnivore 