LFD – Lunch For Dinner. 10/31/20

Sometimes Saturday’s LFD means Leftovers For Dinner and other times it’s Lunch For Dinner. Either way Saturday’s dinner means a casual meal. It is certainly a good way to relax after a busy cooking week.

Kale, cabbage, and white bean soup plus egg salad and Romaine lettuce in a whole wheat pita

Luckily I was experimenting with a soup recipe earlier in the week and had plenty of this kale, cabbage, and white bean soup to serve for dinner tonight.

CABBAGE AND KALE SOUP WITH WHITE BEANS

This soup turned out very well. It was like eating soup from a trattoria in Florence. The original recipe from Food and Wine Magazine called for farro and pancetta instead of white beans and turkey sausage. Serving size 2-3. Cooks for about an hour.

Olive oil spritz
2 oz. turkey sausage
⅓ medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ tsp fish sauce
I 15 oz can cannellini beans (including some of the goo)
¼ head of cabbage
Some kale (no stems)
1 large chopped carrot
1 quart chicken stock
½ cup water (use it to rinse the bottom of the cannellini can)
3 sprigs thyme
½ sprig rosemary
A Parmigiano-Reggiano rind
Salt and pepper
Garnish with good olive oil and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

In a large pot heat the olive oil spritz. Add the turkey sausage and cook over moderate heat until the fat is rendered, 3-4 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and cook until softened about 5 minutes. Add the fish sauce nad cook for 30 seconds. Add the white beans and stir in. Add the cabbage and kale and cook, stirring until just wilted.

Add the chicken stock, water, thyme and rosemary sprigs and the cheese rind and bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 1 hour. Adjust seasoning. Garnish with additional Parmigiano-Reggiano and good olive oil.

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Shredded tofu, mushrooms, edamame. 10/30/20

Shredded tofu with mushrooms, edamame, cabbage, and carrots

This is the second time John and I have made this dish and I think it still needs tinkering. Here is the recipe by Melissa Clark with my first round of tinkering. *Changes to the original recipe are noted with an asterisk.

Shredded tofu with mushrooms and edamame

1 (15-ounce) package extra firm* tofu, drained
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon dry sherry
Juice of 1/2 lime, plus lime wedges for serving
1 teaspoons toasted sesame oil*
2 teaspoons vegetable oil*
1 teaspoon sriracha*
1 teaspoon oyster sauce*
7 oz. cremini mushrooms*, thinly sliced (4 cups)
1/4 cup sliced scallion
1 (1-inch) knob of ginger root, grated or minced
1 large garlic clove, grated or minced
1 small red chile, seeded and finely chopped
Salt, as needed
1 cup shelled edamame (defrosted if using frozen)
1/4 head cabbage, chopped*
1 carrot, grated*

Using the coarse holes of a box grater, shred the tofu. Spread tofu out on a clean kitchen towel to drain while you prepare the sauce and mushrooms.

In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, dry sherry, sriracha, oyster sauce, lime juice and sesame oil.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat until it’s very hot, then add the peanut oil; it should thin out on contact. Once the oil is hot, add the mushrooms and cook, tossing occasionally, until most of the mushroom liquid has evaporated and mushrooms are browned and slightly crisp, 8 to 12 minutes. Stir in the scallion, ginger, garlic, chile and a pinch of salt. Cook until softened, about 2 minutes.

Carefully transfer the tofu from the towel into the skillet. Toss in the edamame, cabbage, carrot,and the soy sauce mixture. Cook until mixture is heated through. Season with salt as needed. Serve with lime wedges.

My additions or omissions were an attempt to give the dish more bulk, spice, and sweetness. I think next time I will try a more nuoc cham type sauce and add some basil.

This made a lot of food for the two of us with low calories which is good for my diet. We served it over a white rice/cauliflower rice mixture.

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Penne with mushrooms and asparagus. 10/29/20

This is one of our favorite pasta meals. We actually prefer the heartier flavor of the whole grain penne. The asparagus is from Peru where it is springtime. We have also been getting some tasty blueberries from Peru lately. I know we should be trying to eat locally but I really enjoy them and the season here is not for another 6 months.

Whole grain penne with asparagus and mushrooms

Back to the meal, I sautéed the mushrooms, onions, and garlic first. Then, when John put the penne into the boiling water, I added the cut-up asparagus stems and a little water to the sauté pan and covered it. With one and a half minutes left on the pasta I added the asparagus bud ends. John drained the pasta, emptied the penne into my sauté pan, and I finished the sauce with a little pasta water and a teaspoon of olive oil.

John garnished his plate with parmesan cheese, olive oil, and toasted pine nuts. I drizzled a little of our good olive oil on mine.

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Classic chicken. 10/28/20

Hardly a week goes by that John and I do not make what I call Classic Chicken! Our son says that he makes a similar meal every Monday. I guess he inherited the chicken gene!

Sous vide chicken breast with chicken/mushroom gravy, roasted mashed butternut squash, and sautéed broccoli

Although everything was delicious, the star of the dinner was the butternut squash. Roasted in a 400F oven for about an hour, the squash gets a sweet nutty flavor. I sprinkle on some salt and nutmeg before cooking and a little butter is added when mashing. The most difficult part of making the squash is cutting it in half. It is really hard!

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Odds and ends. 10/28/20

I did not stick exactly to my menu yesterday. I have a Zoom meeting on Tuesdays at 3:30 so by the time I am done sometimes I  do not feel like going through the big dinner production. Certainly you can relate? So yesterday was “eat whatever you feel like from the refrigerator” day. I made a leftovers tostada.

Corn tortilla tostada with cauli-rice, black beans, a smear of hummus, sriracha, and power greens

Today because I had some extra time and cabbage and kale in the refrigerator I made a cabbage and kale soup with cannellini beans. It turned out so well! I could imagine eating a soup like this in a trattoria in Florence. Good soup, good memories.

Cabbage and kale soup with cannellini beans

The original recipe was from Food and Wine for cabbage and kale soup with farro. I made mine simpler by using cannellini beans instead of farro (but I am sure it would be good with farro too!) I subbed in 2 oz. of diced turkey sausage for the pancetta, 1/4 tsp. of fish sauce for the anchovies, and added a chopped carrot.  I cooked my soup on the stovetop rather than the oven. It took about an hour. The idea here is to use what you have and you will probably make a dish as good if not better than the original.

My early prep for tonight’s classic chicken dinner included roasting a butternut squash. Cut the squash in half longitudinally, scoop out the seeds, rub some olive oil on the cut side that you have scored, season with salt and nutmeg and put it in the oven for 1 hour at 400F. When it is cool enough to handle, scrape the innards off from the skin. I used an ice cream scoop. Add a little butter or faux butter and mash it up. You will probably have to add additional salt.

Roasted butternut squash

John has his sous vide set up for cooking the chicken breast later today and all I have left to do is to sauté some mushrooms for the gravy and cut up and sauté the broccoli. Yay! For early prep!

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Pan-seared salmon, cauli+rice, veg mix

Pan-seared salmon, riced cauliflower rice mix, broccoli stems and snow peas

We enjoyed a tasty salmon dinner last night. The salmon was cooked in about 5 minutes by John and I made the riced cauliflower and white rice mix, and the broccoli stem/snow peas combo. What? You are not using your broccoli stems?! Broccoli stems are delicious. Just peel them and either cut them or do as I did and cut them thinly on a mandoline. The idea is to cut them to about the same thickness as the snow peas so you can cook them together in the same amount of time. Plus I still have all the broccoli florets to use for another meal! The parsley tartar sauce is left over from last week. I just added a little more mayo.

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Ethiopian Mexican fusion! 10/24/20

Saturday is Leftovers For Dinner or LFD. Since we had Ethiopian and Mexican dinner leftovers, I made a delicious plate of spicy black beans, atakilt wat (Ethiopian cabbage, potatoes, and carrots), tomatoey mix of rice and cauliflower rice, and “power greens” salad with salsa verde dressing.

Ethiopian Mexican Fusion!

I love a low bowl of tasty bites! On this plate you have the zing of spices, the acid from tomatoes and salsa verde, the heartiness of beans, the funk of cabbage, and the sweetness of corn and carrots. Though we will probably never have this combination again, it is fun to raid your fridge of leftovers and make something truly unique.

In baking news, I made a pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing. I almost never bake because I do not like sweet things and boy, was this sweet!! The batter had two cups of granulated sugar in it and the frosting had three cups of powdered sugar, eek!! It was for my grandchildren, a Halloween treat. They loved it and the accompanying bag of candy. I passed on eating a piece because as my grandchildren say, Beebamom, you don’t have a sweet tooth. You a salt tooth!

Pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing

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Weekly Menu. October 26 – November 1, 2020

This a week of comforting, cooler weather favorites.

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Ethiopian dinner. 10/23/20

Yemisir Wot, atakilt wat, cauliflower rice

One of our favorite restaurants, Zeni’s, is out of our reach now so we decided to try our hands at making Ethiopian food. On the menu to night is Yemisir wot (spiced lentils) and atakilt wat (cabbage, carrots, and potatoes with spices.) usually these dishes are accompanied with injers or Ethiopian bread. Since I was not going to the attempt to make injera, we served our two dishes with riced cauliflower.

Our berbere, the most potent spice in the dish, is one that we get from Penzey’s. Our daughter warned us not to use what is the recommended amount in the recipe, 1/2 cup!!!! Instead we used 1 teaspoon and it was still too hot. We added sweet paprika to try to calm it down. I am not going to post a recipe because this dinner still needs work.

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Shrimp fried rice. 10/22/20

Shrimp fried rice

To streamline this dish I cut up the vegetables in the order that they need to go into the pan and John cooks while I am chopping. After cutting each shrimp in three pieces and removing the tail John marinates the shrimp briefly. He uses sesame oil and soy sauce in the marinade. Vegetables in the stir fry are onion, garlic, ginger, mushrooms, broccoli, and carrots. I also make a quick omelet to put in towards the end of cooking when the cooked rice goes in. All the while John is tasting it and deciding if it needs more soy or sesame oil. When the cooking is done we take turns tasting the completed shrimp fried rice and suggesting what would be best to put in to balance the flavors. Tonight I suggested a little oyster sauce because it needed a touch of sweetness. We really enjoyed this quick, flavorful dinner. There were no leftovers!

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