My weather apps are telling me to be prepared for triple digit weather at least until Thursday when it will cool down to 98F. This week I will be staying away from making anything in the oven and concentrating on cold or quick stovetop cooking recipes. My one pasta dinner will be served cold so I will make the pasta in the morning when it is still relatively cool.
Grilled portobello with seared onions on a thin sliced bagel with Thai tomato and cucumber salad
It was 106F today so there was no cooking in the kitchen. John grilled our mushrooms outside and I seared off some onions and added basil and whole grain mustard to our “burgers” for additional flavor. The salad I made was a couple of handfuls of our daughter’s cherry tomatoes, a cucumber from one of her acquaintances at the Community Garden, some chopped up bell peppers and Fresno chiles, and a scallion. From our patio garden I picked basil and tarragon. The vinaigrette was a combo of Thai flavors – lime zest and juice, fish sauce, sugar, a little soy sauce, and a neutral oil. It is a new refreshing spin on a tomato and cucumber salad.
Thai cucumber and tomato salad
Broth-y clam chowder with toast
This soup is not much of a looker but boy is it good! We should have had leftovers but we could not resist eating the whole thing. The recipe is dead simple and I have included it below. It is my adaptation of a recipe by Gabrielle Hamilton using a lot less cream, canned chopped clams, and bottled clam juice.
CLAM CHOWDER WITH CROUTON. Serves 3-4
Adapted from a recipe by Gabrielle Hamilton
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, minced
2 ribs of celery, minced
2 leeks, dark, woody green parts removed, ¼” coins
10 ounces golden new potatoes, medium dice
2 sprigs thyme, picked
2 sprigs tarragon
6 ounces dry white wine
2 bottles/16 ounces clam juice
Juice from 2 cans chopped clams (~8 oz.)
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons heavy cream
12 ounces chopped clams (2 cans, reserved liquid, see above)
3-4 slices hearty bread, toasted
Step 1
In the Dutch oven, heat the olive oil, and add onion, celery, leeks, potatoes, tarragon, and thyme, stirring to coat. Season with salt, and cook over low heat until the vegetables have just started to soften, taking care not to brown, about 5 minutes. Deglaze with white wine and then add the clam juice and reserved clam liquid. Simmer until potatoes are al dente.
Step 2
Stir in the cream, and simmer until vegetables are cooked through, taking care not to boil. Add the chopped clams, and season to taste with salt and ground black pepper. Remove from heat.
Step 3
Toast the bread until golden, and place each piece in a bowl. Add a ladleful of chowder around the toast. Add another ladleful partially covering toast.
Leftover Chana dal and tabbouleh
Tonight we got around to fixing dinner late and decided to just eat up what was left in the refrigerator. The rice, Chana dal, and tabbouleh made a nice combination and we did not have to heat up the kitchen to prepare dinner. We are bumping our fish meal to next week.
Hummus, tabbouleh, olives, tomatoes, and salad greens
Our Mediterranean dinner tonight was a combination of store bought and homemade components. I made the tabbouleh but just assembled the rest. This is a Lebanese style tabbouleh with the emphasis on parsley rather than the bulgur. Using a food processor to chop up the parsley, mint, scallions, and garlic leaves you with only the tomatoes to do by hand. I bought the already washed salad greens, olives, pepperoncini, and pita so my biggest task was just assembling everything on our plates. We are under an excessive heat warning here so this no-cooking dinner kept our kitchen cool.
Grilled flank steak, broccoli salad, corn on the cob, and red wineJohn and I used to enjoy wine with dinner most nights but since we have been on our weight loss regime for the last 11 months we have limited ourselves to a very occasional glass. So anytime we are having wine is a special treat. And anytime we eat beef is also a rarity as well. Tonight we enjoyed ourselves with a grilled piece of spice rubbed flank steak, a celery seed broccoli salad, grilled corn on the cob, and a 2015 Malbec from Imagery Winery.
Instant Pot Chana dal with collard greens
Tonight we used the Instant Pot to keep the kitchen cool while we cooked our dinner. I use the recipe for Chana dal from this website. Of course I make my own tweaks to the recipe. We like ours a bit spicier so we add a can of tomatoes with green chilies and reduce the water in the stew to 1.5 cups. This time I also added chiffonaded collard greens. They came out an unattractive green but they tasted good!
After a summer where we have barely turned on the A/C it looks like we are in for hot temperatures this coming week. I am trying to keep from turning on the oven or using the immersion circulator to try to keep the kitchen cool. Anything we can make in the morning for a quick reheat in the microwave (like rice) is also in the plan. Our new grill will be a source for outdoor cooking.
Today we had a typical pandemic Sunday lunch on our patio with our kids. After we finished playing tennis and everyone got cleaned up our son helped me make a Thai inspired tomato and cucumber salad. He did a lot of helpful chopping of chiles, cilantro, onions, bell pepper, cucumber, and ginger. I skinned and chopped some of our daughter’s community-garden-grown tomatoes. The dressing is a combination of lime zest, lime juice, a neutral oil, soy sauce, sugar, and fish sauce. We topped it with some torn basil and tarragon. The salad was a big hit!
I forgot to take pictures so I only have approximate photos from the Internet.
Thai inspired tomato and cucumber salad
We just got a new gas grill this week so today was its debut. We are a family who likes their burgers without cheese, tomato, or lettuce. Some ketchup, a little mayo, and a slice of onion is all we need. John did a great job cooking them considering it was his first time using the grill.
It is remarkably hard to find a picture of a plain hamburger on the Internet!
Just a burger, please.
After burger time we had grilled corn which had been briefly microwaved. The kids liked putting butter and “Everything Except the Elote” seasoning from Trader Joe’s on theirs.
Grilled corn
To finish off our patio lunch, our daughter contributed a banana cake made from her grandmother’s recipe. It is delicious! She is such a good baker.
Nana Banana Cake
Spicy thai basil eggplant and tofu with rice
Since we have been creating our international dishes this week, we have run into quite a backlog of leftovers. I am skipping the Chana dal this week and doing a replay of our chicken chili on Friday before finishing up the week on Saturday with shrimp tacos.
Our Thai dish really moves along quickly so you need to have everything prepared to go into your pan before you get started. The recipe for this dish is here but much like me you will probably need to tweak the sauce and make more of it. I also cut up a medium onion to add along with the bell pepper. The chile we added was rather lackluster so we boosted the spiciness with sriracha. So far every time we make spicy Thai basil eggplant it comes out a little differently. Be sure to make notes as to what you have added or changed on the recipe so yours comes out consistently.
Omnivore 