This was another delicious pasta dish by Sarah. She sauteed the onions and garlic in olive oil and then added the cooked linguine to the vegetables along with some pasta water. A dusting of feta cheese went on top. It was a simple dish but so delicious! The cabbage and onions sweeten up in the cooking and the feta is a nice salty counter punch. I look forward to her dishes every week.
For our enchiladas John sears the tortillas first so they have a charred flavor. Then I take the tortillas and fill them with shredded chicken, diced onions, shredded cheese, and green enchilada sauce. I nestle them in a 9 x 9 baking dish. The entire casserole is covered with more enchilada sauce and cheese and bakes in a 400F oven for around thirty minutes until they are warmed through and the cheese is melted.
I also made Mexican cole slaw. It is basically a combination of cabbage, mayo, sour cream, taco seasoning, charred corn, Rotel, and lime juice. The recipe calls for a jalapeño but I think the Rotel is spicy enough and also black beans which I omitted. Although the pile of cole slaw on my dish is not very visually appealing, it is definitely tasty.
We had a small family grill night for Memorial Day. John cooked the hamburgers expertly and also put some char on the corn. I made up a salad and we shared part of a bag of chips.
Today we are getting those good omega-3 fatty acids from the salmon! Plus the broccoli provides 140% of our daily vitamin C. Hopefully these two super foods will offset the white rice which does not bring much to the good nutrition table. I am thinking of changing to brown rice which Sarah eats exclusively and the rice always smells so good when she cooks it using the oven method. Of course that means I have to plan ahead since it takes an hour in the oven.
John cooked the salmon for 9 minutes in a 400F oven and it came out perfectly. I made a parsley mustard sauce which went very nicely with all the components of our dinner.
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon whole grain mustard (optional)
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar (or whatever vinegar you have)
1 tablespoon water
Dash of sugar or sweetener
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon capers
2 cornichons, finely chopped (small un-dilled pickles)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Combine all except parsley. Add the parsley just before serving
The pasta of choice at our house is Barilla. Along with most other grocery items the price of a pound of pasta has gone up. We try to stock up whenever Barilla is on sale. This week it was selling at 3@$5 or $1.67 for a box. It is the lowest price for a couple of months and, even though too high, we bought some to keep in our pantry. Here’s a picture of Barilla on sale in Italy in 2018. Over two pounds for about 75 cents!
Anyway, we like Barilla’s whole grain penne and really enjoy a simple bowl of it with asparagus, onions, and garlic. The sauce is merely olive oil and pasta water. I like the way asparagus cut on the diagonal mimics the penne.
Occasionally one of our grocery stores will have 6 or 7 ounce frozen portions of swordfish and tuna on sale for $5.99. The three of us can divide up the fish and have a fine seafood dinner for $12.00. Last night only John and I were at the table so not only did we have a fine dinner but John got to eat my leftovers for lunch!
We use a recipe from serious eats where we make half the amount of fish but make the total recipe for the wonderful sauce. Who doesn’t like a lot of sauce?! The sauce is tomato-y with lots of bright saltiness from capers and olives. It is finished with parsley and roasted pine nuts. Yum! John does a great job sautéing the fish and I am in charge of the vegetables and sauce. Once you have everything prepped the cooking takes less than 15 minutes. It’s another one of those not expensive but company worthy dinners. Here’s a link to the recipe we used—https://www.seriouseats.com/agghiotta-di-pesce-spada-sicilian-braised-swordfish-with-tomatoes-and-olives-5212333
On the side we had couscous and zucchini. We just followed the package instructions for the couscous which only takes about 5 minutes. I sliced the zucchini into half moons a sautéd them in olive oil with onions, garlic, oregano, and salt.
Originally it was supposed to reach 90F for the first hot day of the season. Actually I think it was only 86F but I had planned this hot night dinner and was thus commanded by the menu hanging in my kitchen to make it. Truthfully there was not much to make with the exception of the tabbouleh which came out probably the tastiest I have ever made. Here is the recipe I mostly follow—https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1012585-tabbouleh?unlocked_article_code=1.JE8.hsPV.fcS-0yBRDYln&smid=ck-recipe-iOS-share. I used petite diced canned tomatoes with a little added sweetener instead of whole chopped tomatoes because it is not tomato season yet. I also use more bulger wheat. I am careful with the amounts of lemon juice, olive oil, and salt I add, tasting as a go along.
The easy parts of the dish were the pita, feta, and hummus since they were all store-bought. I got two kinds of hummus, one with red peppers and one with chimichurri, to keep the hummus interesting. My favorite pita is Toufayan.
Tuesday was definitely Taco Tuesday at our house! Sarah and I went out for lunch and had street tacos and then, according to my menu plan, John and I made shrimp tacos for dinner. John does such a great job sautéing the shrimp which were just cooked through on the inside and had a snap as you bit through the outside. I made the accompaniments—mango salsa, sliced avocado, cilantro, onions, and shredded cabbage. Tacos two times in a day? Twice as good!
I bought a small boneless leg of lamb that was $6.00 off at Costco so it ended up at $5.00/lb. John cut the lamb into three pieces which will make three meals for us. He then pounded the lamb into a shape that resembled a London broil and grilled it on our gas grill. He also grilled red potatoes that I had previously microwaved. I made broccoli with a sprinkling of salt and EVOO. The lamb was quite tasty although a little closer to medium than medium rare. It was an economical meal but felt like we were eating something special.
P.S. The little dish is filled with ketchup. I embarrassingly like to eat red meats and potatoes with ketchup.
Omnivore 