Last week was not a great success with following the menu but I am not daunted! After a vegan dinner on Sunday, 9/16/18, we will be starting off with Chicken Monday tomorrow. As an aside, yesterday our son told us that when they make chicken at their house they refer to it as Chicken Monday regardless of the day of the week. It made me smile.
There is nothing too exciting this week. I think I need to start actually following the menu before I get inventive.
We have been off celebrating John’s birthday so my well-planned menu has flown out the window. We ate out for dinner one night and then had no dinner the next due to a large lunch. After one more celebration with the family today things should get back to normal. Here’s a look at some of the dishes we’ve had.
We shared this delicious rabbit pate with pickled vegetables
I had herb and ricotta dumplings which John helped eat
He enjoyed duck confit
On a beautiful Friday we stopped at Stonestreet Winery in the Alexander Valley for some top notch Chardonnay tasting
I expect my menu will be filled with less caloric selections next week!
Tonight is supposed to be rotisserie chicken from the grocery store but we have leftover short ribs and I am not about to throw out tasty food. I think a lot of people give leftovers a bad name. Especially when the food has been braised the taste quality improves over time. Plus John suggests we have noodles with our leftover beef and he never suggests noodles because he does not like the way they slip off your fork. So I am not about to turn his offer down.
Leftover braised short ribs with noodles and bean salad
On Thursday we are going to visit some friends for lunch and I am bringing Texas caviar (aka bean salad.) I decide to give it a little taste test tonight to make sure it is okay and complete our dinner.
Note: This simple dinner is vegan when omitting the yogurt and feta.
After our Sephardic extravaganza on Monday it is time to get back to something simpler. I cannot stress enough how delicious this Afghani preparation of lentils is. It is basically just red lentils with garlic, ginger, onion and some spices cooked for about 15 minutes in vegetable or chicken stock. I use this recipe from Afghan Culture Unveiled. I cut back on the ginger by about half because I feel a whole tablespoon really takes over and you cannot taste the lentils.
As a side dish I make my trusty tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta salad atop some spinach left over from Monday night. The combo of lentils and salad makes a nutrious super easy and tasty dinner.
Afghani dahl with spinach, cucumber and tomato salad
Last year I discovered that for Rosh Hashanah there can be more than apples and honey. The Sephardic celebration has a whole array of symbolic foods. This year we try to combine them into a cohesive side to our main event which is Instant Pot braised boneless short ribs with vegetables and mashed potatoes. Our daughter also takes the traditional challah and makes personal-sized onion and poppy seed rolls.
Plate with symbolic foods and rolls
On the plate are butternut squash with pomegranate seeds, dates stuffed with goat cheese, the ubiquitous apple, pickled green beans with cannellini beans, spinach, and our interpretation of a ram’s head – hard boiled eggs made to look like heads. The rolls came out a little on the pale side but were delicious nonetheless. Here’s a look at the inside.
Interior of roll
If all these foods are not enough, John makes delicious boneless short ribs in the Instant Pot and I mash up some potatoes.
Boneless short ribs, mashed potatoes, carrots, butternut squash cubes with pomegranates, spinach and a onion and poppyseed roll
We have such fun telling jokes and making puns about the food. (This is apparently part of the tradition) and wish each other a happy and sweet new year!
Here is the menu for this week which is hanging in my kitchen. We are doing a lot of celebrating this week!
We are having dinner mid-afternoon today since we are going to our son’s concert later. He is a beat boxer/bass in an a capella rock/funk band. We decide to try something new, a braised chicken dish with Mediterranean flavors.
The sauce on this includes harissa and cinnamon-a little too much cinnamon in my opinion. After searing the chicken thighs, you braise them in the cinnamon, harissa and chicken stock broth, covered. This cooks the chicken through and also makes the skin which you previously crisped up, soggy.
Harissa chicken thighs with shallots
In addition to the soggy chicken we have couscous which is quite good with the sauce. Couscous goes better with with cinnamon. Plus I make a cucumber, tomato, cilantro and mint salad.
According to my planned menu I was supposed to be making spaghetti with breadcrumbs, olives, and capers yesterday but I am still feeling the jet lag and by dinner time I just wanted something even easier than my original plan. I have a block of pecorino Romano so I figure I will grate up some cheese, mix it with ground pepper, put the hot linguine in it and add a little pasta water and olive oil. Voila, dinner!
My cheese comes out a little clumpy but who does not like a clump of cheese?
Linguine cacio e pepe
After being in the cooler climes of Scandinavia it is a shock to be back in the heat of California. Although the morning is cool (in the upper 50’s) by the afternoon it is 93F! A dinner that does not heat up the house is a good idea. So we fix burgers on the grill and a Caprese salad. My burger has onion google eyes!
Funny face hamburger
Since we have been away for three weeks our daughter is imploring us to eat up the tomatoes. I think she is a little tomato-ed out. Using some small mozzarella rounds, some basil from the backyard and a ripe tomato from her garden we enjoy a light Caprese salad with our grilled hamburgers.
Caprese salad
Whaat!? Tequila for breakfast?
Sorry, wrong Margherita. This is the pizza variety and made straight from the garden. A toasted English muffin, a couple of slices from our daughter’s bounty of tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, basil from the backyard, and a sprinkling of kosher salt and that is a tasty breakfast. It probably would be best to broil the top but I am lazy and just stick it in the microwave for 30 seconds to melt the cheese.
Breakfast Margherita (Barilla pasta on sale 10/$10 this week!)
For dinner, a vegan favorite packed with lots of healthy veg and chickpeas. I made a ton of this soupy stew today so we can be eating it for dinner tonight and for lunch a couple of days. Sauté onions, carrots and celery, add some hot pepper flakes and salt while that is cooking, next add garlic, a bunch of cherry tomatoes (yellow ones from our daughter’s garden but using petite diced from a can is okay too), some optional zucchini, and the rinsed, canned chickpeas. Then pour in some vegetable stock (or chicken stock for a non-vegan alternative) to cover and bring it to a boil. Add a small pasta like ditalini or orzo and cook until al dente. You may need to add some water to make sure that there is enough liquid to boil the pasta. Final step, stir in and wilt some greens and adjust the seasoning.
I top mine with just parsley but John likes to use some good finishing oil along with the parsley and a grating of Parmesan cheese.
Chickpea and vegetable stew
Finally here is the menu for our post-vacation rest of the week. It only goes until Sunday since you know I like to begin my week on Monday.
My menu hanging in the kitchen
Omnivore 