Happy almost 2025! We rang out the old year with roasted Chilean sea bass (15 minutes at 400F), smashed new potatoes with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and seared Brussels sprouts with a touch of dry sherry. It was a very good dinner for a special occasion. We also had a bottle of Rombauer Chardonnay and toasted the new year with Imagery rosé brut. After tomorrow it is back to healthy eating!
I am back! After taking a cruise, dealing with some medical stuff, and celebrating Christmas and Hanukkah I am ready to get back to cooking dinners, eating sanely, and posting my weekly menu and daily dinners. Happy New Year!!
I am taking a little break from posting my daily dinners. My regular postings should continue mid-December.
I used my mother’s recipe for meatloaf. It consists of a pound of ground beef, chopped onion, an egg, bread crumbs, and Worcestershire sauce. Plus it does seem to need quite a bit of salt. I moosh it all together into the shape of a loaf and bake it in the oven for about 40 minutes or until its internal temperature is 140F. I do not like rare meatloaf.
In addition to the meatloaf I made some of our Incredibly Delicious Brussels Sprouts, and mashed up a large sweet potato that I microwaved for about 8 minutes. I seasoned the mash with salt and chipotle powder which gave it a nice smoky heat.
I was looking forward to meatloaf sandwiches but we ate all the meatloaf at dinner. It was both nostalgic and yummy.
Tonight I made an easy dinner —rotisserie chicken reheated in gravy, rice that John made and I complemented with fresh tarragon, and asparagus. The asparagus was on sale for $1.47/lb. so I made some tonight and saved the rest for John’s omelet tomorrow night. Simple dinner but satisfying.
Since we are leaving for vacation tomorrow and must get up at 2 AM to catch our flight, Breakfast for Dinner seemed the best route to take. John made an omelet with asparagus, cheese, and ham and I simply had scrambled eggs and toast.
Tomorrow we will embark on a trip to Hawaii by boat. I figure that there will be some interesting dishes I can write about and we are going to participate in a couple of culinary experiences along the way .
Basically this dinner was all short cuts. I used Rao’s tomato basil sauce and Rosina’s frozen meatballs. Usually I dump the cooked pasta into the sauce but since I had a lot of sauce and a lot of meatballs I poured some sauce and meatballs over the pasta so I could save the rest of the sauce and meatballs for another dinner. I am not crazy about the frozen meatballs and I think in the future I will make my own. Rao’s sauce is very good but pretty pricey.
John cooked the salmon in a 400F oven for about 8 minutes since the pieces we had were fairly thin. I almost did not have enough time to get the rice reheated and the broccoli cooked! I had made the mustard sauce earlier in the day.
We use this mustard sauce frequently with fish and it is good with the rice and broccoli too.
Mustard Sauce
2 tablespoon 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
Mix all the ingredients except the parsley in a bowl. Adjust the levels of salt and pepper. Can be made ahead up to this point. When ready to serve, mix in the parsley.
I have not stopped cooking. I have just gotten busy and did not have time to write up our dishes. So here they are a few days late.
On Monday John grilled a steak and I made my IDBS, incredibly delicious Brussels sprouts, And mashed potatoes.
On Tuesday I defrosted the chicken I shredded last week and made up a tray of enchiladas. We used a large can of enchilada sauce instead of the pricier jars and it actually ended up tastier.
On Thursday after a fancy dinner out on Wednesday we made a simple dal. The red lentils broke down into a soupy consistency and I served it over rice and Lacinto kale.
Except for stirring the polenta and washing up the three pots and pans this is a pretty easy dinner to make and delightful to eat. We make the polenta with a 6:1 ratio. John has made a shrimp stock tonight but usually we use 3 cups of water to 1/2 cups of polenta. You bring it to a simmer and cook it for twenty minutes adding a bit of butter when it is almost done. We take turns stirring it. It comes out pretty loose and is almost like a sauce for the broccoli and shrimp.
I steam the broccoli and John sautés the shrimp and we are done. It’s another fairly easy dinner that is almost company quality.
The easiest way to stretch 3 ounces of pasta into a really satisfying meal is to add a lot of vegetables. Ahead of the pasta getting cooked I sautéed 8 ounces of mushrooms and a big handful of asparagus spears cut into bite-sized pieces. When the pasta was cooked I added it to the veg along with some pasta water, a little butter, and olive oil. It was a tasty and enjoyable dinner for two.
When we were first married John and I lived in Massachusetts. Since we never ate any sort of seafood in my house growing up (New Jersey) the first clam chowder I ever had was New England clam chowder. I wasn’t much of a cook then so the chowder usually came out of a can, gloppy and thick. But I knew there must be a better recipe.
In 2017 I ran across a recipe by Giselle Hamilton in an article about her in The NY Times.
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018768-chowder-soaked-toast?smid=ck-recipe-iOS-share
It was too fussy and there was too much cream but I figured I could use it as a basis for my clam chowder. You can keep adding cream until it is as creamy as you would like.
Light clam chowder
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, minced
2 ribs of celery, diced
2 leeks, dark, woody green parts removed, ¼” coins
10 ounces russet and 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 to 1/2 cup heavy cream (your choice)
12 ounces chopped clams (2 cans, reserved liquid, see above)
3-4 slices of toasted hearty bread or oyster crackers (optional)
In a 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 and vegetables are cooked through.
Stir in the cream taking care not to boil. Add the chopped clams, and season to taste with salt and ground black pepper. Remove from heat.
Serve with toasted bread, saltines, or oyster crackers (optional)
Omnivore 