Many of these are home dishes. — Akuri, Dhansak, Salli boti, Patra ni macchi, and Ravo. Enjoy!
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If you didn’t make this already, black mushrooms are fantastic in clay pot rice.
I missed that this was happening - thanks!
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I love patra ni macchi. I need to make that again some time.
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Thanks for all the recipe links. Looks like a delicious week ahead. Last frost here in MN is mid-May and we still have a foot of snow-cover. But the forecasted daily high temps above freezing should melt most of that this next week. I’m eagerly waiting to see first sprouts of rhubarb.
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Just a reminder that COTM voting is happening, and today is the last day to vote. Please join us!
Happy Friday everyone where it is now sunny and WARM! in Ottawa, Canada. That will teach me for wearing my parka 
President Biden is now in Ottawa and will be until tonight. There are more police around than I remember, especially near my office since security detail doesn’t normally come to my neighbourhood. I work in an office building in the western part of the downtown core and the motorcades usually travel down streets several blocks east of here. It’s been so long since we’ve had state visits I have forgotten how clogged the traffic can get. This weekend is shaping up to be fun, foodiewise. Tomorrow morning I go to the grocery store to pick up a few things and I plan on tying in a trip to the pricey butcher nearby to pick up some meat pies for take-out dinners for the next few weekends. The butcher I go to assembles them in advance then they freeze them. When I buy their meat pies they go straight from the butcher’s freezer to mine and can be cooked from frozen. Their meat pies are so good I like buying a few of them at a time so when I feel like take-out I have a stash to pick from. In the afternoon I head off to Chinatown to pick up Asian ingredients for dinners for next week then Sunday afternoon off to a matinée movie to see “The Lost King”. On to my menu for a solo diner for this week:
Today: Hanoi bún from my favourite Vietnamese resto. It’s a vermicelli dish served with grilled pork and a fish sauce to drizzle over. A salad is served on the side made of lettuce (it looks like they used romaine), red cabbage, shredded carrot and mint. It’s like spring in a bowl. Tonight I will have the usual Friday night salad.
Saturday: Take-out. Perhaps a meat pie from the pricey butcher.
Sunday: Thai basa fillet green curry. (The recipe calls for cod but I will be using a basa fillet since that’s what I have.) I will be using up the last of the snow peas and baby corn in the fridge in this dish.
Monday: Navy beans in a tomato sauce, maybe rice on the side to make a complete protein. Veggies depend on what I pick up in Chinatown.
Tuesday: chicken curry based on this recipe. I will obviously be using chicken instead of shrimp and adding whatever veggies I get in Chinatown.
Wednesday: Pork lo mein again.
Thursday: Film society screening I will have a bite to eat on the way to the theatre.
I hope everyone has a warm, sunny week ahead.
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Hi, all! Cooking for 2 in Chattanooga, where it’s warm but in a stormy way…
Breakfast: Chocolate, orange, and pistachio buns from Extra Good Things
Saturday, March 25: Thai chicken patties, cabbage, rice (sorry about recipe paywall…)
Sunday: Roast chicken with chipotle, little potatoes, asparagus, Calvados ice cream
Monday: Orecchiette with broccoli rabe from Dinner, but I might sub out some of the gnocchi in my freezer
Tuesday: Pizza and trivia (we lost badly this week, but it was fun)
Wednesday: Sun-dried tomato pasta (probably with actual pasta this time)
Thursday: Scrounge
Friday: If all goes well, we’ll be having dinner with friends in St. Louis!
Have a good week, all, and happy cooking!
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Hi, everyone. Cooking for two adults and a tween in the Boston burbs.
Sun: out for DH’s birthday (which is Monday)
Mon: Turkish pepper steak and cheesy mashed potatoes (https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/03/14/magazine/recipes-try-aleppo-peppers-spice-up-beef-peppers-mashed-potatoes-egg-salad/). Birthday dessert of some sort.
Tues: nachos - one last crunchy hurrah before…
Weds: … Invisalign day for DS! I’m fairly certain that he will not want to eat dinner, but he suggested baked pasta, so I’ll make the cheesy baked pasta from Dinner in One. We will have pudding on hand too, or scrambled eggs.
Thurs: turkey cutlets (optional lemon-thyme pan sauce from Rachael Ray) and baked sweet potatoes.
Fri: tbd
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Happy birthday to your DH, and good luck with the teeth to your DS. Nachos the night before and baked pasta after sounds perfect.
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Actuals for Mar 20 week, cooking for 2 in MN. Where we’re getting a sunny break from weekly snowstorms, and actual melt is happening. Things are looking up - we got through a second “extra patience required with each other” half day of DIY taxes yesterday afternoon, and by the time we got them finished and filed, we just wanted a beer, at home. We enjoyed our traditional carry-out pizza celebration for lunch today. And on the pantry clear-out work-in-progress, I found 3 cans of green beans aged past their best-by dates in the cupboard (bought during pandemic when frozen beans went unavailable for a span…). One use-it-up recipe down, 2 to go. Chime in if you have a favorite main or side based on canned cut green beans.
Mon: reheat Italian beef, corn, mashed potatoes, salad, fresh fruit salad
Tues - Turkey-pesto meatballs w/ roasted cherry-tomato sauce, over angel hair pasta. Bag Caesar salad w lemon dressing. Sliced baguette
Meatballs based on this recipe, rescaled for 1 pound turkey to use ½ C pesto, ½ C breadcrumbs or panko, and added ½ C. shredded parm. .http://www.food.com/recipe/spaghetti-with-turkey-pesto-meatballs-490050
Wed: Acorn squash with white & wild rice/chicken w Greek seasoning & Gouda
Thurs: reheat Turkey-pesto meatballs w/ roasted cherry-tomato sauce, over angel hair pasta, Bag chopped salad, baguette
Fri: Halibut (a pricey splurge, even on sale, $28/pound), in lemon butter, white & wild rice, mashed acorn squash, peas. Fresh pineapple. Wine. Last nibble of turtle pie.
Sat: Beer beside Green bean, ground beef and tater tot casserole, 8x8 pan with half-recipe amounts of meat, onion, cheese. Side of sliced fresh apples and pear, mini-slices lemon meringue pie
Sun (today): Taxes are filed celebration – Carryout Pizza
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We have a way to go but I’m excited for you! Our favorite farm stand is reopening and the snow is gone so let the thaw begin!
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Re. the green bean stash - my mom used to warm them up in a sauté pan with butter, and then top with grated Parmesan - it coated the beans and turned a little crisp. Yum.
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Cooking for one in mid-coast Maine where the snowdrops are blooming and the morning birdsong is increasing.
I am more of a prepper than a planner. A good week sees me prepping various ingredients to combine different ways and making a pot of soup for lunches. I did none of that last weekend and had a crazy busy week so ate poorly and was cranky as all get out.
Today I made wild rice for creamy sausage, wild rice and greens soup (which I still need to finish making) so it’s that or sourdough sesame bagels with cream cheese and sliced radishes for lunches.
Also two easy pasta sauces: Rao’s plus roasted mushrooms and sautéed pancetta and Rao’s plus chopped fennel sautéed in leftover pancetta fat and diced smoked sausage. Packed in single-serving flat packs and frozen. I have several shapes of dried pasta and some fresh mushroom ravioli. Beans and greens to go with a thawed sliced smoked duck breast (beans prepped, baby super greens to be added at last minute).
Glass of wine needed before finishing the soup…
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This is a great approach for getting variety when cooking for 1 or 2. I admire your once-a-week cooking plan.
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The soup sounds great. Is there a source or link, or is it your own creation?
Settling into a groove planning and cooking for 3-5 adults, including one recuperating and currently picky (usually infinitely flexible) senior.
Having a tentative plan helped a lot last week as we settled mom in after her return from the hospital. She’s still eating very little compared to her usual appetite and being picky, but she’s doing a lot better than the first few days, so we’re grateful for the improvement.
Lunch is the easiest meal for her to eat, so we’re sticking to the before-days normal of a balanced Indian vegetarian meal to maximize nutrition. Dinners are still difficult, because even though she’s choosing the meals, she’s physically and emotionally exhausted by the evening and can only manage a few bites. It’s ok, we know that will get better with time. But having something interesting she’ll enjoy makes it a bit easier and engaging in the meantime.
Mon - Pasta redo (see dinner fail yesterday): salvaged ravioli in either a simple broth or béchamel, with a piece of garlic toast for mom. For the rest, Kheema-stuffed parathas from the freezer. Avocado and tomato salad for everyone.
Tues - Thai green curry with vegetables, plus mock duck for vegetarian and chicken for the rest.
Wed - Mushroom Japchae — maybe. Backup plan of vegetarian Hakka noodles. Gochujang or soya chili chicken lollipops (french wings) depending on which noodle.
Thurs - Pasta bake for mom (either bechamel or tomato sauce, or a fusion bake using up leftover pav bhaji – her invention and subsequent party favorite), roasted veg, and sautéed baby lamb chops for us.
Fri - Some kind of takeout as everyone will be fed up by then.
Sat - Steak (beyond steak for mom), scalloped potatoes, spinach, and mushrooms .
Sun - TBD: maybe quesadillas with guacamole on the side, maybe enchiladas, or maybe not Mexican and I’ll just make quiche (eggless using a thick béchamel for mom, standard for us).
Did I mention (Alphonso) mango season is here? Just the start, but a mango deluge is about to be upon us.
Have a great week!
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I don’t think so, but thanks for the heads-up. I’ll leave it a couple of weeks till the season is in full swing and then pay a visit to the nearby Asian supermarket which always has a good stock of mango. I’ll probabl;y also get some of their cheaper mangoes and make chutney (although I do actually prefer Sharwoods to my homemade)
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This sounds delicious! Can you share more details?
Glad your mom is improving. I am sure the loving care you are taking of her is buoying her up.
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I have to ask her (I’ve never actually made it!) but what I remember is pasta in white sauce, with the pav bhaji and some more stuff to add bursts of flavor.
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