For dinner, inspired by the half bag of frozen spinach in my freezer and large bunch of parsley in my fridge that needed to get used, I improvised an Indianish take on Sole Florentine - Sole Palak. The sole was stuffed with spinach and parsley cooked with red chiles, shallots, tomatoes, garlic, ginger, turmeric, cardamom, and cloves, and finished with cream and fenugreek leaves (recipe largely cribbed from Asma’s Indian Kitchen’s saag paneer for the spinach). This is so very, very good! Served with a couple more orphaned flour tortillas I found in the back of the fridge.
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Out of work a bit before 1pm. Survived the local supermarket and wine store, then home and I’m in the house on my own for at least 3 days. Perfect.
Dinner tonight was a calzoneboli…essentially a stromboli (that one has sauce inside) but NOT rolled after filling as they usually are but the dough was folded over and crimped like a calzone…with more sauce on the side for serving.
Sauteed shaved steak with s/p and caramelized onions. (Should have also added minced garlic, but I’ll blame it on the wine).
Removed the sauteed meat and onions and added several large handfuls of baby spinach and wilted that, then piled the meat, onions, and spinach on the stretched dough. Added some pizza sauce inside, sprinkled it heavily with grated Monterey Jack cheese, and sealed, pinched, and cut some vents.
Brushed on an egg yolk wash, then sprinkled with grated Parm-Reg and baked at 425° for about 15 minutes.
More sauce on the side.
And wine.
And all next week off, except for a brief time in the closed office on Thursday.
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Perfection. I’m impressed.
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Chicken and spinach meatballs in broth, with carrots, orzo, lemon and dill.
I roasted about a dozen extra meatballs for the freezer – some easy meals in our future.
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Sticky bourbon chicken with cauliflower pilaf. Mediterranean greens with pickled daikon and carrot, red curry paste, rice vinegar and oo dressing. There was a Red Snapper and wine. Dessert will be bourbon and eggnog.
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I saw a Nigella Lawson recipe that looked good - Chicken in a Pot with Lemony Orzo. It’s basically a thick chicken noodle soup, turns out. It’s a bit fiddly - you brown the chicken in a dutch oven, then try to zest lemon and grate garlic around the sides of the chicken, then add dried tarragon, lemon juice, leeks and carrots, chili pepper flakes, and a bunch of water. after it boils, it goes into the oven for 1 hour or so, at which point the orzo goes in and cooks for another 20.
the recipe called for two more cups of water than i used and it was still brothy, but i know the orzo is going to continue to suck it up. My bird was under 3 lbs., and next time I’d use more herbs (called for tarragon and i also added a bit thyme). I had to add way more salt than called for or it would have been bland. I used part homemade chicken stock along with the water for more flavor, and also added in a couple of parm rinds and a couple tbs. of butter when the orzo went in.
the other fiddly part is you’re to shred the chicken in the broth and discard the bones, but the bird disintegrates so entirely it’s difficult to find them all, and the BF found quite a few in his bowl, even though i’d taken a long time going through the pot. I think next time i’d do a much smaller version and just use a couple of chicken thighs - partially because even in this prep, i just don’t love the texture of chicken breast. The orzo is the best part.
It was tasty, and i bet it’ll taste even better later tonight after all that delicious orzo soaks up more broth. So, a keeper but with adjustments.
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now THAT is a an orzo dish i can get behind!
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we had Costco crab a week or so ago at my sister’s and it was delicious! super sweet.
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beautiful color. love kimchi fried rice.
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We enjoyed another outstanding dinner at Fiorentini in Rutherford, NJ, including honeynut squash double agnolotti; vension; beet salad; an awesome risotto carnaroli with pamigiano and Alba white truffles; octopus. It all went great with an excellent Amarone and cabernet.
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That Nigella recipe is towards the top of my list of dishes to try, but tonight I just needed a no-brainer version.
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Thai-inspired fish curry with cod in a sauce made from yellow curry paste, ginger, garlic, chili, some cumin, coriander and turmeric, tomato paste, tomato passata, vegetable broth and coconut milk. Served with peas, carrots and sugar snap peas and rice
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but it looks scrumptious!
I’ve been drooling over that picture on F&W’s IG for months. Since there is only me I like your idea of using just thighs. I also love the look of @MunchkinRedux’s Lemony meatballs. If she would share her recipe I’d be grateful.
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And yours is picture-perfect gorgeous! 
For @BeefeaterRocks
I made the meatballs separately from the orzo:
1 lb. ground chicken
1 egg, beaten
1/4 c. panko
1 large shallot, minced
5 oz. frozen spinach, wrung and divided
1 t. kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Mix all the meatball ingredients by hand (using 1/2 of the spinach), and knead for a few minutes until cohesive. Cover and chill 30 minutes (to 2 hours). Divide into 10 meatballs (I used a #20 cookie scoop). Bake on an oiled rack at 400 for 20 minutes, then hit with the broiler for 2-3 minutes to desired color. *If I hadn’t doubled the batch to have some all-purpose leftovers, I might have added some feta here. Also, in season I think some grated (wrung) zucchini in the meatballs would be nice.
Meanwhile, make the orzo:
1/4 of a large onion, diced
1 medium carrot, grated
1/4 c. diced celery
1/4 t. dill
2 c. stock
4 oz. orzo
The remaining half of the wrung spinach
Salt and pepper to taste
Freshly squeezed lemon
In a medium Dutch oven, heat 2 T. olive oil. Saute the mirepoix until soft - 3-4 minutes. Add the dill and saute 1 minute more. Add the stock, bring to a boil, stir in orzo, reduce heat and cover. Simmer until al dente - about 9 minutes. Stir in the remaining spinach and remove from heat. Add a squeeze of lemon, adjust seasonings. Plate and serve with the meatballs, passing more lemon slices.
Inspo came from here, although I omitted the garlic, and subbed dill for the oregano and thyme.
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I just use oyster sauce on my homemade egg foo young instead of making the gloppy brown sauce! Lots of cilantro along with the bean sprouts and onions, plenty of oil, including sesame at the end of frying. Thanks for the reminder of this great dish!
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Christmas Eve Eve takeout from an Indian restaurant last night. I had Chicken Vindaloo, extra spicy-- the portion was so large that I couldn’t finish it. BF had Chicken Tikka Masala (not pictured), and mom had Tandoori Chicken. We all shared naan, roti, and vegetable Korma. Delicious as always! I also made homemade Bhel Puri. To drink, a couple of Last Words to celebrate BF’s last day at his current job. While I have enjoyed working with him for the last six months or so, he got an incredible opportunity and will be moving on next week. Cheers!
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Yep. My uncle in law bought five more crab yesterday from Costco to bring back to Plano tomorrow.
Tried to score more black cod to bring back, but the two Costco we tried were sold out.
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Tibb’s Eve dinner: steelhead with tomatoes, mushrooms, dill, lemon and capers.
Side was a take-out quesadilla from Qdoba.
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Christmas Eve meal was an easy hot dog without the actual hot dogs though, I just used standard British sausages. The bun was spread with cream cheese and then topped with an easy pineapple relish and spring onions. Really tasty and it was nice to have a small meal as I’ve been eating all day and have given myself a very large food baby 
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