Week 2, 2022

Another week, another set of kitchen switcheroos.

Mon 1/10: H – homemade ‘nduja/truffle pesto pizza. A – dinner meeting [more on this soon!].

Tues 1/11: lamb chops with Toro Bravo’s Warm Potato Salad With Vinegar & Chorizo. We usually get chops from Costco and cook them sous vide style in our Instant Pot at 132° for an hour and 45 minutes. Hampton changes the marinade in the bag based on the rest of the meal, but there’s usually EVOO, lemon, garlic, and rosemary. Thanks to Izzy Cooking for the technique and tips.

At Hampton’s suggestion, we tossed the potatoes and chorizo (if you’re new here: we will always skip the onions) with the end of a bag of arugula. Holy cow. New favorite “salad”. Will be forcing this on guests for dinner parties to come.

Wed 1/12: chicken turkey cutlets/orzo/pizza cheese, salad. So Trader Joe’s has a new pizza-flavored bread cheese. It’s a lot like halloumi, which we love, and I thought we could add it to a one-pot orzo dish with some sort of light meat. We had extra turkey from my meal prep so didn’t bother getting chicken. I had reviewed several recipes for inspo….. and my orzo took way longer to cook than any of them. Casseroles and one-pot dishes are not a Flat 493 specialty — which I do not say with any sort of smug “we’re so fancy” pride. Will try again. The possibility is there!

Thur 1/13: Roasted Root Vegetable Kale Salad with Creamy Turmeric Dressing. This week’s veg meal was a huge win. Hampton took the lead so all the veg would cook before his rehearsal and he did an amazing job. He is the king of sauce, after all, and his veg seasoning and dressing were perfection.

Fri 1/14: Lemon-Garlic Dump Dinner with Chicken, Potatoes, & Brussels Sprouts. Ok, I was less than successful at making up my own one-pot dish earlier, but I edited this sheet pan meal spectacularly. And by “edit”, I mean “subbed boneless/skinless chicken thighs”. Perfect for using up potatoes and sprouts, will 100% adapt in the future for other random veg.

Sat 1/15: Sheet Pan Shrimp with Beets and Kale. pea and asparagus risotto with calamari, salad. This was supposed to be another easy clean-the fridge meal. But with the impending arrival of decided to do something a little fancier and save the beets and kale for meals next week. We’ve been needing an excuse to try the frozen calamari seen in the supermarket and had stock to use up and already bought a backup Arborio rice, so here we went.

I combined these two recipes for our own variation. Sadly, the homemade seafood stock we had frozen was even more bitter than me, and because I spent most of the day covered in puppies and we didn’t start until late, we didn’t bother trying to salvage it, so just used water infused with Better than Bouillon and saffron.

Happy to announce the calamari was not rubbery! It didn’t get super charred but also, I bought it that morning and perhaps it should have been thawed for longer. Hampton added extra lemon and white vinegar to the end of the marinated artichoke brine to toss with the squid. Waste not want not.

Sun 1/16: pork tenderloin with sweet potato mash, salad. Caçoila with coconut rice, salad. As the predictions for Izzy became stronger, we decided an ice day needed a beef stew and, to try something new, went with the Portuguese version of our usual peposo.

I had coconut milk leftover from last Sunday’s Thai chicken, so cooked the rice similarly, along with the juice from two sad limes. We will 100% be trying this again with the recommended boiled potatoes and greens. And again with coconut rice that we cook differently to get a crispy bottom. And maybe polenta cakes…. Anything to soak up that delightful sauce. I didn’t let the meat marinate with red pepper because Hampton doesn’t love a lot of spice, but he even he admitted this could have used more heat. I added a shake of berbere to each of the leftovers. Its warming spiciness will play well with the cinnamon, clove, and allspice.

Lunches: Creamy Turkey and Rice Bake, veg. Yeah, I realized after posting last week I should have shared this this week but given how that all went down….. it fit after all lol. My actual lunches last week were canned tuna mixed with ranch and sririacha and Ritz or Campbell’s pre-made “sippin soup”, creamy tomato style, with Ritz and peanut butter. Pb crackers and tomato soup are a match made in heaven. Thanks to the gal from my college who lived in the same house our semester abroad for that pro tip.