The menu for the week beginning March 4th is:
- Sunday Easter lunch – a “pot luck” with friends! I’m bringing Ambrosia and a Lemon Chess pie
- Monday – Spicy Jalapeno Chicken sausage with Mango, Pineapple Chili with Jasmine rice
- Tuesday – Cheesy Toasted Tortellini with Pesto accompanied by roasted broccoli
- Wednesday – Chicken stir-fry with bell pepper, carrots, and sugar snap peas in a sweet & sour sauce
- Thursday – Hamburgers with fried potato wedges
- Finger Food Friday – Crab Rangoon
Comments
The Ambrosia’s going to be made with mostly fresh ingredients including coconut and marshmallows. Really it’s just an excuse to try the marshmallow recipe.
Although I’m not a fan of food producer recipes, the one from al Fresco caught my eye in the April/May edition of Fine Cooking. The edamame will be new for us and I’m looking forward to see how the rest of my family likes Jasmine rice.
Cheesy Toasted Tortellini was originally Cheesy Toasted Ravioli but there’s this pound of frozen tortellini that I need to use up see and uh.. well tortellini is ravioli “like”.. we’ll give adapting the recipe from Cooks Country a whirl.
Nothing new about the stir-fry or the sauce – family favorite, move along nothing to see here.
Hamburgers! The red meat for the week and the first burgers of the season – really just a cheesy way to clean up the gril for outdoor cooking after the winter layoff.
My wife loves Crab Rangoon – and I need to use up some wonton wrappers. Not sure of the recipe so stay tuned.
Outcomes
The Ambrosia was fantastic! Seems everyone liked it and having to explain how to make marshmallows was an interesting lunch conversation. The Lemon Chess pie was a winner too – the Tender Flaky crust from CookWise (see sidebar) turned out well!
I loved the recipe from al Fresco, but it was too spicy for the rest of my family. The stir-fry like preparation was nice. The only change I made was to add frozen sugar snap peas instead of the edamame. Evidently I needed the shelled edamame instead of the ones still in the pod. The Jasmine rice was also outstanding. I sautéed it in a little oil before adding boiling water and a few tablespoons of Better than Bullion Chicken. It couldn’t have been more perfectly cooked and the flavor was grand! I’ve have a lot of leftovers to eat this week.
The Cheesy Toasted Tortellini had great flavor, especially with the homemade pesto but the sauce was a little watery. I don’t think the frozen tortellini had enough starch on it to thicken the cream sauce. I paired the tortellini with lemon-garlic-olive oil roasted broccoli. Nothing remained.
Given the summer like temperature on Wednesday and the forecast for rain on Thursday I opted to swap dinners – burgers on the grill for Wednesday and stir-fry on Thursday. I was going to mix some of the left over pesto into the fresh burgers, but my wife took the pesto for lunch – oh well. I opted to use a chili power rub on the burgers instead. It gave them some nice flavor but it wasn’t quite enough spice for me.
The stir-fry turned out well. This time the challenge was to get the carrots done on time with the rest of the veggies. I added them early and held the peas and bell pepper off. It worked out well.
