The menu for the week beginning April 11th is:
- Sunday – Cherry Almond Coffee Cake
- Monday – Pouch cooked steelhead trout with couscous, lemons, red onion,cilantro, wine and assorted spices accompanied by orange glazed carrots
- Tuesday – Vegetable stir-fry with bell peppers, tomatoes, broccoli and saffron rice.
- Wednesday – Mom’s meatloaf accompanied by mashed potatoes and peas
- Thursday – Skillet Italian Chicken with Orzo accompanied by roasted broccoli
- Finger Food Friday – Pan Bagnat accompanied by tropical fruit skewers
Comments
The Cherry Almond coffee cake is a Cooks Country recipe that I wanted to try. Everyone else can fend for themselves.
The “fish in a pouch” is my own concoction based on a Good Eats episode on pouch cooking. Should be interesting!
I got my first order from Penzey’s Spices and I want to try out the garam masala that I got. I’m going to see how it goes with a traditional stir-fry technique.
The kids want mom’s meatloaf with all the trimmings – my night to play sous chef.
Skillet Italian chicken with Orzo is another Cooks Country recipe I wanted to try. The twist is to see if I can thaw frozen broccoli and then roast it.
Friday we’re off on vacation and rather than just forget about my Finger Food Friday’s I’m going to take it as a challenge. Sandwiches and fruit for an on the road dining experience.
Outcomes
Don’t ask about the coffee cake – it would have been great if I actually followed to batter recipe instead of what I did. I tried to follow the recipe I really did. Evidently I don’t know how to read. Ick! I was so glad when my wife threw it out.
The trout in the pouch was really quite good! My daughter even ate it. I think I’ll use parsley next time – the cilantro was a bit too harsh. The couscous was – eh. Perhaps that’s what it’s supposed to taste like but it was a bit dry and bland. I’ll definitely be trying this technique again with fish – easy to make and clean up. The carrots were just some “steam in a bag” kind but I whipped up some OJ, butter and agave nectar (new experimenting food) to douse them in. Quite tasty!
Don’t ask about mixing garam masala in with the stir-fry veggies. Although I liked it, I was alone in that regard. The saffron rice was outstanding once again.
The meatloaf, as always, was outstanding despite not adding milk to it – don’t understand milk’s purpose in her recipe. I found the meatloaf tasted just as good and perhaps a bit better. At times it can be a little soggy – this time is was more firm.
Skillet Italian Chicken with Orzo was good- well for me at least. I got a little too much red pepper in the dish. Consequently my wife didn’t enjoy it. The chicken ends up being braised with the tomato and orzo and I don’t know that we’re all big on braised chicken. I do think I’ll do the orzo and tomatos again – less some of the red pepper.
Pan Bagnat on the road was wonderful! The car had a great smell when we unwrapped the sandwich. It needed a bit more of the oil sauce and some softer bread but otherwise is was simply grand! The fruit sticks of mango, kiwi, orange slices and pineapple were a great finish and made a great late night traveling snack.
