This week's menu is a bit of a mish mash between what is in the CSA box and what I am trying to unload from the freezer.
It is one of my most useful kitchen tools. Upkeep is essential since freezer real estate is valuable when all you have is the one attached to your refrigerator. While I much prefer living in an apartment rather than a house, there are days when I miss the option of having an additional enormous freezer in the garage - you can imagine how overstuffed that thing used to get and how I used to get my kicks (not to mention financial satisfaction) from breaking down large pieces of meat into portions and freezing quantities of seasonal fruits and vegetables for later use. Not to mention balls of dough, individual portions of soups and mason jars of tomato sauce. All this to say: use your freezer no matter how small it is! It is your friend and not just there for frozen pizza, lean cuisines and your bottle of vodka. I'm not judging, I'm just saying...My bottle of vodka lives in mine as well.
Also your friend, especially in the spring, are CSA boxes (if you are lucky enough to have access to them) and farmers' markets (ditto). There really is nothing like knowing the provenance of your veggies and meeting the people who grew them. Farmers' markets are also the best place to get recipe ideas since, as you are buying something, there is always someone to lean in and tell you how they cook what you are about to purchase.
As you can tell, spring cooking makes me happy. All of the sudden there are all these new ingredients with which to work.
Monday [New Recipe]
Arugula Salad with Corn and Pumpkin Seeds
Steamed Fish with Pea Shoots and Ginger *
Cracked Wheat Pilaf
Tuesday [Pasta]
Roasted Beets with Cumin and Orange *
Angel Hair Pasta with Red Pepper Pesto, Fiddlehead Ferns and Grilled Shrimp
Wednesday ["Ethnic" Food]
Green Salad
Chicken Korma
Coconut Nettles
Wholewheat Na'an
Thursday [Soup and Homemade Bread]
Chunky Tomato Salad with Herbs
Quinoa Vegetable Soup with Baby Kale
Avocado Toasts with Fried Capers *
Friday [Vegetarian]
Fattoush
Artichokes with Edamame Stuffing
Saturday ["Picnic" Dinner]
Mixed Greens with Ugli Fruit Vinaigrette
Thai Spiced Tofu Burgers *
Sunday [Proper Family Meal]
Zucchini and Avocado Salad
Grilled Vietnamese Steak
Cold Sesame Noodles with Crunchy Spring Vegetables