Not feeling particularly chatty about food today as last week’s menu was a true dud and writing this week’s menu was, which happens rarely, a struggle. Many people have mentioned that they are all cooked out due to Covid lockdown restrictions and maybe even I have reached my limit. I certainly hope not since, for the most part, I do find joy and catharsis in equal measure when in my kitchen. I did clean and reorganize the pantry shelves so at least something worthwhile happened in my kitchen last week...
Don't get me wrong, dud may be too strong a word. Most of the food last week was fine, but there wasn’t a single recipe where I thought: “Oooh, must share!”, which is why no recipes are posted for last week. There are Instagram links to a couple of dinner images, and some throwback recipe links in the menu though, for those who are interested.
Worse than "meh" food, on several occasions, I messed up what I was trying to make, which doesn’t happen that often and made me especially cranky. I attempted a dessert for dinner with one of the few people in my Covid pod, something those of you who read this blog know is not my forte anyway, and – after three failed attempts – decided that ice cream was the way to go for dessert instead.
Hopefully, this week things will get back to the status quo and cooking will get back to being as easy and normal as brushing my teeth. In the meantime, you will notice that – though I am making dinner for my mother tomorrow – she has been asked to bring the dessert.
This Week's CSA box contained:
Herbs: a bunch each of Italian parsley, sage, and thyme
Greens: 2 beautiful bunches each of spinach and broccoli rabe, a bunch of Tuscan kale, a bunch of collard greens
Alliums: 2 large leeks, 5 shallots, 2 yellow onions, a head of garlic
Vegetables: 2 small daikon roots, 3 red beets, 3 turnips, a kohlrabi, 2 carrots, a punnet of Brussels sprouts, a medium-sized acorn squash, a Honeynut squash, yet another large cauliflower, a red cabbage, and 5 large potatoes
Fruit: 6 apples – 4 Golden Delicious, 2 Red Delicious
Remainders: a gigantic spaghetti squash of which I tried divesting myself by putting it down in the laundry room where my building has a ledge for residents to put items that they are happy to pass along to other residents. Unfortunately, the maintenance person was down there at the time and I was sent back upstairs with the squash after a stern "no food!" and finger wagging...
So, with the addition of the above remainder and the purchase of salad greens mid-week (minus lunch items) the CSA veggies will be transformed into:
Sunday “Pantry Roulette”; fridge, freezer, and pantry item dinner]
Steamed Yellow Rice
Monday [Wildcard; a more complex or fiddly dish than usual to test my culinary skills but this week my mother is coming for dinner]
Roasted Cauliflower and Tahini Spread with Crackers
Garlicky Broccoli Rabe
Creamy Polenta
My Mother’s Carrot Cake Cookies
Tuesday [Pasta]
Green Salad
Gnocchi with Caramelized Root Vegetable Sauce
Wednesday [L.'s choice]
Thursday [Fish]
Salad of Greens and Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Honey and Miso Dressing
Wild Spanish Mackerel with Preserved Meyer Lemon
Turnip – Potato Mash
Friday [Veggie-centric]
Pickle Juice Brined Tofu Burgers with Crispy Vegetables, Saffron-Lemon Yogurt Dressing
Oven Fries
Saturday ["Picnic"; something that is easy to assemble and easy to eat in front of a movie]
Kitchen Sink Ramen
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