We had dinner with friends earlier this week and the hostess made shepherd’s pie. I haven’t eaten it in years and was reminded how much I enjoyed it. Since it’s a faux pas to go back for a third helping, I decided to just make my own version of the dish over the weekend.
I’ve been craving fish for a while, so I decided to pick up some grouper. We had some zucchini and roma tomatoes that were getting a little ripe, so I wanted to incorporate them into the dish as well. As part of our attempt to eat healthier, I decided to bake everything. I ran across a recipe from Steamy Kitchen that included a helpful YouTube tutorial on how to steam fish and vegetables in parchment paper, so I thought I’d give it a try. It was a huge success.
I love veal scallopini served with almost any pan sauce, but my favorite is piccata. Whenever the wife and I eat at high-end restaurants, I usually order the veal picatta as a way to gauge the quality of the kitchen. But more times than not, I prefer my own version to the restaurant’s.
Sometimes I find myself in the mood for some good old-fashioned, unhealthy comfort food, Brady Bunch style. I didn’t have enough vegetables to make Alice’s famous meatloaf, so I decided to make some big meatballs, flatten them into patties, and fry them. And since I abhor the solid ketchup “crust” that people put on meatloaf, I decided to make a pan sauce instead.
Sautéed spinach is one of the best side dishes you can make. It’s nutritious, it’s easy to cook, it tastes great, and it goes with everything. I always keep one or two boxes of frozen spinach in the freezer, but it’s not very versatile. Whenever I see a good deal on fresh spinach (especially baby spinach leaves that don’t need to be trimmed), I buy it. They were selling big bags of spinach at the market for a couple of bucks this weekend, so I bought one. I should have bought two. We served it with some very ripe roma tomatoes and some grilled amberjack.
Every weekend, my wife and I like to make a big meal that we can use for lunches throughout the work week. Usually it’s something like spaghetti or lasagna, or sometimes a big pot of soup. This weekend, we decided to make some chicken prosciutto and roast some scallop squash we bought at a roadside stand on Friday afternoon.
This recipe is like a hybrid between chicken saltimbocca and cordon bleu.
Last Christmas my wife and I took the Handmade Pledge and were largely successful. She made ornaments, stuffed animals, and tote bags to give away, and we tried to buy handmade products whenever possible. I made seven of these wine bottle holders for Christmas gifts:
They seem to defy gravity.
