Skip to main content

Weekly Check In

For the second week in a row, we've been well behaved and stuck to our plan. This may just be a record.

Meal 1 - Carrot and cilantro soup, pickled pepper and goat cheese sandwiches
We had a bunch of cilantro on hand and I had soup on my mind. A quick internet search pulled up this link to a recipe from Alice Waters. This soup was a-m-a-z-i-n-g! In fact, the next day I went online and bought Chez Panisse Vegetables. It's a beautiful book and I really like her style of writing. I don't yet have any additional dishes planned, but you'll be the first to know when I do.

Meal 2 - Roasted cabbage and bacon with couscous
This is one of my favorite winter dishes - it seems decadent yet healthy and comforting all at the same time. And it's pretty quick and inexpensive for a mid-week meal. I'll be posting the recipe later this week.

Meal 3 - Greens with Italian turkey sausage and green salad
About half of the farmers at our market are gone for the winter, but there are a handful that are sticking with us throughout the season, or at least for as long as they can. One of the farms, Lucky Dog Farm, is new to our market this year and they've said that as long as they have product to sell, they'll be making the trip down to Brooklyn. But, pickings are getting pretty slim (it is January after all). When we got to the market last week, they only greens they had left were collard greens. We grabbed a couple of heads and then headed over to the Di Paola Turkey stand and bought about a pound of loose spicy Italian turkey sausage. I sauteed the sausage, added some home canned tomato sauce along with the greens, and threw in some cooked penne at the end.  It was a delicious and filling winter dish.



Meal 4 - Smoked pork chops with apple chutney, roasted red potatoes and green salad
I've mentioned Wilklow Orchards in the apple picking post and the peach jam making post. What I haven't mentioned is that they also offer a wide range of meat. We've bought bacon, canadian bacon, ground beef and stew beef from them. But our absolute favorites are the smoked pork chops. Ridiculously good, they taste like bacon chops. Wilklow doesn't always have them (meat is seasonal too), so when they do, we buy as many as we can afford and put them in the freezer. Last week we ate the last 4 chops. Our freezer is sad now.


Well, that's that. We almost have the plan for this coming up week wrapped up. Check back soon to see what's cooking at Chez Gallo-Escalante.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Planning Ahead Week of 1/22/12

the first real snow of the season! It snowed yesterday! Honest to goodness snow! It was so pretty ....... and so f'n cold. But there isn't enough snow that can keep me away from our Saturday Farmer's Market. I figure if the farmers can come down to Brooklyn and stand in the freezing cold for 8 hours, the least I can do is waddle over in my heavy winter coat and buy what they are selling. Unfortunately, they aren't selling much. I was able to get some spinach, but yet again we have cabbage, kale and onions on the menu this week. And I'm back to a meat heavy menu. I was too hungry last week to try to go vegetarian again. Here's what we have planned: Meal 1 - Christmas lima beans with caramelized onions and bacon, spinach salad Meal 2 - Kale, potato and sausage soup, shredded carrots with tahini dressing Meal 3 - Italian turkey sausage and onions over polenta, spicy coleslaw Meal 4 - Red lentil bake, cabbage and corn salsa salad We have some fun pos...

Curry Ketchup

Our homemade version Our first night in Bruges, but fourth night in Belgium, we finally had an order of frites. Rather than the standard mayonnaise we opted for the house special sauce - mayonnaise, curry ketchup and raw onions. It was crazy good. And the curry ketchup blew me away. Had we not been in public, I would have licked the plate clean. In between the mouthfuls of fries, I kept telling Craig that I had to try to make the ketchup when we got home. And yesterday I did. Before I go into details, a quick aside: If you are an American woman in your thirties, you probably remember how popular Cabbage Patch Kids were. And you might remember that they were also ridiculously expensive. I wanted one soooooo bad. Finally, one of my grandmothers caved in and gave me one. Well, a homemade version of one that she bought at a church bazaar anyway. My little 8 year old self was so disappointed. Why, you are probably wondering, am I telling you about Cabbage Patch Kids when I should...

Bacon Makes it Better - Roasted Cabbage with Bacon

As I mentioned in this week's check in , roasted cabbage with bacon is one of my favorite dishes. The sweetness of the cabbage and onions with the smoky saltness of the bacon just can't be beat. There are a bunch of very similar recipes all over the internet, but I first saw it over at the kitchn . Roasted Cabbage with Bacon adapted (slightly) from Faith Durand 's recipe at thekitchn.com 1 head of green cabbage, outer leaves removed, cored and quartered (I've made this with red cabbage and it's just as good) 2 red onions, peeled and quartered 5 slices of thick bacon, cut into large pieces Salt and Pepper Heat the oven to 450. Place the cabbage and onion in a large roasting dish. Drape the bacon over the veggies. Please in the oven and cook 15 minutes. Flip the cabbage and onion and place back in the oven for another 15 minutes. Check your cabbage - if it's roasted to your liking, toss with salt and pepper to taste and serve. If it needs furth...