Friday Food: The Week of Chicken Delays

Friday

Short version: Pork chops, tomato rice, sauteed mushrooms and onions, green salad

Long version: I had a few tomatoes that were not looking too perky, so I diced one up and cooked it with some diced onion to cook the rice. Plus I added the remainder of the pork juice from the pork shoulder. That's some flavorful rice.

Saturday

Short version: Ground beef with potatoes, sauteed zucchini with tomato and onions, cucumber slices

Long version: I had very virtuously prepped a beef roast for dinner, along with a pot of potato chunks. But then we spontaneously went somewhere right before dinner, and I didn't have time to make the roast when we got home at 5:15.

Plan B: Browned ground beef from the log of it in the refrigerator I hadn't yet frozen, plus diced onion, diced tomato, garlic, lots of paprika, salt, pepper, and thyme.

I was boiling the potatoes while I was cooking the beef, and when the potatoes were done, I dumped them into the beef and let them cook for awhile in the meat juices. We were eating half an hour after walking in the door.

So gourmet. And actually, surprisingly good. Everyone liked it.

The zucchini came from Rafael, who delivered not only zucchini, but a ton of cucumbers. More refrigerator pickles, coming right up!

Sunday

Short version: Roast beef, roasted potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes, roasted zucchini/onion/bell pepper

Long version: The beef roast waited patiently in the refrigerator until it was time to put it in a very hot oven late Sunday afternoon. It was heavily seasoned on the outside with salt, pepper, thyme, and oregano. I roasted it at 450 degrees for about twenty minutes, and then at 400 degrees until it got to 140 degrees internally.

My biggest meat cooking challenge is always not over-cooking. I succeeded this time. After resting, it was a perfect medium. Yay me.

I had roasted it in a cast iron skillet, so when the meat was done, I just poured off the seasoned fat onto the roasting potatoes and made a sauce in the skillet with water, Dijon mustard, and heavy cream. It was very, very good, if I do say so myself. And I do.

Monday

Short version: Eggs, bacon, chorizo, bread and butter, green salad

Long version: I had a big bag of chicken pieces out thawing for dinner, except they, um, didn't thaw in time. Eggs it is!

There was more chorizo in the package I had opened a few days previously, so I made that with scrambled eggs for A., plus bacon and fried eggs for the kids and me.

Salad with chopped fried eggs and bacon in it is really extremely good. Yum.

Tuesday

Short version: Bunless cheeseburgers, rice, sauteed zucchini/tomato/onion, steamed carrots

Long version: The chicken was actually thawed, but I was pretty over the kitchen after making and canning peach jam in the morning. So instead of the chicken enchilada casserole I had planned on, I made cheeseburgers from the ground beef in the refrigerator that I hadn't yet gotten around to freezing.

They were fine, as was everything else.

Look! Peaches in a colander!

Wednesday

Short version: Chicken enchilada casserole, baked zucchini, green salad with ranch dressing

Long version: The chicken could no longer be ignored. As soon as I got home from walking Cubby and Charlie to school, I put the chicken pieces--drumsticks and thighs--in a big pot of water with onion, carrot, celery, and a bay leaf. This way, I could cook the chicken and make stock at the same time. (Stock that did not get successfully canned. NOT THAT I AM BITTER.)

After the chicken was pretty tender, I pulled the meat off and shredded it, adding the mostly stripped bones back to the pot of liquid to simmer some more.

The shredded chicken went into a skillet with sauteed onion, garlic, and some "mild" Hatch chile salsa.

I put "mild" in quotes, because it is not mild, not at all. I have already learned never to trust New Mexican salsa labels. I've tried about four local mild salsas by now, and they are never mild by my definition of mild.

Thus, I also added sour cream and a bunch of shredded cheese--cheddar and asadero--to mitigate the definitely-not-mild burn of the salsa.

Jack helped me layer the chicken with more shredded cheese and tortillas in the casserole dish. He very much enjoyed this.

The excess of dairy didn't actually succeed in making the casserole particularly mild. The spiciness was noted by the children, but not in an accusatory way, and everyone ate it all. They might make good New Mexicans yet.

Poppy had yogurt for dinner, because I think she would not have appreciated the authentic New Mexican spice level of the chicken.

The zucchini was just sliced zucchini salted and drained to get rid of some liquid, then seasoned with olive oil, garlic powder, and salt, and baked. Never let a zucchini-cooking opportunity pass. Especially if Rafael lives nearby.

Thursday

Short version: Pork, mashed potatoes, cucumber salad

Long version: Finally, the last of the lean pork loin chops. I chunked them up, browned them, cooked onion and mushrooms in the pan, added dry vermouth (what I use when I don't have wine, which is almost always), then some of the large quantity of stupid chicken stock that didn't seal (STILL NOT BITTER, THOUGH), a little heavy cream, and some cornstarch to thicken the sauce.

While I was in the kitchen doing that, the kids were in the living room doing this:

Poppy was in jail for robbing the doughnut store. Maybe she was tired of yogurt.

The cucumber salad was a pretty lame salad. Sliced cucumbers with thinly sliced onion and some of the ranch dressing from the previous day. Tasted pretty good, though.

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?