Wanna see what we ate this week? Oh good! Because I'm gonna show you.
Friday
Short version: Pizza, green salad
Long version: The MiL arrived Thursday night with a bag of tomatoes. Less than twelve hours later, I put several of them on a pan with a head of garlic and made
Finny's sauce.
I almost went a whole year without making a batch of this. Horrors.
In addition to being The Best Tomato Sauce Ever for pasta and meatballs, it is also The Best Pizza Sauce Ever. And I already had the sourdough going for pizza on Friday. So serendipitous.
I made one pizza with chorizo and onions; the other was just cheese. Both were delicious.
Saturday
Short version: Floor-picnic grilled Italian sausages, bread and butter, carrots with curry dip, tomato and
asadero salad
Long version: See
this post.
Sunday
Short version:
Pollo e coniglio cacciatore, spaghetti, steamed carrots and broccoli, sauteed zucchini and garlic
Long version: When we went up to the new house on Friday with the MiL, Cubby asked to bring his .22 for target practice. A. told him he could, and when A. was setting up a target by the woodpile for Cubby, a rabbit ran out.
Unlucky rabbit.
And so I had a rabbit to cook. Rabbit is best when it's stewed for awhile, and I didn't have time to do that on Friday or Saturday. Sunday was the day.
I thought it would be appropriate to make
cacciatore--which means "hunter" in Italian--with it. Plus, I had some of Finny's sauce left over for pasta.
My master plan is for A. to teach the kids how to hunt, then I can teach them how to cook, and they can take care of everything. I'm trying to work myself out of a job, you see. Thus, I had Cubby help me make the
coniglio cacciatore. (We filled the rest of the pan with
pollo--chicken--because one cottontail does not feed six people.)
His hands were not actually moving so fast that they blurred while he was chopping. I just have a
crappy phone camera.
I didn't actually follow a recipe. Do I ever? Instead we just browned the meat, cooked onions, garlic, and diced tomatoes, added dry vermouth, chicken stock, and a few spoonfuls of Finny's sauce, then put the meat back in to simmer until it was tender. The rabbit didn't get particularly tender, but the kids didn't care. They enjoy tearing resistant meat off the bone.
Of course, since Cubby was helping me in the kitchen, Charlie and Jack must do likewise. Charlie peeled two carrots for me.
With Poppy's help, obviously.
Jack helped me slice zucchini. I don't have a photo of that, as my hands were busy trying to keep him from slicing off the tip of his finger.
Monday
Short version: Bunless cheeseburgers, leftover rice or bread and butter, tomatoes and mayonnaise, sauteed mushrooms and onions, sick-boy soup
Long version: Cubby came home early from school with a general malaise that manifested in a headache and upset stomach. He was feeling better by dinnertime and told me he was hungry. So I made him some soup with chicken stock and leftover chicken, cooked carrots, and rice.
The ability to make Spontaneous Soup is a small talent, but very useful.
Tuesday
Short version: Pork chops, mashed potatoes, roasted squash/celeriac/onions, tomato/cucumber/feta salad
Long version: Man, that was some good feta. It's made at
the cheese factory where I got all that cheddar cheese a couple of weeks ago. I will definitely be getting more of that next time I'm there.
The MiL brought me the celeriac and squash. She grew the celeriac herself. The squash looked like butternut, but the skin was much darker, so I don't know exactly what it was. Cubby actually liked it, though. Cubby and Charlie have historically been very anti-squash, though I continue to give them some to try every fall. Victory.
I also gave each boy a piece of celeriac to try. Both Cubby
and Charlie asked for more. That's more than a victory; that's a miracle. Guess I'll have to grow celeriac next year.
Wednesday
Short version: Scrambled eggs, rice, collard greens, raw mini bell peppers and grape tomatoes
Long version: This was not at all my plan for dinner. I had planned on making a beef stir fry. I had the beef marinating and everything. Unfortunately, my hand and arm were so sore after all my
sanding, cleaning, and painting at the new house--and I was so tired--that I just didn't have the physical ability to do all that chopping. I didn't have the mental fortitude either.
In such cases, scrambled eggs save the day.
The collard greens were from our very own garden.
I just cooked them in olive oil with a lot of garlic. And I cooked them for at least half an hour until they were soft, because I do not enjoy tough greens. They were delicious.
I don't habitually buy mini anything, but the mini bell peppers were the only non-green ones at the tiny grocery store. And I don't do green peppers. The kids were very pleased with them.
Thursday
Short version: Delayed stir fry, random hamburgers, leftover rice, leftover mashed potatoes
Long version: Stir fry really takes far too long, what with all the chopping and separate cooking of the individual components and all. It sure is good, though.
This time I used a piece of the fajita beef, marinated in soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, and garlic powder and sliced very thin. The vegetables were onions, carrots, broccoli, and bell peppers, and I used the same marinade with some cornstarch added to make the sauce.
I had a little meat left that wouldn't fit in the pan when I made hamburgers two days previously, so I fried those for Charlie, who does not enjoy stir fry.
There was some leftover rice, and some leftover potatoes, but not enough of either for everyone, so A. and Charlie had potatoes and the rest of us had rice. Stir fry with mashed potatoes is a little odd, but A. didn't seem to mind. More filling probably than the rice, anyway.
Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?
