The Boston area is expecting TWO feet of snow tomorrow, which is a Saturday. So, I have planned my meals through Monday (desserts to be baked during the weekend):
Friday:
Homemade challah
Tossed salad
Pan fried Flounder
Vegetarian Sausage
Corn from Johnny's Delivery
Saturday:
Sweet Potato and Corn Chowder - recipe by New England Soup Factory
Baked Potato Bar (fake bacon, shredded cheese, BBQ sauce, sour cream, salsa, be creative)
Steamed Broccoli
Sunday
Israeli Salad
It is rare that I do daily posts, but a recent Facebook follower asked for this recipe. I have to tell you that I love this recipe. It is relatively easy and uses one pot and is DELICIOUS. It is truly tasty. One of my teenagers likes it and the other really doesn't like it. I get it. Can't make everyone happy.
One Pan Orecchiette Puttanesca
5 T Olive Oil
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 15 oz can of chickpeas; rinsed; and dried (doesn't need to be super dry, but I let them sit in the colander while I gather all the ingredients together)
2 t paprika (I use this one from the Spice Store)
2 t ground cumin (I use this one from the Spice Store)
2 t tomato paste (I use this one)
salt
2 cups parsley, roughly chopped
2 t lemon zest
3 T baby capers
3/4 green olives pitted; roughly chopped
9 oz grape or cherry tomatoes, washed and dried
2 t sugar
1 1/2 t caraway seeds
9 oz orecchiette (or shells)
2 cups vegetable stock
3/4 cup plus 2 T water
pepper
In a large skillet (make sure you have a cover for this skillet), combine 3 T olive oil, garlic, chick peas, paprika, cumin, tomato paste and 1/2 t salt and cook over medium heat for 12 minutes. Keep stirring. Don't let it burn. Remove 1/3 of the chickpeas.
In a small bowl combine the parsley, lemon zest, capers and olives. Add 2/3 of the parsley dish to the skillet along with the tomatoes, sugar and caraway seeds and cook for 2 minutes and stir often. Then add the pasta, stock, water, 1/2 t salt and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook for 12 minutes.
Then stir in remaining parsley into the pan, along with 2 T olive oi and the remaining chickpeas. Grind some pepper on top. Serve.
NOTE:
I don't use store spices unless I am stuck. I plan ahead and order my spices from The Spice House. If you ever get to go post pandemic it is an amazing family owned store. Here is a bit more history about them. The Double Vanilla is AMAZING.
Apparently my kids really like meatballs. Their favorite is the sweet and sour meatball from Kosher by Design. They have also liked the Swedish meatball recipe from Kosher Instant Pot. This weekend I found a new meatball recipe, which everyone liked. I like meatballs because I can make two dishes at the same time - one using meatballs and one using vegetarian meatballs (meatless meatballs).
This is from Once Upon a Chef
MEATBALLS
Nonstick spray
1 large egg
1 T soy sauce
3 T water
1/4 cup sliced scallions
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 t grated fresh ginger
1.5 pounds of ground beef
2/3 cup plain bread crumbs
SAUCE
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup water
6 T brown sugar
2 T soy sauce
1 T Sambal Oelek (I used double in the vegetarian version since Adam likes heat)
1 t toasted sesame oil
1 T rice vinegar
FOR SERVING
2 sliced scallions
cooked white rice
1 T sesame seeds
To make the meatballs, first preheat the oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with oil.
In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, soy sauce, water, scallions, garlic and ginger. Add the beef and breadcrumbs. I use latex gloves to mix and then form the meatballs (golf ball size). I put the meatballs on the baking sheet, and cook for 18 minutes and make sure I flip them halfway through.
To make the sauce, in a large skillet, stir the ketchup, water, brown sugar, soy sauce, Sambal Oelek, sesame oil and vinegar. Bring the sauce to a simmer over medium heat. Using tongs, place the meatballs in the sauce and cook for five minutes.
Move meatballs to bowl with sauce and top with scallions and sesame seeds. (To make the vegetarian version, I only made the sauce and placed the frozen vegetarian meatballs in the sauce and cooked it until the meatballs were hot.)
