With this past week's meal plan, I was able to try two new recipes from Ted Allen's In My Kitchen book. The first that I attempted is a bread pudding. I was intrigued by it because of the similar flavors that it had to one of the pies that we tried in London. Plus, it seems like one of those recipes where you can easily modify the ingredients, but keeping the base of the bread, eggs & cream. It was relatively painless to prepare, and with all the Gruyere cheese that was added, made the place smell wonderful. I was a little worried that hubby wouldn't like it because of the lack of meat it contained, but he reassured me that the eggs & bread will make it filling.
Well, my worries were for naught. The dish turned out splendidly, and tasted fantastic too. The combination of the spinach, onions, thyme and cheese with the eggs and bread was just right. I hope that I'll be able to play around with the ingredients in the future, and make a few variations on the dish (maybe one with butternut squash, spinach, onions and goat cheese...yum!). I will definitely be attempting this recipe again!
The second dish that I attempted from Ted's book is a pasta dish, but one that can really only be made during the spring and summer months. Spring for me means that I can finally use asparagus in my cooking again (as evidenced by its presence in my risotto from the previous week), and this is one of the ingredients in the dish. Like the bread pudding, it was a fairly painless dish to prepare, save for all the chopping of the vegetables. I was a little worried while making the sauce that it would not thicken, but my fears quickly went away when I ended up with a lovely, lightly thickened sauce.
The dish was a big hit with hubby, who has never been as big of a fan of asparagus as I am (but at least will eat it). I was surprised by the complexity of the sauce, which had shallot, garlic, prosciutto, cream, chicken stock & mustard (I didn't have any Dijon, so I used deli instead). It was creamy without being too rich, and the shallot & garlic gave a gentle tang to it. The carrot & asparagus gave a nice sweetness to the dish overall. Yum!
Here are the meal plans from the past week, as well as for the upcoming week. I'll be making a second attempt at the jambalaya (I'll be sure to use a much larger pot this time), the rest are oldies. There's a few recipes that I'll hopefully be able to add to the site later in the week, but that's more dependent on my own laziness. ;) Enjoy the week and happy cooking all!
Meal plan from March 16-21st
Sunday: Savory bread pudding with red onion & spinach (new recipe)
Monday: Chicken paprikash
Tuesday: Dinner with a friend at Cactus Club (hubby had a work dinner at Joe Fortes)
Wednesday: Egg salad sandwiches
Thursday: Pasta Primavera with prosciutto, asparagus & carrot (new recipe)
Friday: Burgers Etc
Meal plan for March 23-28th
Sunday: Jambalya (second attempt for this recipe)
Monday: Spice-rubbed pork with quinoa, salad
Tuesday: Chicken strips, fries
Wednesday: Fusili with pesto, salad
Thursday: Peanut butter chicken, rice, cucumber slices, peas
Friday: Taco pie