It’s Saturday March 15
Another great week of dining lies ahead. It’s time to plan ahead and create your grocery orders.
West Coast diners can start with a piece of baked cod tonight. (If you live in the Eastern US, try haddock, pollock or hake.) You may also need to buy frozen fish, but frozen seafood cooks beautifully once thawed. Tonights fish will be dressed with sweet and salty Hoisin Sauce. The fish rests on a dressed Arugula Salad with thin-sliced mango and fennel. Finish each plate with a serving of leftover black bean polenta topped with mango salsa. This meal is a real celebration of color and fresh flavors!
Avgolemono (Egg/lemon soup) is a simple and delicious Greek soup and it’s on the menu tonight. I’m surprised this dish hasn’t caught on in a big way across America. Avgolemono has just a few ingredients, it’s easy to prepare, old-world delicious and nutritious.
Warm, freshly prepared Chik’n slices (or optional chicken) adorn a multi-textured dinner salad of lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, dried tart cherries, tart apple and steamed broccoli. The salad is sprinkled with quinoa to up the nutritional ante and servings are topped with chopped tomatoes and a warm Honey Mustard dressing.
Roasted corn salsa adds a Southwestern flair to your greens tonight. Chard is the variety of choice and it’s cooked with sweet peppers and a touch of chili and cumin. You’ll serve it over nutritious quinoa topped with homemade roasted corn salsa, chickenless tenders (or optional chicken) and a splash of lime juice.
The vivid colors on this plate will have you dreaming of beautiful Santa Fe sunsets.
Tonights pasta is an Americanized variation of carbonara pasta. This version uses a marinara sauce base and has neither egg nor prosciutto. “Bestemmia!” (Blasphemy!) might be the cry from Carbonara purists.
I actually prefer this alternate way of preparing carbonara. It’s not as rich as the pure classic carbonara. In this plant-based approach, chopped smoky tempeh brings the prosciutto (bacon) flavor to the sauce and browned mushrooms add to the umami. It’s mighty tasty.