Weeknight Regulars

Dishes we often make that are relatively easy & tasty:

Easy roast chicken

• 0.5-1 onion and/or lemon in carcass

• Season with salt (ideally: fleur de sel!) and pepper

• 425° for 1-1.5 hours, or until thickest part of breast is 160° (often we'll turn down the oven to 350° once it's ~130° or so)

• Optional marinade:

  • 1 cup yogurt

  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt

  • Cover chicken, leave overnight, scrape off before putting in oven (with just a light slinking of fleur de sel)

  • --> or for an even simpler time, sprinkle ~1/4 tsp of kosher salt on the chicken per pound, and leave in the fridge ~10-30 hours

Paleo Meatballs

• Ingredients

  • 1 pound ground beef

  • 1 pound ground pork

  • 1 egg

  • ~2 tablespoons herbs, minced

  • 1/2 tsp salt

  • 1/2 cup almond flour

  • 2+ tablespoons coco aminos

• Preheat oven to 400°

• Mix ingredients in a bowl

• Form into balls on parchment paper on a baking tray

• Cook until done (~20 min)

• Adapted from https://www.realfoodwithjessica.com/2016/10/17/easy-oven-baked-paleo-meatballs/

Lentils

• Vegetable stock (can also use chicken/beef stock if OK with being non-vegetarian)

  • ~1 T dried mushrooms

  • ~1 T powdered vegetables

  • 2” slice of kombu

  • Pour ~1-2 cups of hot water over, let steep ~30 min

• Lentils:

  • 1 onion, plus ~equal amount of celery and carrots → dice, salt

  • 1/4 cup olive oil, saute mirepoix on medium-low ~10 minutes until onions translucent

  • Add bay leaf, thyme, and/or sage

  • Add 1/2 package of lentils (~1 cup), coat in oil/mirepoix mixture

• Strain stock into pot

• Bring to a boil, then lower to simmer

• Cook, covered until tender, 30-45 minutes

• Add salt & pepper to taste, plus some acid (lemon juice or apple cider vinegar)

"Easy Caesar-esque Salad"

Gluten free, less-work version that has a similar flavor profile to Caesar Salad

• 0.5-1 garlic clove

• to taste: olive oil, anchovy paste, and lemon juice

• pound garlic clove in a mortar & pestle, add ~equal amount of anchovy paste

• ...then add roughly equal amounts of olive oil & lemon juice, using the mortar & pestle to create an emulsion

• coat & toss with romaine lettuce, add black pepper to tate, and then use a vegetable peeler to put bits of hard cheese (ideally Parmigiano Reggiano) on top

Sardine "Pantry Pasta"

...good for "s*** we don't have anything in the fridge!" nights

• Ingredients

  • 2 tins of sardines (we usually use the Season brand from Costco)

  • 1 pound dried pasta (usually spaghetti)

  • 1-2 lemons

  • 1 garlic clove (we zest it in a microplane but you can also mince/crush)

  • parsley, olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste

• Put sardines with oil in a bowl, add parsley and lemon zest/juice of 1-2 lemons --> let sit/marinate while pasta is cooking

• Cook pasta, reserving pasta water

• Toss in a bowl, adding water and extra olive oil as necessary --> the hot pasta water helps "cook" the garlic

• Season with more lemon, salt, and pepper to taste