Falafil and Two Curries

Meal 1:Falafil Croquette, Cous Cous with Sesame and Apricot, Moroccan Carrot Salad


• Heat the croquettes in the oven at 350 for 10-15 minutes, or until hot. Serve with some yogurt and or tahini on top if you like.
• Serve the carrots chilled, but season with salt, as we omitted this ingredient to prevent wateriness.
• Serve the cous cous at room temp, or heat in a sauté pan with a little oil and then a splash of water to heat it through.

Meal 2: Curried Potatoes and Spinach, Dal Makhani, Kichirri

WARNING! Indian foods contain whole spices such as peppercorn or cardamom. Chew carefully and avoid them. Don’t worry about the small spices.
• Heat the curry and dal separately, in saucepans. Do not over heat the curry or the spinach will overcook.
• Heat the kichirri in a sauté pan with a generous splash of oil. Stir the rice mixture, add a splash of water to steam it through. Transfer the kichirri to serving plates and serve the curry and dal atop the kichirri.

Escarole Soup and Pad Tahi

Meal 1:White Bean and Escarole Soup, Peasant Batard, Whole Wheat Penne with Red Pepper-Chevre Sauce

• Warm the soup in a saucepan just to a simmer. Be careful to not over cook the escarole.
• Warm the noodles in the oven at 325 for 15 minutes, or until hot. Warm the bread too.

Meal 2: Sweet Potato Noodle Pad Thai and Sticky Rice Envelopes
• Heat the rice envelopes in a steamer basket (5 min.), or in a microwave with a little water under them. If you don’t have a steamer, place a plate atop a saucer in a sauce pot. Add some water, place the package atop the plate, cover the pot, heat and steam for about 5 minutes.
• Pad Thai: Rinse the noodles to loosen them and then drain them very well. Heat some oil in a sauté pan. When the oil is hot, carefully add the noodles and stir fry them. They will spatter so be careful. Next add the ‘meat’ sauce and a little water if necessary to mix the two. Next, fold in the vegetables, heat for a minute or two more and serve immediately.

Notes:

• Escarole soup is one of my all time favorites, something aboout those succulent, green leaves with their juxtaposition of sweet and bitter that I just love.  Classic in authentic Italian cuisine, I had my first bowl at Ralphs in Philadelphia's Italian Market.
• Our version of Pad Thai uses sweet potato noodles.  Just rinse them before pan frying and they are almost stick free!

Quinoa Enchiladas and Spinach Soup

Meal 1:Spinach Soup, White Beans with Roasted Red Peppers and Escarole Salad
• Warm the soup in a saucepan just to a simmer.
• Serve the white beans at room temp and dress and serve the salad.

Meal 2: Spinach, Butternut & Quinoa Enchiladas with Rice and Beans
• Heat the Enchiladas at 350 until warm – about 15 minutes.
• The rice and beans: Heat a little oil in a sauce pan. Add the beans and rice and then enough water to make things just ‘soupy.’ Allow the dish to come to a simmer and stir until the rice and beans thicken a bit into a porridge-like consistency, maybe 5 minutes. Add some butter if you like and hot sauce etc. Serve hot.

Notes:

• Very disapponted in the color of the spinach soup.  Usually it preserves a nice green color as opposed to the Government Issue version I made this week.  I pureed it while too hot.
• I hope you enjoy the enchiladas.  The sauce is one of our favorites and between the quinoa, spinach and beans, its hard to imagine a warm supper better for you!

Sneak peek...

French Lentils, Potato Croquettes, & Acorn Squash

Meal 1:French Lentil Soup, Fingerling Potato Wedges, Spinach Salad
• Warm the soup in a saucepan. Thin if necessary.
• Warm the wedges in the oven at 350 until hot and a little sizzly – 10 minutes.
• Dress and serve the salad.

Meal 2: Potato and Spinach Croquettes, Three Bean Salad, Roasted Acorn Squash
• Remove the squash from the container with the croquettes and place them in an ovensafe dish. Sprinkle with some brown sugar or maple syrup if you like. Heat at 350 until warm – about 10 minutes.
• Warm the croquettes in the oven at 350 until hot – about 10 minutes.
• Serve the bean salad at room temp.

Notes:

• Its worth taking a moment to add some sweets to the acorn squash.  Butter too.  We are short of containers, sorry we had to squish these in with the croquettes, hopefully they transport well.