Weeknight meals

[dgaddis]

We've got our awesome 'what are you cooking this weekend' thread, and it's great. But anyone can make a good meal if they've got all day to do it. What about fast and easy, but tasty, week night meals? Whatcha got?

Here's what I made last night :: Drumsticks on the grill using the vortex set up for indirect heat. It's a FAST and HOT cook, temp in the 500-650*F range and they only took 15mins on the grill - and they were delicious! Good crispy skin, very moist inside. I used Hardcore Carnivore Red for seasoning. Paired 'em with some steamed veggies and rice and it's an easy weeknight dinner. CHEAP too, a pack of six drumsticks was less than $3.

[Too Tall]

I make Hummos in about 5 mins., put that on a large platter, toss a bunch of veg. around the sides, warm pita bread, olive oil and a dash of cayenne and go nuts.
If there is some protein lying around I'll add that to the pile.
VERY satisfying, fast and makes good use of orphaned left overs.

[Octave]

Preparation and multitasking are your friends. Example from last night:

Had, as always, a bag of "soup mix" in the freezer made of diced carrot, onion, celery, leek and halved garlic cloves. Tossed that into a hot pot with a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and a sprig of rosemary as soon as I walked in the door. Once I could smell it I walked back over and added some water, brought it up to a simmer and walked away. About 30 minutes later, a bit before we were hungry, chucked in a few handfuls of pasta (we make big batches once a month and dry it all out). Five minutes later dinner.

In those 30 minutes I unpacked by bag from work, cleaned up my bike, started a load of laundry and walked around the corner for a baguette.


Ad infinitum with batch-made and fridge/frozen pizza doughs, lentil-balls (or meatballs if thats your thing), cookie dough... make a weekly or monthly ritual of making a huge batch of something to stuff your freezer with and your life will be infinitely easier. No one deserves half-assed meals, life is too short for sh!tty food.

[guido]

I took skinless boneless chicken thighs, each cut in half, a quart of defrosted frozen tomato sauce for our garden, onions from out garden, 5 cloves of garlic from our garden, green italian olives, capers, thyme, bay leaf and salt & pepper and threw it all in the InstantPot. 25 minutes at pressure, 15 minutes prep time. Perfect for a rainy damp evening... Enough left overs for a lunch.

[rwsaunders]

Like Octave, we make a lot of soup, especially in the Fall and Winter...no French bakery around the corner, though. Tonight is some variation of minestrone that smells pretty good from my perch in my home office. Starting next Fall we are empty nesters for the first time in 25 years so cooking will take on a new spin.

[maunahaole]

These are both pressure cooker recipes, but we have done them multiple times.

Curry rice. Good as a side or add shrimp or chicken to serve as a one bowl dish.

https://www.melskitchencafe.com/inst...egetable-rice/

Beef and Broccoli

We cut the sugar down and added some ginger. It was better our way. This is a little heavy on the prep side, but good result. Serve over rice.
https://www.pressurecookingtoday.com...-and-broccoli/

[dgaddis]

Grilled drumsticks again last night, with some veggies and roasted cabbage, which I had never done but saw it here on Serious Eats and it looked good. And it was, we'll do it again for sure.

[Too Tall]

Cabbage look great. I do the same with Romaine Lettuce. Whole heads lightly oiled tossed on a hot grill for 30 seconds per side. Dress with whatever.

Last eve. Easy dinner. Raw pumpkin squash cubed tossed with evo and salt in cast iron until cooked thru and a bit browned than served over gnocci that was tossed in brown butter with some grated parm and a arugala salad.

I used shelf safe gnocci that looks highly suspect. It is quite acceptable.

No pics sorry.

[caleb]

One of my new favorites is stovetop "enchiladas."

1) Put stuff for filling in a hot pan. I like to braise a bunch of chicken thighs on the weekend to use throughout the week, and sometimes a pot of beans. Use only salt, pepper, and garlic so they're adaptable. This is a lot easier if you're veg and/or you're willing to eat canned beans. Other filling stuff includes peppers, tomatoes, or other veggies. Add some stock, tomato paste, and let it reduce for a few minutes, until it's no longer soupy.

2) Fill the tortillas. Lay out the tortillas on the counter. Put cheese on the bottom, then the filling on top. Roll/fold to mostly seal.

3) Toast the filled tortillas. Use the pan you just emptied of filling.

4) Top. Put the toasted tortillas on a plate. Cover in enchilada sauce and cheese. Build a mound of lettuce, tomato, pico, salsa, etcetera on top.

I like it because it's a quick way to get the enchilada flavor while maintaining a variety of textures. Maybe there's a name for this style, but I don't know it.

[guido]

Grass fed boneless short-ribs, diced cottage bacon, parsnips, onions, carrots, celery, olives, capers, thyme, coriander seeds, bay leaves, S&P and a cup and a half of beef stock. 40 minutes in the Instant pot. Fork tender, yum...

[dgaddis]

That looks legit guy! Looking forward to using our Instant Pot here soon.

[rwsaunders]

1 bag of shrimp cooked in a pan, 1 can of stewed tomatoes, mix together and place over pasta with a sprinkle of parmesan...decent pre-Christmas week meal. Don't forget the salad and red wine.

[guido]

Solstice favorite -- Shrimp and New World/Old World green sauce: Shell shrimp. Combine a good size bunch each of cilantro and flat leaf parsley, 5 cloves garlic, 2 dried home grown chilies, olive oil, shrimp stock in food processor and buzz to make a loose pestoish sauce. Toss shrimp and sauce in shallow roasting pan and bake at 500 degrees till the shrimp are done stirring once... Serve with steamed asparagus and a good baguette to sop up the sauce...



Curse the darkness and dark times...

[rwsaunders]

Let's try some chicken piccata with roasted broccoli and spinach orzo...Christmas is getting closer.

[guido]

Kicked off the new year with Hoppin' John and my SO's great cornbread. It didn't bring an excess of good luck last year, but perhaps it could have been worse...



Happy new year everyone!

[robin3mj]

The smartest thing you can do ahead of your workweek is to roast a whole chicken on Sunday nights, and make sure the meat is picked off the carcass before you go to bed. Cheap, smart, easy.

[dgaddis]

FYI - 'hens' and 'chickens', as they're labeled at the grocery store, cook way differently. I never realized that until last week. I cook a whole chicken about every other week or so, and for whatever reason this time I grabbed a bird labeled as a hen. About the same size as the 'chickens', cooked in a normal time, but holy crap that thing was TOUGH. So tough it was hard to pierce the meat with a fork. We didn't eat much of it, and threw the rest away. Apparently hens are slaughtered when they're older, and they're better suited to long low temp cooks. Lesson learned.

[Tom]

We slaughtered the hens after they stopped laying eggs. We didn't try to eat them, but that's because we'd have maybe a dozen layers only after about fifty meat birds went into the freezer.

I don't like plucking chickens. They smell bad when you dip them in hot water, their grooming habits are rudimentary at best.

[Mark Walberg]

FYI - 'hens' and 'chickens', as they're labeled at the grocery store, cook way differently......Apparently hens are slaughtered when they're older, and they're better suited to long low temp cooks. Lesson learned.

Perfect for Coq au vin !

[rwsaunders]

A little mixed bean bag from the local Italian market, add some water, a little sweet sausage, cabbage, cook and place over pasta if you like. Soup for a week.