Stay Home and Cook: Every Angle of Flavor (Week Eleven)
Oh, hello there. It’s quite a time in our country and world, isn’t it? There is a lot going on and it’s a lot to think about and process; not to mention we are amidst a pandemic. Please don’t forget that it’s important to stay home as much as you can and wear a mask if unable to properly social distance.
It’s important to pay attention to these big events, the protests, and all of the horrendous acts that prompted them. I won’t go into more detail, but I’d highly recommend educating yourself and listening; we all have a lot to learn. And a lot to speak up about. Stay tuned for more to come on all of that, right here.
On the food front, we had a really delicious week. We covered a wide variety of flavors and a few meals that were actually repeats (wow) because they were just that awesome. Yes, even I will encourage a repeat of a recipe once a in a while. ;)
Our work-from-home-week-11 was one filled with excellent meals and ended on the anniversary of this very blog! My three-year mark of this site was a happy day to recognize everything that has been created due to my love of (gluten free) food. I wrote my thoughts on three years over the weekend and celebrated with one of my favorite meals, which you’ll see below.
I hope these dinners inspire you to create something delicious in your own home. Links are provided to recipes when available. Enjoy!
Party Hummus with Spiced Lamb
Recipe by David Tamarkin, Cook90
This meal is naturally gluten free! We served it with homemade flatbread (use GF flour for the recipe), which was perfect for scooping up this ultra-flavorful hummus.
The spiced lamb was superb which made me want to top every bowl of hummus with ground meat. Feel free to use ground beef or turkey instead; however, we loved the lamb’s rich flavor for this dish specifically.
We included cornichons on the side because they’re the cutest pickled vegetable. They also were an awesome flavor combo with a big bite of hummus and lamb.
Grilled Teriyaki Chicken and Spinach Salad
Original Recipe
Be sure to use gluten free soy sauce for your teriyaki marinade. This is an otherwise naturally gluten free meal. Salads are a quick dinner option when you need greens, it’s too hot to cook, or you’re not extremely hungry. I’m always hungry, but once in a while a lighter meal fits the bill. We grilled chicken and put it on a bed of spinach, sliced avocado, cherry tomatoes, and bean sprouts. Simple as that!
Of course, you could expand upon the salad with other available veggies, but my salads don’t ned to be complicated. I like them straightforward and quick to put together. The protein is the “star” of this dish. Make sure to marinate your protein for about an hour before cooking!
Thai Lettuce Wraps
Recipe by Melissa Clark, Dinner: Changing the Game
In my opinion, the “most delicious of the month” award should go to these incredibly flavorful lettuce wraps filled with savory, slightly spicy ground pork and spinach. I’m drooling as I type about them and I ate them so fast I was sad as soon as they were gone. A little dramatic, but it’s appropriate for a meal as yummy as this one. I’m pretty sure I’d be OK if my diet consisted of at least 50% Thai Lettuce Wraps.
Not only is it a quick-to-prepare dinner, but it’s also very versatile. Add extra veggies! Change the protein! Serve it over rice! So many options. And while I’m partial to the original, I do think dishes such as this are primed and ready to go for alternate ingredients and/or additions. Make this meal. You’ll love it.
Roasted Cod and Potatoes
Recipe by Mark Bittman, NYT Cooking
A scene of spring, on a plate. We finally started to incorporate seafood into our meals again and we started with this low-key, one-pan meal. This dinner was a pan of thinly-sliced potatoes topped with cod; both were lightly seasoned and baked in the oven. The color palette was a bit one-note so we spruced it up with vibrant, grilled asparagus, which is locally grown right now.
While I wouldn’t say this was the boldest dish of the week, it was still yummy. A very good “palette cleanser” if you will. Sometimes you need a brief break from the vibrant flavors; however, this brief break immediately made me realize the vibrant flavors are the best ones! This dinner was very low-maintenance and very mild; some may love that combination. I think it needed more pizzazz. ;)
Shrimp Pad Thai
Recipe by Melissa Clark, Dinner: Changing the Game
On the other end of the flavor spectrum, we livened things up on Friday with this incredible shrimp pad Thai. Spicy and scrumptious, this dinner more than made up for the fairly unexciting plate from the night prior (no disrespect to the fish and potato). Pad Thai is a dish I usually save for restaurants, but the recipe in this great book reeled us in and we finally made it at home.
There is a fair amount of chopping and prepping, but the cooking is quick and suddenly you’re enjoying a bowl of piping-hot, joyfully spicy Pad Thai right in your kitchen! It tasted as good as the versions I’ve had in restaurants, but was even more special since we used cilantro grown on our own balcony.
Of course, if you don’t have shrimp available feel free to use a protein of your choosing (chicken is my usual go-to) or just make it vegetarian. Pad Thai is a naturally gluten free dish due to the rice noodle base; it’s just as easy to have it be meatless as well.
Chickpea and Kale Pasta
Original Recipe
To toast the three-year anniversary of my website, we kept it simple and made one of my favorite dinners which featured chickpeas and kale mixed in a slightly creamy sauce tossed with thin spaghetti (capellini). My goodness it’s so delicious and so hearty, without being too rich.
In my adult years, I’ve learned that it’s important to enjoy dark, leafy greens and the best way for me to eat them is in a big bowl of pasta. I’m not much of a raw-veggie fan so adding them to pasta is a great way to ensure I’ll get my green vitamins.
For meatless pastas, we often use chickpeas as the protein source because they’re easy to include, have enough flavor, and crisping them a little before tossing with the other ingredients ensures every bite that includes them will be delicious.
This dinner is easily adaptable to whichever kind of greens you have in the fridge, which is another reason we keep it in the rotation. However, I think this combination will always be my favorite. Extra tip: add red pepper flakes to give your greens-and-chickpea pasta a hint of heat!
Zucchini-Lentil Fritters with Lemony Yogurt
Recipe by Sohla El-Waylly, Healthyish
Say you’re in the mood for vegetables and a meatless meal, but want it spunky. Well then, I highly recommend making these awesome fritters filled with fresh zucchini and lentils. The flavor is punchy thanks to turmeric and chili powder; the eating experience made even better when one is dipped in lemony yogurt (served on the side). The fritters are so delicious you won’t want to share them and they’re so easy to make you’ll want them again and again.
In my opinion, they look a little like fried, whole crabs when they’re done which makes them even more enticing. Zucchini and lentils pretending to be crab! OK, not really, but the shape of each fritter is totally unique.
These crispy, salty, and slightly tangy fritters are perfect for a change of pace at dinnertime because they’re so far from what you’d normally cook. Right? Fritters are a dish I’d usually order in a restaurant or crave from afar, but no longer! Making them at home is entirely possible. And they are naturally gluten free. :)
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Enjoy, and stay safe.
