Salmon, Red Cabbage and New Potatoes
I LOVE this recipe. I kept making salmon with a lemony, fennel salad, and it was delicious, but I was getting bored. This is so easy and interesting. One warning: the potatoes take longer than the recipe says. I recommend roasting the potatoes for 15-20 minutes by themselves, then add the cabbage and roast for another 15-20 minutes before adding the salmon.
Okay, so I didn’t exactly just serve one dish per meal this week, but I could have! Each of the main dishes offer a combo of proteins with veggies and/or carbs. I love these types of dishes; especially for weeknights. I didn’t grow up eating casseroles, so you won’t see too many on this site, but I do like a dish that can serve as not only the main event, but the only event.
(Meals should feed four adults and take about 30-40 minutes to prepare, or the time it takes Patrick to give Eliza a bottle and put her to bed.)
Meal #1: Chicken Thighs, Fennel and Artichoke Fricassee with Noodles
Meal #2: Pork Chops with Peppers and Capers, Green Salad
Meal #3: Salmon, Red Cabbage and New Potatoes
Meals #4: Chicken and Vegetable Fried Rice
Your Grocery List, excluding the usual pantry items:
bell peppers – 1 each green and yellow, 3 red
large red onion – 2
ginger – 1 piece (you can freeze or refrigerate the rest)
zucchini – 2
bunch of scallions
small red cabbage – 1
new potatoes – 10
lemon – 1
fennel bulb – 1
lettuce, or whatever greens you like for a salad – 1 head or bag
parsley – 1 small bunch
artichoke hearts – 1 can
chicken stock – 1 can (you’ll need 1 cup, but you can always freeze the rest in an ice cube tray and use later)
water chestnuts – 1 can
horseradish – 1 bottle (it’ll keep, or you could make bloody marys!)
egg noodles – 1 bag
bone-in chicken thighs – 8
bone-in pork chops – 4
skinless salmon fillet – 1 1/2 lb.
chicken cutlets – ¾ lb.
dry white wine
(Note: this is a weekend meal since it takes about two hours to complete, but most of that time is hands-off.)
Roast Chicken with Onions and Potatoes
I lived in Boston for about four years, and Hamersley’s Bistro was far and away my favorite restaurant in the city. Today, it seems like every restaurant tries to balance fine dining with a casual atmosphere, but they were one of the first to do it well. The bistro is famous for its roast chicken, which is featured in their wonderful cookbook, Bistro Cooking at Home. I tried the restaurant recipe once, and it was magnificent, but it took all day. Fortunately, the cookbook also features a more manageable version which takes far less time, uses fewer ingredients and is equally as good.
3 TB. olive oil
3 TB. Dijon mustard
1 ½ ts. dried thyme
1 ½ ts. dried rosemary
salt and pepper
1 lemon, cut in half
1 whole chicken (4 lbs.)
2 large red onion, cut into thick rounds*
6 medium red potatoes, washed but not peeled, sliced in half
½ cup chicken broth or water
* ingredients that can be prepped several days ahead.
Heat the oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, combine 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, mustard, thyme and rosemary, and season with a little salt and pepper. Squeeze one half of the lemon into this mixture; squeeze the other half into small bowl. Reserve the juice as well as the squeezed lemon halves. Rub the herb mixture over the chicken and inside its cavity. Put the squeezed lemon halves in the cavity as well.
Put the onion and potatoes in the bottom of the roasting pan and toss with the remaining olive oil and some salt and pepper. Make room for the chicken in the pan and put it breast side up. Cook until the juices run clear when the thigh is pricked, about 1 ½- ¾ hours; a meat thermometer inserted into the thigh should register 165 – 170 degrees.
Transfer the vegetables to a serving platter. Pour the juices from inside the chicken’s cavity into the roasting pan and transfer the chicken to a cutting board to rest.
Degrease the juices in the roasting pan (tip the pan and try to skim off as much of the fast as possible with a spoon). Set the pan over medium-high heat. Add the reserved lemon juice and chicken broth or water. Bring to a boil, stirring with a wooden spoon to scrape up the flavorful browned bits stuck to the pan. Carve the chicken or cut it into pieces and serve it with the potatoes, onions, and some of the plan juices poured over all.
Steamed Green Beans
1 lb. green beans, trimmed and halved if very long
1 Tb. butter
salt and pepper
Over medium-high heat, place beans in a steamer basket set in a pot with enough water to almost touch the beans, cover. It should take between 5-10 minutes for the water to come to a boil and steam the green beans until they are tender, but keep an eye on them so they don’t overcook and become limp. Remove from basket and toss with butter, salt and pepper.
Welcome to Everyday Banquet! I’m Kelly, and I am very excited to introduce you to my blog, which is a meal planning tool designed to make your life easier and more delicious. On Fridays, I will post four to five meals and a grocery list to help you shop and prepare for the coming week. The best part is that my family has already enjoyed these meals, usually the week before, so along with recipes and/or links to recipes I will share my advice and insight from having already prepared the meals. To learn a little bit more about the blog and me please visit my about page. And now, on to the first post!
I believe it was Ina Garten, aka the Barefoot Contessa, who once said that most people make the same five to ten recipes for dinner over and over. At first I thought that couldn’t be right, but then I thought about what I make on a regular basis and actually, it is! With some variation here and there, if something is relatively inexpensive, easy and obviously delicious why wouldn’t I make it again and again? For this first week I am sharing a lot of my standards, starting with roast chicken on Sunday night, which, when done well, is one of the greatest dishes on earth.
(Meals should feed four adults and take about 30-40 minutes to prepare, or the time it takes Patrick to give Eliza a bottle and put her to bed.)
Meal #1: Hamersley’s Walk-Away Roast Chicken with Onions and Potatoes, Steamed Green Beans
Meal #2: Penne with Broccoli Rabe and Sausage
Meal #3: Baked Fish with Tomatoes and Olives, Kale Caesar Salad
Meal #4: Bourbon Glazed Smoked Pork Chops and Roasted Delicata Squash
Your grocery list, excluding the usual pantry items:
lemons – 2
large red onion – 2
medium red potatoes – 6
green beans – 1 lb.
broccoli rabe – 1 bunch
tuscan kale – 1 large bunch
delicata squash – 2
plum tomatoes – 8
chicken broth – 1 can (1 pint or 2 cups)
Whole Chicken – 4 lbs.
Italian Sausage – 3/4 lb.
smoked bone-in pork chops, ½- inch thick – 1 per person
white fish – 6 ounces per person
