This Week’s Menu: Two at the Table Menu Week of July 26 2015

We have some fun plans later in the week–dinner with friends at the Cosmopolitan Club (which is where we had our wedding reception, so it will always hold a special place in our hearts) Thursday night and then a party at our friends Jimmy and Elaine’s place Saturday night–but we’ll be doing plenty of cooking to start the week.

One of the challenges of cooking in a small apartment is that some dishes can really stink up the place. Among the worst offenders are deep-fried foods, which we tend to avoid making in general, but even more so because of the aforementioned problem. However, Tony has been dying to make fried chicken this summer. He thought back to when we made Grilled Skirt Steak with Parsley Oregano Sauce and Baked Tostones. Tostones (plantains) are usually deep-fried, but we found a great recipe from Skinnytaste for a baked version and they were fantastic. Tony searched and found a recipe on epicurious.com for Spicy Oven-Fried Chicken. He’ll tackle this Sunday night because while it’s not too complicated, it does require brining the chicken in buttermilk for a few hours, which is hard to do on a weeknight. This recipe will not only let Tony experiment with a new technique, but also give him a taste of something close to the hot chicken that we missed out on in Nashville when we had barbecue for lunch twice. Tony stands by this decision, but he wishes we had time for one more lunch in Nashville! 

When we looked at Fresh Direct this week, we saw that whole red snapper was very highly rated. We searched and found a recipe on Food & Wine for Whole Roast Fish with Lemon and Herbs. This recipe looks simple a delicious so we’re looking forward to making it for dinner Monday night.  We’ll pair this up with a simple salad.

After our trip to Le District last week, inspired by all the great food and ingredients, we made Rachel Khoo’s Terrine Forestiere or Wild Mushroom Terrine. It was very easy to make and rich and satisfying to eat, plus it made for a great lunch at work on Monday. We wanted to make another Rachel Khoo recipe this week and decided on her Tomatoes Stuffed with Crab for Tuesday night. This recipe uses prepared crab meat, so we won’t have to boil, crack, and pick a bunch of crabs to make it. Not that doesn’t sound fantastic, but it’s more than we can manage on a weeknight.

Kim was in the mood for pizza Wednesday night and found a recipe on a blog new to us: Brooklyn Supper, which features recipes that use seasonal ingredients. Kim loves figs and they are very much in season right now, so she’s going to make Fig, Manchego and Arugula Pizza for us Wednesday night. We’ll be using pre-made dough, which will save lots of time, and we’re not going to skimp on the figs or manchego cheese!

The week wraps up with the previously mentioned dinner at the Cos Club on Thursday night and then we’ll order in on Friday night so that Kim can bake a special treat to take to Jimmy and Elaine’s on Saturday.