This Week’s Menu: Two at the Table Menu Week of Jun 5 2016

We have a fun mix of old and new recipes this week and, with apologies to Michael at Columbus Wine and Spirits, enough half-finished and unopened bottles of wine in the apartment that we’re going to wing it as far as wine pairings.

On Sunday night we’ll make Epicurious’ Spicy Oven-Fried Chicken, which you may remember we made once before, with pretty good results. We’re going to try a few of the changes that Tony mentioned in his write-up for this recipe, namely, cooking the chicken in two batches (if necessary), skipping the step of drizzling the chicken with butter before it goes into the oven, and turning up the spiciness a notch or two. We’ll make enough to have leftovers so that we’ll have a quick dinner on tap for later in the week when we’re busy. Fried chicken + beer = happiness, so we’ll pair this with a cold IPA to cut through the heat a bit.

We’ll continue with our pescatarian ways on Monday with Food & Wine’s Greek Salad with Oregano Roasted Salmon, another dish that we’ve made successfully before. We’ll have to see what wines we have on hand to pair with this one, but a crisp white is probably going to be our best bet.

On Tuesday night, we’ll make a new dish: Epicurious’ Lemony Milanese Chicken with Arugula Salad. We seldom make foods that require breading and frying, as it can be a little time-consuming and a little messy, but this dish is easy enough that we’re going to give it a go. We’ll try our luck with a lighter red or even a rose for this dish.

Tony will be at a work event on Wednesday, so Kim will be left to her own devices. We have a very easy recipe planned for Thursday: Grilled Open-face Ham, Brie, and Arugula Sandwiches, which should be a snap to make. We’ll try serving some of the bread and butter pickles that Tony made last weekend on the side, or, if these prove to be too sweet, some cornichons we bought at Le District last Sunday. 

We’ll have the left over fried chicken on Friday night and make another new favorite on Saturday: Real Simple’s Linguine with Broiled Garlic and Clams. We’ve made this dish before and enjoyed it very much; it’s easy and incredibly flavorful. We should have another bottle of white stashed away somewhere, so that will be our wine paring for this dish.