This Week’s Menu: Two at the Table Menu Week of June 4, 2017

We’re back from a fantastic vacation in Florence. Inspired by all the great food we had to do some serious cooking this week! We will be trying five new recipes (four main courses and one side) and are going to try to invent something on our own as well. We’re excited to see how it all comes out.

We had lunch with Tony’s mom on Sunday afternoon. (The background for our weekly photo is made up of leaves from Tony’s dad’s grape vines, which he planted in the West Garden, which should not be confused with the East Garden, which is where Tony’s dad planted his peach trees.) We knew we would be having a small lunch, so we’ll be making The Kitchn’s One-Skillet Chicken with Garlicky Broccoli and Croutons, for dinner. It should make enough to leave leftovers for Tony for Thursday night, when Kim is at a New York Junior League meeting.

To have breakfast around during the week, Kim spent some time in the kitchen late Sunday afternoon to make two things: Skinnytaste’s Gluten-free, Dairy-free Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins and Fresh Direct’s Easy Baked Egg Cups, using tomato, spinach, and Parmesan cheese. These should get our days off to a great start.

Kim with also be at meetings Monday and Tuesday night, so Tony will be on his own. On Monday night, he’s going to make swordfish kabobs. We have a piece of swordfish in the freezer and kabob skewers in the cupboard. He will improvise the rest, but will probably keep things simple and marinate the fish in lemon juice and olive oil. Herbs de Provence might make an appearance, or perhaps garlic and fresh oregano. Kim was nice enough to offer to make rice pilaf before she leaves for her meeting, so dinner should come together very quickly. On Tuesday night, Tony will visit his mom for dinner and she will make one of his favorites: Roasted Sausage and Potatoes.

We’ll try another new recipe Wednesday night: Food & Wine’s Feta-Brined Chicken Sandwiches. This recipe will let us use up some chicken breasts we have in the freezer from when Kim made Lemony Chicken Milanese with Arugula Salad. Plus, we’ve had great success in the past making sandwiches for dinner, and we don’t think this recipe will be an exception.

We’ll make another new recipe, this one featuring seafood, on Friday night: Skinnytaste’s Baked Shrimp Taquitos. Kim will be in charge of making this dish, along with guacamole and salsa verde to accompany the taquitos.

On Saturday night, we’ll have a simple dinner directly inspired by one we had in Florence: Porterhouse Steak. (We should point out that we’re using the linked recipe as a starting point for cooking directions, but won’t be following is exactly.) The typically preparation of “bistecca all Fiorentina” is very simple: the steak — in our case, a glorious, two-inch thick porterhouse — is seasoned with nothing more than olive oil, rosemary, and salt and then grilled to rare. (We saw more than one menu that made it clear that rare was the only temperature at which the steak would be served, which was fine by us!) What makes the recipe a little tricky is that, based on what we’ve seen, the rosemary flavor does not come from, as you might expect, chopped up rosemary sprinkled on the steak. So, we’ll probably get a little creative and make rosemary infused olive oil, or at least use a rosemary sprig to brush the steak with the oil. We’ll put our trusty cast iron skillet to use to sear the steak on the stove top and finish cooking it in the oven. We’ll make a fun side as well, The Kitchn’s Smoky Creamed Kale, and maybe some roasted potatoes if we’re in the mood. We’ll have to get the appropriate Tuscan red for dinner, so a trip to Columbus Wine & Spirits will be in order.