Two at the Table

This Week’s Menu: Two at the Table Menu Week of February 21 2016

We were very good last week about sticking to our “no meats, no sweets, no snacks, no quacks” rule for Lent, but we did take on pass on making two dinners, ordering in Indian one night and going out for Italian another. Since we already have the ingredients, we’re going to “recycle” those two recipes and make them this week.

The first recycled recipe will be Ina Garten’s Pasta with Pecorino and Pepper (Pasta Cacio e Pepe), which we’ll make Sunday night. We’ll be visiting our friends Frank and Danielle and their two beautiful little girls Sunday afternoon and went to spend as much time with them as possible, so a quick, easy dinner will be perfect when we get home.

Tony will be on his own Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. He’ll have some leftover pasta on one of those nights and probably the leftover Indian take out on another, but he’ll have one more dinner to figure out. 

On Thursday night, well make a dish we had a few weeks ago: Real Simple’s Roasted Salmon
 with Crispy Broccoli and Quinoa. We enjoyed so much when we first made it that we knew it was going to come up again on one of our Lent menus. We’ll pair this dish with a 2014 Chateau Haut Selve Graves suggested by our friend Michael at Columbus Wine and Spirits.

On Friday night, we’ll make something new and a little more challenging, but not too difficult: Rachel Khoo’s Shepherdless Pie. This dish puts a spin on a traditional shepherd’s pie by replacing meat with lentils, which we have left over from when we made the Salmon with Lentils a few weeks ago, so it’s a perfect fit for a Lent menu. Plus, it’s topped with polenta instead of mashed potatoes, which should be an interesting twist. We’ll enjoy this with a bottle of 2012 Charisma Shiraz Petit Verdot Sangiovese, also courtesy of Michael.

Last but not least, on Saturday night, we’ll make the Food & Wine’s Baked Eggs with Spinach, Asparagus, and (NOT) Prosciutto that we planned to make last week. We’ll have this with a salad and a 2011 La Damnee Des Prieur Sancerre for a nice dinner before heading out to the ballet.

This Week’s Menu: Two at the Table Menu Week of February 14, 2016

This will be our first full week of Lent so far. It will also be a relatively quiet week –Tony will be on his own on Wednesday and we have plans for dinner and the opera on Saturday–so we’ll get to do lot of cooking. We’re making a couple of old favorites that we included when we played our Lent card game as well as a couple of simple new recipes to try as well.

First up is Ina Garten’s Pissaladiere. We planned to make this last week on Friday, but neither one of us had the energy to do it, so we ordered sushi. It’s not a very complicated dish (especially since we bought pre-made pizza dough!) but is does take a little time, so a Sunday before a holiday Monday is probably a good time to give it a try.

(As a side note, we’re spending some of Sunday cooking, mostly to make lunches for the week. If you follow our blog, you know we typically don’t take a “week in a day” approach. In fact, we tend to cut recipes in half so we won’t have too may leftovers to deal with. In the interests of avoiding temptation, though, we thought it would be a good idea to make a couple of larger-scale, vegetarian dishes and bring them for lunch during the week. Kim just wrapped up making Southwest Potato Corn Chowder from a recipe her friend Janice found and recommended on the Hi Sugarplum! blog. The one modification will be to use vegetable stock versus chicken stock. Tony will soon be starting on a batch of Spinach and Mushroom Enchiladas with Tomatillo Salsa from the Homesick Texan blog.)

We’ll try a new recipe on Monday night and one we’ve been meaning to make for a while: Real Simple’s Linguine with Broiled Garlic and Clams. The only challenge with this dish is the need to use fresh clams, so we’ll head out to the market Monday morning and buy them. We’ll have this with a 2014 Cimixa from Italy that our friend Michael suggested for us.

On Tuesday, we’ll make an old favorite: Elie Krieger’s Fish Tacos with Chipotle Cream. This is a simple, delicious dish that’s perfect for a weeknight. One of the best things about the dish is that the leftover chipotle cream lasts a while and goes well on lots of different things. We’ll pair the tacos with our own added garnish of avocado with a nice hoppy IPA.

We’ll make a slightly modified version of Food & Wine’s Baked Eggs with Spinach, Asparagus, and (NOT) Prosciutto; the modification of course is that we’re leaving out the prosciutto. We’ve made several baked egg dishes over the years, but this one is different. Not only does it contain asparagus, but the eggs are baked  on a thick piece of crusty bread. We’ll have this with a side salad and a 2011 La Damnee Des Prieur Sancerre.

We’ll make a very simple dinner on Friday: Ina Garten’s Pasta with Pecorino and Pepper (Pasta Cacio e Pepe). This is about as simple a pasta dish as you can make, as the sauce only contains grated Pecorino cheese, heavy cream, and butter. We’ll pair this up with a 2014 Abruzzo Pecorino.

This Week’s Menu: Two at the Table Menu Week of February 7, 2016

This week marks the start of Lent and the first of our weekly Lenten menus. Like last year, we’ll be giving up desserts; beef and pork; junk food; and chicken and duck, or, as Kim puts it “No sweet, no meats, no snacks, no quacks.” It may seem like a lot, but we should point out that with the possible exception of chicken, we don’t eat a whole lot of any of the things on the list. It won’t be easy to give up any one thing, but we need a longish list for our plans to really constitute a sacrifice.

We have a busy week this week. Tony has plans Sunday (Super Bowl party) and Wednesday (Photoshop class) and Kim has plans Monday (dinner with a friend) and Thursday (a meeting at the New York Junior League). Plus, we’re seeing a play Saturday night and will have dinner out before the show. With only two dinners to make this week, we had to choose wisely and we think we did.

On Tuesday night we’ll have our traditional Mardi Gras dinner: shrimp and grits. It may not seem like much of an indulgence for Fat Tuesday, but we really enjoy it. (Plus, we’ve been going a little heavier than usual on the meats and sweets this weekend, so we’re not totally deprived.) This year, we’re making Food & Wine’s Smoky Shrimp and Grits. The smokiness comes from paprika and we’re going to amp it up a bit by using smoked paprika instead of the hot paprika called for in the recipe. The grits feature a twist as well: they contain spinach. Not exactly a traditional Southern approach, but one we’re looking forward to trying it. The recipe uses a little white wine, so we figured we would have the same wine with dinner. Michael at Columbus Wine and Spirits picked out a 2104 Chateau Ste. Michelle Indians Wells Chardonnay.

On Friday night, we’ll make something a little more involved: Ina Garten’s Pissaladiere, a type of pizza that originated in the south of France and that is topped with caramelized onions, garlic, and anchovies. Since the onions take so long to cook (about 45 minutes) we decided to save a little work and buy pre-made pizza dough. When the onions are done and the pizza goes in the oven, we will open a bottle of Louis Latour Bourgogne Aligote (also recommended by Michael) and have some while we wait and enjoy the rest with dinner.

We’ve decided, just like last year, to give up a number of things for Lent, not really for religious reasons, but as more of an exercise in self-control. We’re giving up the same things as last year: junk food and sweets/desserts plus red meat and poultry. (Or, as Kim put it so succinctly last year: “No sweets, no meats, no snacks, no quacks”. We added a slight twist this year though, specifically, there will be no cheating allowed. That may sound a bit odd, but when we started Lent last year, we realized that we already had a lot of events planned during which it would have been very awkward to stick to our rules. For example, we had invited friends to join us at a great barbecue place in Brooklyn; it would have been obnoxious to suddenly say “Oh no, we can’t actually eat anything. You all dig in; we’ll just have white bread and stare at you. Enjoy!”. Similarly, we had both chosen the chicken entrée at an awards ceremony we were planning to attend and it would have been a little rude to change our order at the very last minute. As a result, we ended up taking one cheat day each week last year. Through a combination of planning and dumb luck, we have no such conflicts this year, so, no excuses for cheating.

The other thing we did differently from last year was to lay out (in a rough way) all of our dinner plans for the next seven weeks (all the days of Lent plus a few days before). Our logic was that if we commit to our plan early and in a concrete way, we would be more likely to stick with it. We turned it into a slightly odd but very fun card game. We started with four stacks of “Plans” cards: Tony on his Own, Kim on her Own, Dinner Out, and Order In. We next made a fifth stack of “Recipe” cards, on which we listed all the recipes we want to make during Lent. We then laid the cards out on our coffee table in seven rows of seven, representing all the weeks between this week and Easter Sunday. We started planning for each week using the “Plans” cards and laid them out first. We then filled in the rest of the week with “Recipe” cards, generally reserving the recipes that make enough food so we will have left overs for lunch (like mac and cheese and enchiladas) for Sundays, the seafood recipes for the start of the week, and the hardest recipes for Fridays and Saturdays. We also made sure each week was a good mix of easier and harder recipes.

We doubt we’ll stick to this schedule exactly, but it will be very helpful to know we have a plan in place to fall back on.

This Week’s Menu:Two at the Table Menu Week of January 31, 2016

It will be another busy week for Two at the Table, but we’ll still make time to try three new recipes.

The week will start with a visit to Tony’s parents’ house, for his dad’s (delayed-by-last-week’s-storm) birthday party. We’ve never left one of these events hungry and we don’t expect that to change, so we don’t have any plans for dinner Sunday night. We have some hummus and pita chips on hand if we get desperate.

Tony was in the mood to make monkfish this week, so on Monday’s night, we’ll try The New York Times’ Monkfish Fillets Dijon Style, which we’ll have with some sautéed spinach. This is a very simple recipe and should not take very long to make. We’ll pair this with a 2012 Bourgogne Clos Saint Pancras Macon Villages that our friend Michael from Wines by the Flask recommended for us.

On Tuesday night, Kim will try her hand at making The Kitchn’s Quick-Braised Chicken, Beans, and Greens, which we’ll pair with a 2014 Gruner Veltliner, another one of Michael’s selections for this week. We’ll use kale (which will make a reappearance later in the week) as the greens for this dish.

Tony will be in his Photoshop class on Wednesday night, so Kim will be on her own. We’re attending a lecture Thursday night. Since there will be some appetizers at the lecture and we probably won’t get home until 9:30 p.m. or so, we’ll skip a formal dinner. Having snacks is always an option, as is having  big lunch!

On Friday night, Kim will make Lemon-Rosemary Roast Chicken with Winter Green Stems. In keeping with our practice–when we get the chance–of reusing the same ingredients throughout the week, Kim is going to use the stems from Tuesday night’s kale for this dish. Michael, in line with his belief that bubbles go with just about everything, suggested a cava to go with this dish, specifically a 2008 Reserva De La Familia Brut Nature, and we’re excited to try it.

We’re seeing a play (“Noises Off”) on Saturday night, so we’ll have dinner out Saturday evening, a trend that will probably continue into April, as we have lots of fun weekend plans coming up. We’re starting to think about next week’s menu already; with Lent starting on Wednesday, we want to make sure we’re well-armed with lots of pescatarian and vegetarian dishes for the next several weeks!

This Week’s Menu: Two at the Table Menu Week of January 24 2016

This is going to be a very busy week, with one or both of us having plans five out of seven nights, but we’ll still make time to make two dinners and two new recipes.

On Sunday night, we’re going to make pasta and sauce (with meatballs and sausage, plus some spare ribs). No recipe involved; Tony has done it enough times that he can do it in his sleep. The plan is to make enough so that we have leftovers to carry us through the week, either for lunch or dinner. Kim is also making a new recipe that our friend Rachel suggested to us: White Bean and Roasted Mushroom Soup, from the blog She Wears Many Hats. With all the snow in NYC right now and temperatures projected to stay in the 30s all week, it’s good to know we’ll have some soup to keep us warm.

Kim will be at the New York Junior League on Monday and again on Thursday, so Tony will be on his own. He’ll probably have the Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Dijon Breadcrumbs and Brussels Sprouts from Delish, which we made last week, on Monday, and some leftover pasta and sauce on Thursday. We’re both out on Wednesday night, so we’re both on our own for dinner.

The other new recipe we’ll make this week will be Dal with Hearty Greens. Kim has had had great success making lentils (like the Salmon and Lentils from last week) and Indian food (like the Easy Samosas and Tandoori Shrimp with Rice and Peas we made over the summer), so she thought she would try her hand at a recipe that combines both those elements.

We’re attending a bourbon tasting with friends Friday night, so we’ll probably grab dinner out after that, and are seeing a show at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Saturday night, so we’ll have dinner out then too. We’ll be busy this week, but certainly well fed!

This Week’s Menu: Two at the Table Menu Week of January 17, 2016

Two at the Table is off and running for the new year!

On Sunday night, we had Ina Garten’s Salmon with Lentils. This is a perfect dinner for a cold, winter night. Planning for it got us thinking about what we want to give up for Lent (which starts in about three weeks) this year. Last year, we went pescatarian (that is, he only meat we ate was fish/seafood),  but because of previous commitments, we allowed ourselves one cheat night per week. We toyed with the idea of going fully vegetarian, but we think that might be a bit much. Going fully vegan is also a bit over the top for us. So, we decided that we will go fully pescatarian this year, but with NO cheats. (We’ll also give up junk food and sweets–including desserts–like we did last year.)

On Monday night, we’ll have some leftovers, in the form of The Minimalist Baker’s Thyme & White Bean Pot Pies. We made the full amount last week and decided to save some of the white bean filling to have the pies again this week.

On Tuesday night, we’ll be trying a new dish, but one similar to other dishes we’ve made in the past, like shrimp and grits: Real Simple’s Smoked Paprika Shrimp with Creamy Cous Cous. This is a bit of an audition for this recipe, and if it passes, we may make it again during Lent.

 We’ll both be out on Wednesday night, Kim and the New York Junior League and Tony at the 92 Street Y for a Photoshop class, so we’ll both be on our own for dinner. 

On Thursday night, we’ll be trying a new recipe for which we have high hopes: Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Dijon Breadcrumbs and Brussels Sprouts from Delish. This recipe uses a technique of brushing the meat with Dijon mustard and covering it in lank breadcrumbs. We’ve made dishes that use a similar technique before,  like Panko Crusted Salmon and Baked Goat Cheese, so we’re curious to see how it works with pork.

On Friday, we are having dinner with our dear friend Lynee to celebrate our anniversary and Tony’s recent birthday. We’ll be having dinner and seeing the ballet on Saturday, also to celebrate our anniversary, so we plan on ending the week with two great dinners out. 

This Week Menu: Two at the Table Menu Week of January 10, 2016

We’ll enjoy three new recipes during this second week of the new year, as well as one we’ve made before and loved so much it’s going to become a staple dish for cold weather. 

On Sunday night, we’ll make The Minimalist Baker’s Thyme & White Bean Pot Pies, which sounds like a perfect dinner for a somewhat cold, slightly rainy January day. We’ll modify this vegan recipe by using pre-made, non-vegan puff pastry for the crust.

Kim will be at the New York Junior League Monday night, so Tony will probably grab dinner with his brother, but on Tuesday night, we’ll make Real Simple’s Roasted Salmon
 with Crispy Broccoli and Quinoa. If you’ve been following our blog, you know we’ve made a quite a few recipes from Real Simple. They are always very easy to make and relay delicious and we think this will be no exception. 

As if to prove how much we like their recipes, on Wednesday night, we’ll make Real Simple’s Chicken with Grapefruit Pan Sauce. This one will be even simpler than the salmon and will also let us eat more of the Texas Ruby Red grapefruits we have in the fridge. Special thanks for Kim’s mom sending this one to us – and for sending the grapefruit!!

Kim will be back at the New York Junior League Thursday night, so Tony will be on his own. He’ll probably stop in somewhere local for dinner on the way home. A likely candidate is the West End Hall, a new beer hall that opened in our neighborhood not to long ago. We popped in Saturday night for a quick pint and were impressed with the beer selection, not to mention the two very hoppy IPAs (including one from Germany!) that we had.

We’ll have dinner out on Friday night, but on Saturday, we’ll stay in and make Rachel Khoo’s Boeuf Bourguignon. We made this once before and were truly blown away from the first bite. It’s rich and satisfying and a perfect winter dinner. The recipe calls for making dumplings from stale baguettes, but we will probably just buy some crusty French bread and skip that step. The dish makes 4 to 6 servings, so we’re excited to be able to take this to work next week too!

This Week’s Menu: Two at the Table Menu Week of January 3, 2016

Welcome to the first menu of 2016! We have a bunch of new recipes planned this week, including two (one for beef and one for salmon) that we never made as planned the week before Christmas, and we’ll also make use of the leftovers from our Fifth Annual New Year’s Day Indoor Barbecue.

Sunday night, we’ll have one of the recipes we planned to have a few weeks ago: The New York Times’ Orange Beef, which we will pair with basmati rice. We’ve been making more Asian-inspired food lately, so we’re looking forward to this dish.

Tony will be on his own Monday night, but on Tuesday might we’ll have dinner together and we’ll make the other dish we didn’t get to make a few weeks ago. This one is from a blog we just found, Sommer Collier’s A Spicy Perspective’s, and it’s for Garlic Lime Oven Baked Salmon. As we mentioned in the original write up, this recipe caught our eyes in part  because it will let us try a new technique: grating jalapeños on a microplane. We’ll have the salmon with a grapefruit avocado salad, using one of the Texas ruby red grapefruits that Kim’s parents sent us for Christmas.

On Wednesday night we’ll have leftovers from our indoor barbecue: pulled pork sandwiches with homemade barbecue sauce, cornbread casserole, and black-eyed peas. Just like last year, we found our barbecue recipes on the Homesick Texan blog: Pulled Pork with Coffee-Chipotle Rub and Chipotle Barbecue Sauce.

We’ll continue with the Asian theme on Thursday, when we make the Yellow Table’s Quick Stir-Fry with (Basmati) Rice. (The recipe calls for black rice, which we have, but given how long it takes to cook, and the fact that the recipe suggests using leftover rice, we decided to make extra basmati rice on Sunday and use that instead.) This is a vegetarian recipe, as is the dish we’ll make on Friday night.

Friday’s dinner will be Polenta Portabellos, which we picked out from a new cookbook (The Forest Feast), a vegetarian cookbook that our friends Rachel and John were kind enough to give to us. We read through it pretty closely and found lots of great recipes, so many that we’re — somewhat — realistically contemplating going totally vegetarian for Lent this year! 

We’ll have dinner out Saturday night (after a trip to the Big Apple Circus!) and wrap up the first week of 2016 for Two at the Table!

This Week’s Menu: Two at the Table Menu Week of December 20, 2015

This week will be a light week for Two at the Table as we are very excited to travel to Austin, Texas to spend Christmas with Kim’s parents. This week’s menu is also inspired by one of their early Christmas gifts to Kim and Tony–a box of delicious Texas Ruby Red grapefruits. Kim loves them and is so excited to make two recipes where they can be featured. Many, many thanks to Kim’s parents for this tasty treat.

On Sunday, we will be celebrating Christmas with Tony’s family along with toasting to his mom’s birthday, which falls on this day. We’ll have all kinds of Italian goodness–antipasto, pasta, roasted pork loin–and of course, birthday cake. To give Tony’s mom a break, he and his sister are going to do all the cooking…with assistance where needed from Kim.

Monday night, we are making a recipe we’ve made a few times from one of our Ellie Krieger cookbooks and really enjoy…Roasted Salmon with Shallot Grapefruit Sauce. It’s a flavorful and easy weeknight meal. The grapefruit is an excellent combination with the salmon and the basil adds a nice touch of brightness.

Tuesday night is a new recipe: Hangar Steaks with Watercress, Grapefruit and Red Onion. This should be an interesting contrast to the recipe we are making on Monday night.

After that we are off to Austin to enjoy the holidays and spend time with friends and family–we can’t wait!