Coronavirus has brought about many changes. Economists, for one, are likely to study the impact for years to come. That being said, we can all try to make the best of it. With everyone staying home, creative and resourceful cooking is more important than ever. We are only going grocery shopping every other Sunday, so we've had to plan ahead 14 days worth of meals to make sure we don't have to go out. Despite (or maybe thanks to) this, we've been eating quite well. Let's take a quick look at what we did for the first seven days of our last set of meals.
Sunday: I made pulled pork, similar to my existing recipe, but done in the Instant Pot. I cut the pork into chunks and browned it before pressure cooking for 30 minutes with a natural release. I skimmed off the grease and reduced down the sauce. The pork was incredibly tender and juicy, and done in a fraction of the time. For dinner, we had the pork on baked potatoes, inspired by Big Daddy's, one of Ariel's favorite spots from her Tulsa days.
Monday: Back in February (a lifetime ago, it seems), we attended a cooking class in Sioux Falls led by Lance White, a local chef and caterer. Probably the most interesting thing we learned was his technique for quickly making soups, specifically shrimp bisque. My version used a homemade shrimp stock I made using shrimp shells and vegetables. I also made a Caesar salad loosely based on Kenji's recipe.
Tuesday: I've been making Chairman Mao's braised pork belly regularly over the last year. My version is loosely based on one from the Woks of Life. I'm sure a full recipe will appear on the blog once I have experimented a bit more. I paired the pork with broccoli stir fried with garlic.
Wednesday: With a box of whole squid in the freezer, I made fried calamari. I used potato starch to make the coating, which yields very crispy results. This idea was inspired by using potato starch to coat karaage (Japanese fried chicken), and is definitely worth a post in the future. I paired this with more Caesar salad.
Thursday: The pulled pork from Sunday came back as a filling for quesadillas. We had pinto beans with onion and garlic as a side. Considering how much I enjoy them, and their utility as a quick, easy meal, I'm surprised I've never actually blogged quesadillas before.
Friday: The leftover stars aligned for lunch. I used the leftover tortillas, pork, and beans from Thursday and leftover rice from Wednesday to make Mission burritos. For dinner, Ariel made Kenji's white bean soup, adding some chicken sausage.
Saturday: We made Molly Yeh's pitas (from Molly on the Range), tzatziki (Wanderlust Kitchen), and hummus (modified from Yotam Ottolenghi's recipe in Jerusalem), and combined with some frozen gyro meat from Sam's Club to make sandwiches. The meat is a great convenience product for something that's not easy to do at home.
Overall, the week's selections were a nice mix of easy standbys and some new experiments. I'll follow this up soon with our menu from the second week!
Tuesday: I've been making Chairman Mao's braised pork belly regularly over the last year. My version is loosely based on one from the Woks of Life. I'm sure a full recipe will appear on the blog once I have experimented a bit more. I paired the pork with broccoli stir fried with garlic.
Wednesday: With a box of whole squid in the freezer, I made fried calamari. I used potato starch to make the coating, which yields very crispy results. This idea was inspired by using potato starch to coat karaage (Japanese fried chicken), and is definitely worth a post in the future. I paired this with more Caesar salad.
Thursday: The pulled pork from Sunday came back as a filling for quesadillas. We had pinto beans with onion and garlic as a side. Considering how much I enjoy them, and their utility as a quick, easy meal, I'm surprised I've never actually blogged quesadillas before.
Friday: The leftover stars aligned for lunch. I used the leftover tortillas, pork, and beans from Thursday and leftover rice from Wednesday to make Mission burritos. For dinner, Ariel made Kenji's white bean soup, adding some chicken sausage.
Saturday: We made Molly Yeh's pitas (from Molly on the Range), tzatziki (Wanderlust Kitchen), and hummus (modified from Yotam Ottolenghi's recipe in Jerusalem), and combined with some frozen gyro meat from Sam's Club to make sandwiches. The meat is a great convenience product for something that's not easy to do at home.
Overall, the week's selections were a nice mix of easy standbys and some new experiments. I'll follow this up soon with our menu from the second week!
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