Stay Home and Cook: Spring Has Sprung (Week Nine)
What a joy that spring has finally arrived! It’s not too cold, it’s not too hot, it’s just delightful. And to match the positivity we’re feeling (thank you blue skies), we cooked some rather delicious meals to go alongside. Last week’s dishes included spring veggies, bright flavors, and plenty of that good old-fashioned fun in the form of dinner. Let’s take a look, shall we?
Editor’s note: Sometimes it’s necessary to step away from reality and talk about something frivolous, which is dinner in this case. However, we all need to eat so this discussion isn’t frivolous at all. In fact, I hope you find it helpful in your quest to have a great meal in your own kitchen. Please #stayhome.
Spicy Chicken Stir-Fry with Celery and Peanuts
Recipe by Molly Baz for Bon Appétit
Not only was this one of the fastest stir-fries we’ve ever made, but it was definitely one of the most delicious. And it was filled with celery! I’m not sure if I told you, but celery is rarely high up on the “to buy” list for my vegetable drawer. It’s not a bad one, but I rarely consider it when going grocery shopping. If I need a crunchy green, I opt for peppers, not celery. But leave it to this great dish to ever-so-slightly change my mind. Chopped up, cooked celery is far more enjoyable than the raw version. Surprise, surprise!
The sauce for this dish was spicy, fragrant, and awesomely flavorful. It’s key to have a bold sauce when making a stir-fry since it’s comes together so quickly. There isn’t much time for the flavors to “meld” so a good sauce is very important. Additionally, the peanuts provided a lot of flavor which nicely balanced out the spice. They also added even more crunch! Chicken, celery, peanuts, spice, sauce, and pizzazz - a delicious dinner all around. Bonus - we skipped serving it over rice, but you could easily serve it over grains for a heartier meal.
Spring Risotto with Ramps and Peas
Adapted from the risotto recipe in Weeknight Gluten Free by Kristine KIdd.
While I do not have enough time to tell you how deep my love is for risotto, I will share that making a springtime version of this divine dish should be in your upcoming meal plans. Risotto, a bowl of slowly-cooked rice and chicken broth and wine and lots of parmesan, is one of dinnertime’s greatest hits. It’s incredibly versatile (the ingredients you can include are endless) and will always look stunning when served. It was one of my all-time favorite meals growing up and to this day I become way too excited if I know it’s on a restaurant’s menu or, these days, being made at home.
For this version of risotto, we kept it spring-forward and cooked it with ramps and peas, plus red pepper for some color. And to make it extra-fancy, we shaved truffles on top (found it in the cabinet!). The flavor of the garlicky ramps, toned-down peas, and slightly-sweet red pepper was phenomenal. We added plenty of parmesan to make it even creamier and as I type I wish we were having it again tonight. It was perfect.
Risotto fans: rejoice! It’s entirely possibly to make this Italian specialty right at home, even on a weeknight. Arborio rice is gluten free which makes this dish naturally GF. Please take the time and make this dish sometime soon. Include spring veggies or no veggies or a meat or some combination of both; I promise you will love every single bite.
Pork and Asparagus Stir-Fry
Recipe by Deb Perelman for Bon Appétit
Back in the land of stir-fries and smiles, we skipped back into quick-dinner gear and made this scrumptious meal which also featured a prominent spring vegetable: asparagus! While my favorite methods for cooking asparagus include roasting or grilling the seasonal spears, I hadn’t really thought much of adding it to stir-fry until now. Once again, the joke was on me because it was awesome. Asparagus takes a little extra time to cook (but not much) so it’s entirely possible to have a dinner like this on the table very quickly.
Beyond my passion for stir-fries and quick dinners that deliver on flavor, I fully support the notion that pork (if you eat it) should be your primary protein for a meal such as this. It adds a lot of its own flavor and gets even more amazing as it’s cooked. Ground meat works particularly well in stir-fries, I think, and it’s usually less expensive than other, non-ground options. This dish was a wonderful combination of savory pork and seasonal asparagus; a non-spicy version of a meal I’d love to make again and again. Especially while those spears are in-season.
Chicken Parm Salad
Original Recipe
One of those meals that comes together somewhat haphazardly, but somehow turns out to be great. We tried to be healthy, hence the bed of greens, but we craved chicken parm, hence the cheese and breadcrumb-covered chicken. The result was a dish I’m calling “chicken parm salad,” but I don’t know if that’s the permanent title. Flavorful and yummy? Yup. A mess on the plate? Pretty much.
This dinner was a combination of many cravings for which I take full responsibility. I didn’t want a bowl of pasta (but I guess I did?) so we threw a bunch of arugula in a bowl. We needed to use that pack of chicken so we covered it in Italian GF breadcrumbs, pan-fried it, then threw it under the broiler with the remaining mozzarella I found in the fridge. But that wasn’t enough! It needed a sauce.
Topping the chicken and salad, we created a tomato/artichoke/basil “sauce” that went over everything. The flavor was excellent and while it wasn’t a true sauce, it was a topping that worked nicely given the rest of the dish. Can you tell I’m scrambling here? Our dinner was all over the place, but it turned out to be delicious. And given the times we’re living in currently, some nights may turn into meals like this one. It was surprisingly good, but I have a feeling next time we will just make chicken parm and call it a day. ;)
Drunken Noodles, Enhanced. With a twist!
Recipe from Woks of Life, which we adapted.
Friday nights are specifically for the best flavors. The flavors you crave all week long. And while some may argue that since we’re now home all of the time we should just make those “best flavors” any time, I have a hard time shifting my “weekends are the best” mindset. Friday nights are still important! They deserve to be treated differently because they are excellent. No matter what you’ve been doing all week, everyone is always excited when Friday finally shows up. So for your next Friday night, I encourage you to make this dish.
Drunken noodles are ridiculously delicious and quite hard to find gluten free out at restaurants (unless you want all of the flavor removed). So why not make them at home? This recipe was easy to follow, quick to prepare, and generously gave in to the slight changes we made. Since we had already planned to use kale and sausage in whatever dinner we made, they both got added to our noodles. Not exactly traditional, but delicious nonetheless. That’s the fun of making meals at home right; adjustments are welcome! And necessary as needed.
Not only was this dinner super, but it made for some marvelous leftovers. And may I point out that I think the leftovers were even yummier because of the additional ingredients. The traditional dish of Drunken Noodles is joyfully spicy and savory. Ours was exactly that…with a twist!
Mushroom, Pepper, and Onion Pizza
Original Recipe, Crust by Ugly’s Gluten Free Bakery
After a sunshine-filled Saturday that included a fried seafood picnic in our car, as well as a delicious raspberry margarita on the couch, we skipped our more-involved dinner plan in favor of…pizza! We used the last frozen crust in the freezer to make a classic, delicious veggie pie. You can’t go wrong with pizza on a Saturday night!
This one was topped with plenty of mozzarella, sautéed mushrooms, chopped tomatoes, sliced peppers and onions, and raw garlic. Man, it was so good! We’ve talked about pizza every week on this review for all of quarantine which I find miraculous.
Before quarantine (BQ), we rarely had pizza at home, or when out, so this weekly “tradition” has been really fun. Not to mention scrumptious. The topping options are endless and yet we tend to circle back to the basics every time. I’m a sucker for tradition and an avid-fan of routine so I guess it’s no surprise our pizzas never veered too far from “normal” on any given week. However, if it’s awesome and delicious and something to look forward to, then why not? We all deserve something special each week during these not-normal times.
Stay tuned - we’re out of pizza crusts! What will become our new weekly tradition? Or maybe I’ll just order more crusts…
Vegetarian Chili with Lots of Fritos
Recipe by Sarah Jampel for Basically, part of Bon Appétit
Even when the weather screams cold, crunchy salad, I often turn to soup. Or in this case, chili. Strange, I know! But here we are and I am here to report that veggie chili, made after a warm, spring day, is 10000 times better with the addition of Fritos. Lots of them. Apparently, this is something others have done so I’m somewhat late to the party. But that’s OK. I’m here to share the joyous news with you; Fritos-as-topping forever. And ever.
The vegetarian chili itself was incredible and very fast (for chili) which made it great for a Sunday night when intense cooking isn’t always welcome. Filled with pinto beans and tomatoes and cilantro, and more Fritos (to thicken), the chili was ridiculously flavorful and had the most wonderful hue. I prepared bowls for each of us that were way too full, almost burnt my fingers while adding the toppings, and then sufficiently burnt my tongue while eating. It was that delicious.
The chili didn’t have much crunch (hi, yes, it’s kind of a bowl of soup) so that was taken care of by the plethora of garnishes: chopped white onion. Cubes of avocado. A dollop of sour cream. Fresh cilantro. And plenty of Fritos. I’m someone who loves salt so the addition of crunchy, salty Fritos on top of something that was already bursting with flavor? My goodness. I could’t get enough. This dinner was beyond excellent and one I’d highly recommend making sometime soon. Just don’t forget the Fritos. ;)
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As always, please leave a comment with any questions you may have about our meals. And wear a mask when you go out for groceries (or anything else).
Enjoy, be safe, and stay home.
