by Sam Tackeff | Nov 1, 2013 | Books, Lists, Meal Planning
I’m curled up in bed tonight flipping through my new Nigel Slater: “Eat: The Little Book of Fast Food” – there really isn’t anything better than that. November is here, and although I love my winter kitchen, I’m not quite ready to brave the great outdoors in the most frigid months to come. Boots? Winter running gear? A warm jacket? All of these seem too daunting to think about. Fortunately today reached nearly 70 in Boston, proving, along with a World Series win this week, that anything is possible around here.
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Here’s a list that I’ve been mulling over. I started writing it just for myself, and then realized that it might actually be useful to share here.
Let’s be honest, life is not a Pinterest board. Life as a devoted food lover is difficult. Sometimes, you want to cook an entire meal out of Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc cookbook. And sometimes, you want to cook a box of Annie’s Macaroni and Cheese and call it a night. Here’s the secret: most nights I want to cook a box of Annie’s and call it a night. In my quest to find a mid-point between the two, I have a list of meals on standby – a backup plan for my weekly meal plan. Not all of these are 20-minute meals (though many of them are), but they are all things I like and make on a regular basis. Most of them are base recipes – ideas that allow for a hundred permutations to keep things from getting boring. When I have a craving, and need a little more guidance, I’ll identify the basic combination I’d like, and I’ll flip through one of my many cookbooks to find inspired variations – maybe a spice combination, or an ingredient I hadn’t thought about. These are largely meat meals, although you can just as easily make most of them meatless.
In no particular order, things that I like to eat for dinner:
lamb chops (or chicken, or pork tenderloin, or butter beans) with salsa verde – sometimes when I’m at a loss, I’ll start first with a sauce – with the knowledge that I’ll always be able to find something to cook with it. Salsa verde is one of my favorites – herby, with a little bit of vinegar to make you pucker. You can also spoon it over roasted vegetables, potatoes, fish, you name it.
crispy chicken thighs with baked baby potatoes and tomatoes – I like tray bakes where you can just squash everything in a pan, and roast it at around 400 for just under an hour. (Usually I’ll steam the potatoes in the microwave first, so that they are soft and quicker cooking.) I’ll also make this with italian sausages, or kielbasa.
meatballs of any kind – in Turkey, meatballs are called kofte, and they are ubiquitous. I have a special kofte spice from the spice bazaar in Istanbul that I use a lot of. Or, I’ll use a different type of seasoning based on my global mood. I’ll fry these on the stove top, and eat them on salad, or with a Turkish shepherd’s salad of tomato, cucumber and parsley.
citrus mustard chicken – I’ve been doing permutations of this one for a while – there’s a good recipe for apricot-mustard baked chicken in “Dinner, a Love Story”.
tex-mex soup – sometimes it’s chicken tortilla, sometimes I go for a spicy bean soup. Back in the early 90’s, we used to take a can of refried beans, some chicken stock, and a can of Rotel, simmer it for 30 minutes and call it dinner – I think that it was probably a Weight Watchers special, but variations on this are still pretty darn good. I also make a lot of no-tortilla soup – usually with leftover rotisserie chicken.
baked fish, potatoes, and green things of choice – on Sunday, I’ll head to the market to see what I can find. Sunday is one night that I can commit to buying fish and eating it fresh. Sometimes it’s salmon, sweet potato, and brussels sprouts. Other days scallops, new potatoes, and asparagus.
dinner salad – chopped salads, “BLAT” – bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato salad, or crabmeat salad with lemon, avocado, and tomatoes – are some of the usuals. I have a few salad-specific cookbooks that I poke through for inspiration, and quite honestly salad ideas are the first things I turn to when I get a new cookbook.
yogurt marinated grilled chicken – the nice thing about marinating chicken and then grilling it (or roasting it), is that you get a flavor packed meal, and it makes it’s own sauce. I’ll marinate in yogurt and Indian spices, or Moroccan spices, or Israeli spices. Then I cook it! This goes well with green salad.
baked chicken (or eggs) in tomato sauce – sometimes it’s a creamy tomato sauce, sometimes it’s Marcella’s quick tomato sauce, sometimes it’s a jar of Rao’s. When I want it slightly more exciting, I’ll add a tablespoon of curry powder and finish with a little cream.
Indian carrot salad with ground lamb (or) Vietnamese cucumber and carrot salad with ground beef – the idea here is to use well seasoned ground lamb or beef, to top a crunchy vegetable salad that is loaded with fresh herbs, and dressed with a bright dressing. For the Indian version I season my lamb with a homemade curry powder, and make an acidic dressing with lemon, cumin, ground coriander, and toss with plenty of fresh coriander (cilantro). For the Vietnamese version, I cook the beef with five spice powder, and make a dressing with lime and fish sauce, and top with lots of mint, cilantro, and basil.
chicken sausage and grilled pineapple – sometimes you just want a little sweetness. I’ll grab the chicken sausages with apple (or the Chardonnay ones from Trader Joe’s in a pinch), and then grill them with some pineapple wedges. When I eat this, I rarely make a vegetable, and feel a little bit like a picky three year old. But it’s good!
refried beans, eggs, and tortillas – Sometimes I’ll cook up some ground meat to mix with the beans, and usually I’ll eat mine over some greens instead of with the tortilla. This one has long been a house favorite.
I could keep going, but this list will keep me cooking for a while. What are some of your go-to easy peasy meals?
by Sam Tackeff | Jun 11, 2013 | Blogging, Books, Photography, Restaurants
All of a sudden we had a flash of heatwave out east, and summer is officially here. This weekend was my college reunion, and I made my way out to Wellesley to participate in the best way I know possible: as Class Dinner Chair. Instead of formal catering, Saturday’s dinner was Redbones barbecue – plates of brisket, ribs, grilled vegetables and their creamy mac and cheese – and Sunday we had some very good sandwiches from the Linden Store. My dear friend Caroline flew out from Houston, and we had a grand time having ladies lunch, touring the arboretum, the greenhouses, and taking kayaks on lake Waban. I managed to escape Wellesley Books with only three new purchases in tow: ‘The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry‘, by Rachel Joyce, ‘Beautiful Ruins‘ by Jess Walter – both good summer reading. And for good measure, ‘Wreck this Journal‘ – a journal with some aggressive prompts. I have a Kindle which I use almost daily, but nothing beats a good paperback in the summertime.
A few weeks ago I signed up for Pathfinder, a five week journaling course led by Karen Walrond of Chookooloonks, a vibrant and delightful human being. I was having trouble writing – expressing myself freely and creatively, and this seemed like a good moment to seize the opportunity to learn something new. Last month, after a year of dreaming, I finally got a new lens for my camera, so I no longer am limited to macro food shots. Another great thing about this course is that it’s inspiring me to actually shoot. (Including all the photos in this post.)
I’ve been spending a lot of time outside lately. I have a half hour meandering walk to work in the morning, and back in the evening. I’ve taken to walking on the waterfront, which is always a little bit longer, but always cheers me up. Maybe it has to do with growing up on the ocean, but whenever I’m tired, anxious, or sad, walking next to all the blue and the boats will always put me in a good place. In addition to my walks, I’ve been running. I started with the Runner’s World Summer Running Streak – a mile every day from Memorial Day to July 4th – fully expecting to have given up by now, but I’m still going strong.
There has also been food! This week we also took out the grill for the season, and I ceremoniously cooked up some hot dogs, and Copper River Sockeye salmon for the occasion. We typically have our date night on Friday night at the Cottage in Wellesley. it first became a thing with the brownie sundae and the lamb burger with paprika aioli (seriously, it’s all about the paprika aioli), and then remained a thing as they are one of the most accommodating restaurants for both Gluten-free and food allergy folks in the area when I was super strict for my gym challenge. Nobody looked at me twice when I’d order the Chicken Cobb minus the blue cheese, and sub lamb burger for chicken. It was a miracle I tell you.
Last week we ventured further out to Somerville to try our luck at Posto. A change of venue! I ordered a cocktail, which, since I’ve become an accidental tee-totaler over the past few years, might be surprising (I can count the number of adult beverages I’ve had this year on my two hands) – I needed to make an exception for this glorious beverage: the Italia 75 (with Campari, Prosecco, and fresh grapefruit juice). It was well worth it.
For our meal, we shared a Caesar salad with white anchovies, which was perfectly dressed. Also, anyone who serves me white anchovies immediately wins a prize. The marinated little fish are vastly superior to their salty shriveled cousins most often topping a Caesar. And then we made a point to get the rosemary sea salt bread, which they bake to order in their large pizza oven.
For our meal, Devon got the rigatoni bolognese, and I got the mussels with fennel, pernod, and butter. The last time I actually ordered mussels in a restaurant was in Napa at The Girl and the Fig three years ago. Three years ago! I remember this well because they were delicious then, and I spent half the meal berating myself for not ordering (or cooking) mussels more often. And yes, I ended up doing that again during this meal. Not only were they absurdly good – a little smoky from the fire, plump and juicy and reminiscent of the sea – but I would bathe myself in the sauce if I was any less proper a lady. Lesson learned, I’ll have to get them again soon.
Over the next couple of days, I’ll be writing up my summer to do list. It’ll involve a good deal of books, barbecue, frolicking in the sunshine, and time at the sea. I’ll be in my kitchen – I’m meaning to try the Banana Ketchup from the new Adobo Road Cookbook. I’ve been curled up lately with Dinner, A Love Story and Canal House Cooks Everyday, Nigel Slater’s Kitchen Diaries II, and Yotam Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem, to name a few. I hope to travel to a few good restaurants – Farmstead in Providence is at the top of my list right now. I have some home improvements (a.k.a. more bookshelves) in mind, which will require a trip or two to IKEA. And strawberries. I’ll be eating plenty of those.
by Sam Tackeff | Sep 30, 2012 | Challenge
This morning after CrossFit, I made myself a big breakfast of banana and nut butter, eggs with zucchini and pancetta, and a steaming mug of gingerbread coffee. And I sat down to read my gorgeous copy of Nigel Slater’s new Kitchen Diaries II. I’m in love!
Before we get too ahead of ourselves, let’s talk about morning workouts.
After blowing off yesterday’s workout because of the weather, this morning my mission was to head out to CrossFit whether I wanted to or not. And when I woke up to yet another wet dreary day, I sure didn’t want to. But I went anyway.
Today’s workout was “Kelly” – 5 rounds for time: 400 meter run, 30 Box Jumps (literally just jumping on a box), and 30 Wall Balls (squatting and then throwing a weighted ball many feet above you into the air to hit a line on the wall). The prescribed workout for women was using a 20 inch box for box jumps, and a 14 pound ball for wall balls. I came to class today exhausted, so I decided to scale things. I did step-ups on an 18 inch box, and used a 10 pound wall ball. There was a 35 minute time cap, it was raining, and people were miserable. I made it through three rounds, a run and step ups.
My favorite moment of the workout was when I passed a fellow gym-mate in the rain as I was dying, and he yelled out, “This is terrible! Great job!!” Nothing like a little bit of commiseration to get through a hard workout. Although I didn’t get to five rounds, at the end, I managed to finish up my final set of wall balls after the clock finished, making it 4 rounds, done.
In the late afternoon, I had a snack of roasted carrots and parsnips, and headed out for a walk.
I’ve been taking many different routes in the past few months trying to explore new places. Today’s walk took me down to the Charles, walking through puddles in the street waiting for the sun to peek out at me. It was beautiful. Here are some of my favorite shots of the afternoon.
Puddle jumping.
New paint jobs.
Preparing for winter.
And this gorgeous pathway.
When I came home, I put together a quick dinner: pork stir fry with pineapple and cashews. I seasoned the pork with salt and pepper, added some chopped ginger, a stir fry sauce of five spice powder, chile flakes, coconut aminos, fish sauce, and some vinegar. Then I added a few cups of pineapple until they were warm, and tossed in some raw cashews. Simple and sweet!
I had mine over a big bowl of cauliflower. No dessert tonight, but we’ve been watching backlogged episodes of Doctor Who because I apparently missed the fact that the *new season* has been airing. Thank goodness for BBC America and On Demand.
