Food; Week 3

I've been meeting my goal of making at least 3 solid meals per week, and then eating leftovers on most of the other days, leaving room for about 1 (maybe 2) nights where we order out. This week featured Tilapia on Tuesday, grilled chicken skewers with a curry topping on Thursday, and a basic tortellini and homemade sauce on Friday (yes, this last one is a bit of a cop out, but I did make the sauce).

The tilapia and the chicken were both pretty successful. I departed from my usual preference for bland meals and chose spicy rubs for both the chicken and fish.

The tilapia was covered in paprika, adobo, red pepper, oregano, and a couple of other ingredients (the unadulterated recipe is here), and pan-frying it made for a quick/easy meal that I'll have to try again. Natalia liked it as well; always a plus! Apparently tilapia is a very popular fish the world over. (This has benefits and drawbacks...local fish usually means fresher fish, and I noticed that this tilapia, purchased at Hannaford's, came all the way from China.) I like it because it is cheap and cooks easily, and is a nice alternative to salmon. I also coked up some sweet potato fries (Andres helped by shaking the bag to mix the paprika, oil, and salt) to serve as a side dish.

I was impressed with my Thursday effort (chicken) because I went entirely without a cookbook. Watching the Food Network earlier in the week, I saw a recipe for grilled chicken with some sort of curry powder glaze...and while I remembered the main ingredients (curry powder, cumin, turmeric, olive oil) I did not have the exact proportions that were used. No matter though--whereas in the past I would have shied away from trying this recipe, I went ahead and found skewers, prepped the chicken, made an improvised curry-powder mix, and then dredged and set aside the chicken for later when I would grill it up. The end result was very good...the chicken was tender (maybe a bit too tender, making me worry that I undercooked a bit) and the curry flavor was tasty without being overpowering. This recipe gave me a good use for whole chicken breasts (I don't like cooking whole ones) and for my stove-top grill. I did find that grilling on a skewer is difficult, as the chicken does not cook evenly--next time I may can the skewer idea entirely and just grill the chicken strips on their own. I also made a quick garden salad (starting to get tired of those; need to branch out here) and roasted chickpeas (putting nutmeg/cinnamon on top) to round out the meal.

In week 4, I think I'm going to return to a couple staples--chicken parm and salmon with a mango glaze--and work on some different side dishes (plantains, fresh spinach, new salads). And maybe buy a new crock pot as well.