What's For Dinner Wednesday
Today's dinner was a debate all day. I had defrosted some chicken, but in a quest to keep doing different meals for WFDW, I was planning on using some Tilapia that I'd picked up at Aldi.
Aldi opened nearby. They haven't impressed me on the hiring front, but when the wallet is crying uncle, you can't beat their prices. When I was there the other day, I saw a bag of frozen Tilapia filets and it met two criteria: 1.CHEAP and 2. Chef hasn't tried it yet. The child is systematically running through all the edible creatures of the ocean, and plans to have each one at least once.
As for me, I'm not a big fish person. I'll eat it, but I don't go out of my way for it. Except if it is the Pecan Bourbon Salmon we made at the meal prep kitchen. Left to my own devices, I'd eat all six of those portions!
I went off to the internet in search of recipes to use. Its a white fish, probably mild, I could do the cajun treatment to it, much like I used to do when I bought Orange Roughy on a regular basis. However, I wanted to taste the fish, not the seasonings. Scratch that.
Ultimately, I decided to marinate the filets in lemonade, a few herbs and lemon zest. That idea came out of the many recipes that used lemon, lime or orange juice in them. It was a bad call.
I had no idea that this is such a mild fish. It makes Roughy seem extremely fishy tasting. It had no distinguishable flavor at all. At least now that I've had it once, I can go wild with the seasonings next time. Heck, the Durban spice blend that I made for tomorrow's Durban Chicken would have given it the boost it needed. Fortunately, the salad had plenty of bold flavors to make up for the deficit in the fish.
My neighbor up north, Karen (hi Karen!), had this great idea for salads that I've stolen borrowed ever since. I don't know what Karen calls it, but I call it the ABCD salad, as in one from column A, one from columm B, yada yada. How does it work?
Column A-some sort of Lettuce. We typically use spinach or romaine, but you can use radicchio, iceberg, bibb or whichever floats your boat
Column B-some sort of nut. Tonight's had sunflower seeds, because Chef asked for them.
Column C-some sort of fruit. Dried or small fresh works best. Our favorite of Karen's had blueberries, but I got some craisins because I really like them.
Column D-some sort of cheese. Crumbly and/or salty works best. My first choice is always Feta, though Asiago is nice, too.
How's that for easy? You'll always impress your company with a fancy schmancy salad, and it's just a simple formula. You can add more to it, but I would caution you not to do too much. Less is more here. The only thing we tend to add to the formula is onions, because a salad *needs* onions.
Now, tomorrow's dinner is marinating and I'm full!
Aldi opened nearby. They haven't impressed me on the hiring front, but when the wallet is crying uncle, you can't beat their prices. When I was there the other day, I saw a bag of frozen Tilapia filets and it met two criteria: 1.CHEAP and 2. Chef hasn't tried it yet. The child is systematically running through all the edible creatures of the ocean, and plans to have each one at least once.
As for me, I'm not a big fish person. I'll eat it, but I don't go out of my way for it. Except if it is the Pecan Bourbon Salmon we made at the meal prep kitchen. Left to my own devices, I'd eat all six of those portions!
I went off to the internet in search of recipes to use. Its a white fish, probably mild, I could do the cajun treatment to it, much like I used to do when I bought Orange Roughy on a regular basis. However, I wanted to taste the fish, not the seasonings. Scratch that.
Ultimately, I decided to marinate the filets in lemonade, a few herbs and lemon zest. That idea came out of the many recipes that used lemon, lime or orange juice in them. It was a bad call.
I had no idea that this is such a mild fish. It makes Roughy seem extremely fishy tasting. It had no distinguishable flavor at all. At least now that I've had it once, I can go wild with the seasonings next time. Heck, the Durban spice blend that I made for tomorrow's Durban Chicken would have given it the boost it needed. Fortunately, the salad had plenty of bold flavors to make up for the deficit in the fish.
My neighbor up north, Karen (hi Karen!), had this great idea for salads that I've
Column A-some sort of Lettuce. We typically use spinach or romaine, but you can use radicchio, iceberg, bibb or whichever floats your boat
Column B-some sort of nut. Tonight's had sunflower seeds, because Chef asked for them.
Column C-some sort of fruit. Dried or small fresh works best. Our favorite of Karen's had blueberries, but I got some craisins because I really like them.
Column D-some sort of cheese. Crumbly and/or salty works best. My first choice is always Feta, though Asiago is nice, too.
How's that for easy? You'll always impress your company with a fancy schmancy salad, and it's just a simple formula. You can add more to it, but I would caution you not to do too much. Less is more here. The only thing we tend to add to the formula is onions, because a salad *needs* onions.
Now, tomorrow's dinner is marinating and I'm full!
Comments
Good luck with the Durban chicken curry - sounds yummy! If you like that then have a look for "Cape Malay" chicken curry - closer to my hometown.
Your jobhunt sounds stressful - I hope things start to happen for you soon!
Saffa Chick xxx
The Durban wowed me the first time we had it because it was so complex. It's no wonder, it's got 10 spices in the rub. (And I got a glass of Goats Do Roam Goatfather with it, too.)
You've changed up your site... It looks GREAT!!!!