As the last breath of summer days gasp out (for me, at least), I’m still obsessed with my corn salad. Today I made what might be the last one of the season (we’ll see), and I paired it with some delicate tilapia white fish. Perfectly seasoned and cooked, it flaked into lovely chunks easily before I tossed it with my beloved chopped corn salad for a nice summer lunch with the husband.
I swear, this is going to be the last meal I request on my deathbed. 🙂
I lost the YouTube video link, but thankfully I scribbled down some notes as I watched it. I didn’t think much of the recipe’s concept, but I do love piping mash potatoes, so I gave this one a whirl.
And we are glad I did. We loved it. I have plans to turn this into a Shepards Pie meal. I also want to try stuffing an egg yolk under the mash next time.
This recipe is good for 8 bombs, but you can easily cut it in half for a lovely dinner for two, or for a solo dinner + a lunch for the next day.
Meat & Potato Bombs:
400 g Ground Meat (of choice – I used turkey. It might have been chicken. I forget.)
1/2 Yellow Onion, diced or grated
2 Garlic Cloves, minced or grated
1 tbsp AP Flour
3 tbsp Neutral Oil
1 Yolk
S&P
Parsley, chopped
Mix this by hand to form the patties. Place on a small sheet tray or a big plate and wrap to chill 30 mins. In the meantime, work on the mash. Preheat oven to 350*.
2 Medium Sized Yukon Potatoes (you can use Russet instead), 1″ x 1″ cubes
1 tbsp Salt
From cold water, bring the potatoes in water to a boil with the salt in. Let it boil until the edges of each cube look slightly fuzzy. It should be about 10 mins or so. Drain and process the potatoes into a medium size bowl using a ricer. This tool gives the smoothest mash needed for piping.
40 g Butter
1/2 C Milk
50 g Cheddar Cheese, grated
Pinches of Salt & Nutmeg (if you like it; I don’t)
Warm up this in a small sauce pan as soon as you drain the potatoes and start ricing. At the same time, warm up some pasta sauce. (Jarred is fine, or make a fast pasta sauce using the following.)
Take the bombs out of the fridge. After all the ricing is done, add the dairy mixture. Fold in gently.
100 g Passata Sauce
30 g Olive Oil
1/4 tea Italian Seasonings (rubbed between your fingers first)
S&P
Lay a scant bit of pasta sauce on bottom of a small baking dish or a skillet that is oven proof. Set it aside. Place the bombs over the pasta sauce. Use a finger to indent the middle of the bombs a bit.
Set up a piping bag with a star tip inserted in the bottom hole. Spoon mash into the bag and pipe it over the bombs starting in the middle, moving out to the edge while circling it into a hive like shape.
Spoon the rest of the pasta sauce between the bombs. Cover the pan’s handle with a sheet of tin foil if it’s plastic in nature to protect it. Otherwise, pop the dish or skillet into the oven.
Bake for 30 mins. Longer if you want more colour on the tips of the mash potatoes.
Serve with a side of your choice.
Made this for today’s solo lunch. I love eggplant parm. I often do it over pasta or on a bun, but this is the first time I left the starch vehicle out. Just the filling, kids! I highly recommend to using Balsamic drizzle over top if you have it on hand.
Eggplant Parm For One:
1 mini Eggplant, halved, scored down the middle twice on each side
2 tbsp Olive Oil
2 Garlic Clove, minced
1/2 tea Italian Seasons
S&P
Brush the eggplants with half of this mixture before placing on a parchment lined sheet tray and popping in a preheated 400* oven to bake for 25 mins.
3 tbsp Salsa
2 slices Provolone Cheese, cut into small squares
1/4 C Parm, grated
1/8 C Breadcrumbs
Mix salsa with the provolone in the leftover oil mixture. Top the baked eggplant halves with this mixture. Top with the parm cheese, and then with the breadcrumbs.
Pop back into the oven for another 8-10 mins, or until browned to your liking.
Toppers: Basil that’s been cut julienne and Balsamic drizzle (or a small bit of salt).
Enjoy!
I love this idea for using long romaine lettuce leaves to hold my fillings instead of traditional taco shells or deep fried taco hell bowl. Very pretty, too.
Image courtesy of Minimalist Baker over at minimalistbaker.com.
I love me a great rice bowl. I also love me a great entre salad. So, I combined the two into a shawarma ‘on the rocks’ salad. I cut out the pita (or naan if you’re used to eating donairs), and I didn’t miss it one little bit.
This salad starts on a bed of greens (arugula this time) and it’s topped with some spicy rice (optional if you simply use more greens instead), shawarma style chicken, diced tomatoes, pickled red onions, and some spicy cream sauce of choice. (I’m still in love with the sriracha ranch sauce I bought a few weeks ago, so that’s what I used. It was quite good and quite filling.
Shawarma Chicken:
1 Chicken Breast (makes enough for two servs)
1 Garlic, minced
1/2 Lime, juice + rind
1/4 Lemon, juice
1 tbsp Yogurt, thick + plain
1 tbsp Oregano, dry
1/2 tea each S & P
Cut up meat into 1″ cubes. Toss them with the dry and wet ingredients in a glass bowl. Mix it up well to fully coat the meat. Throw in the spent lime rind. Cover and chill 30-45 mins.
Discard the lime rind and skewer the meat chunks as the oven or grill heats up. (You will need 4 small skewers, or 3 long ones.) Cook each side 3 mins on the grill, or oven cook for 12 mins, turning once halfway. Cook to the full 165F degrees.
We had some leftover steak that needed to be used up tonight, and some other veg that was on the cusp, so in a big entree salad they went after I reheated the meat. I topped it with this groovy dressing I found at Walmart. Very tasty. It made a believer out of the husband who isn’t into salad.
Steak Entree Salad:
3-4 oz Steak, cooked / cut on bias 1/4″ slices
3 C Leaf Green
Salt
1/4 Pepper: Green & Red, diced
1/2 Roma Tomato, diced
Pickled Red Onions (for colour, texture, and tart taste)
Any dressing (mine is creamy and zippy, but balsamic glaze would be great, too)
Wash the greens, spin dry, and toss lightly with salt. Divide greens into two large plates or bowls, top with diced veg and picked onions. Add small drizzles of the dressing and top with the rested sliced up steak.
Note: Warm pan friend mushrooms would be lovely in this salad, too.
If you’re like me, you think about food a lot. Recipes, especially. But for all of the recipes I have, I still struggle with easy dinner ideas every single night. I’m just as burnt out like the rest of you from trying to figure out meal ideas. So, here are 51 more that may be new to you ideas to keep in your back pocket.
Some of these look so delicious. I can’t wait to try a few of them this week.
I was busy at work this week with the Easter rush. In addition, I woke up one morning with a crazy whiplash like pain on the left side of in my neck that ran down into my back, so it was hard to do anything when I wasn’t being paid to. All I wanted to do was sit or stand still until the pain went away eventually.
As a result of my immobility, we ended up eating a lot of quick things like chicken patties that I could give the McDonalds treatment to using my DIY McChicken sauce (1/2 C mayo + 1/2 teaspoon onion powder) and topping them with small tears of lettuce.
We also ordered in Swiss Chalet one night, and turned that Quarter Chicken dinner into chicken poutine on the fly by topping the fries with some grated mozzarella from my fridge and laying down the very hot Swiss Chalet dipping sauce to melt it.
At one point this week, this A&W coffee made up my dinner meal. I know, I know. Ugh.
A few nights ago I cooked some pan fried pizzas using some naan I had kicking around that needed to be used up. I bought some sauce (I really didn’t want to stand in front of a stove that night) and pepperoni. I added a few bits and bobs of veg and smothered each pizza with the last of the cheddar and the pepper jack cheeses. It went into the pan one at a time, and covered for up to 8 mins to crisp up the bottom and to melt the toppings.
Last night we uncovered the bbq smoker for the first time this year. It took us awhile to remember how to cook meat and in what order, but we got there eventually. I started with baked potatoes in foil as the temp started to rise from 200 up to 400. At that point, the chicken thighs were added to the grill. A bit later, the steaks went on.
Why do I think of The Ponderosa Steak House when I look at these steaks? *drooling*
Sometimes I want Mexican food, but I don’t want to have rice be a part of it. It’s just not what I’m in the mood for, the heavy starch. That’s when different vegetables can be turned into a delivery vehicle to get that delicious food into my greedy gob. Here are two I’m fond of. Give them a go.
Spicy Chickpeas
I love this recipe! I can’t wait to make it again this week.
(From the archives)
Spicy Chickpea Stew:
1 glug Olive Oil
1/2 C Onion, fine diced
1/2 tea Cumin
1 tea Yellow Curry
S&P
16 oz Diced Tomatoes, fresh or canned
16 oz Chickpeas, dried or canned
2 tea Dried Parsley
Sweat onions and seasoning in olive oil for five minutes. Add drained diced tomatoes; cook another 5-8 minutes. Add the chickpeas and parsley. Cook another ten minutes till the beans are soft but not mushy. Serve over rice of your choice. (optional)