Our 'weeks' start on Sunday because I usually have dinners planned until the following Saturday, when I do our main grocery shopping. We also receive our Gousto box on Sundays, those weeks when we choose to get one. This week will be Sunday-to-Sunday as we had something 'special' planned and ordered in advance for the 7th of February.
Sunday 31 January - Turkey schnitzels with sweet potato mash, braised caraway cabbage and side salad. The cold weather made me nostalgic for some German stodge (never thought I'd see the day!) so, 'inspired' by a well-priced tray of turkey escalope found at Sainsbury's last Tuesday, I whipped up this meal. It was surprisingly tasty although I am not bound to repeat the marathon 1 hour standing in the kitchen any time soon (shallow frying schnitzels to golden crisp perfection in olive oil is not a task for the weak!). The boys inhaled everything except for the lunch planned-overs (two schnitzels and a portion of cabbage).
Monday 1 February - Gousto Lemony Smoked Fish and Spinach linguine. I doctored this up with some good quality frozen seafood as the fish by itself was not 'inspiring' enough for the son (he likes his prawn and calamari). Served with a large side salad to make up for the lack of vegetables in the meal.
Tuesday 2 February - Gousto Sticky Chinese Port Chops and Sesame Pak Choi. This was served with a plain rice and didn't have enough of a variety of vegetables for us, so I stir-fried some carrot ribbons, mushrooms and sweetcorn with the pak choi. The Boy enjoyed this very much, the Husband was, as usual, rather unimpressed with the rice (we're not big rice eaters).
Wednesday 3 February - Gousto Vietnamese-Style Spicy Beef Noodle Bowl. Delicious is all I can say. Of course added some sugar snaps and baby sweet corn (same eternal vegetable issue) but we all enjoyed this (un-spicy for the Boy).
Thursday 4 February - Romanian 'Cassoulet'. This was a nostalgic meal for me, a hearty dish inspired by childhood Bean Soup. A ham hock was cooked with spices and some veggies, until fall apart tender. I then cooked 3 kind of beans with some of the ham stock, drained the liquid when the beans were tender; sautéed carrot + celery + onion, added and browned some smoked pork sausage, poured some tomato passata and seasoned (salt, pepper, caraway, thyme). When this sauce was a bit sticky and reduced, I added the beans. Served with the shredded ham hock on top, and loads of crusty home baked bread. The Boy declared this the number one best dinner in the world.
Friday 5 February - Gousto Indian Chicken & Grains with Turmeric Yoghurt Dressing. Lovely meal, although I marinated the Boy's chicken in a Teriyaki glaze instead of the curry paste and the Husband complained about the rice as always. The wolfed it all down though so that's all I'm going to say.
Saturday 6 February - in hopeful expectation of spring and the return of our weekly Saturday barbecues, I made a Mixed Grill. Lamb kofta, yakitori chicken, pork sausages grilled in our oven grill, served with sweetcorn on the cob, home-made oven chips, sweet potato wedges and a Mediterranean salad (tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, feta, home-made olive oil, vinegar and dill dressing).
Sunday 7 February - this was a bit of an expensive disaster. To fend off boredom, I had ordered (10 days in advance) a 'finish-at-home' posh take-away from Edinburgh restaurant The Little Chartroom. This was £65 for a 3 course meal for 2 with a bottle of white wine (which neither of us drinks but is useful to re-gift at some point). Whilst the food was extremely nice, the portions were a bit skimpy so my hopes that it would feed the 3 of us were squashed when I saw the delivery bags. I had to come up with a back-up plan to feed the Boy so I added a starter of oven-backed scallops on the half shell (frozen queenies left over from the Husband's birthday dinner in the beginning of January) for everyone (2 queenies/each), and a main of prawn skewers in a sweet soy glaze with home-made potato 'crisps' and green beans for the Boy. This was DEFINITELY a very expensive day, given that we ate at home. I wish restaurants would allow us to order these meals without the wine, and for 3 people so that we can all eat the same thing (almost all options, including Gousto, have meals for 2 or 4...not for 3, so you're either ordering too much or too little).
Here's to hoping next week will be slightly cheaper!
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