I was having a conversation the other day with a close friend about one-pot meals. OK, the conversation was actually more about hating to wash the dishes, but along the same lines. He shared with me a Jambalaya recipe (not this one) which reminded me that I hadn’t made Jambalaya myself in a a while. GReat dish and this feeds an army of people. Shrimp / prawns are optional, but I like them, so in they went. Start to finish in under an hour.
veggies
In the last week or so, the topic of Peri Peri Sauce, or even more specifically “Nando’s Chicken” has come up at least 5 times … twice with acquaintances from South Africa and the remaining time with UK friends. That signaled to me that I should make my own. And then fate decided to tell me that I should really use the peppers from my own garden … which are mostly joloquia (ghost peppers) and habaneros, because actual peri peri chilis are near on impossible to find here. Anyway, voila … homemade Peri Peri Sauce. Spicy as all get out. Can be used on chicken (obviously), but also with veggies, fish or smear it on toast… 🙂 Be forewarned: recipe as written is crazy hot. If you want less spicy peri peri sauce, use less chilis or pick a variety that won’t kill you.
Amother bit of bounty from my weekend in Maine: Chanterelle, Gruyère and Thyme Tart with mushrooms that I foraged in the woods myself. Let me start with this disclaimer: If you do not know your wild mushrooms, please don’t go foraging; just buy them in the shops. Even if you know your mushrooms, please be exceptionally careful. I have been “mushroom hunting” with my father since I was a toddler and even I prefer to have a second set of eyes on them.
All that said, this is an absolutely delicious tart and very simple to make. In theory, you could also use straight up crimini from the shops, but the chanterelles have a lovely peppery bite to them. Lunch to wrap up the week.
Getting to be BBQ season here in the Northeast and it is the Fourth of July coming up so I thought that I would share one of my “Go To” side dishes. This pasta salad has to be one of the fastest ever to put together and is very neutral — no exotic flavors this time. I went for a little picnic out on one of the islands in Boston Harbor and snacked on this salad on the rocks.
Today is National Lobster Day so that seemed like a good excuse to each some lobster. Then again, I rarely need an excuse for a lobster roll. Or lobster anything, but lobster rolls are my favorite. But I thought that I would put this on the lunch table instead. You can use regular pasta instead of the spinach, and feel free to add other veg like peas or corn… also good and nice and summery!