Grilled Halibut, Sauteed Green Beans, Rice

Dinner: Grilled Halibut with Garlic and Sage, Sauteed Green Beans in Garlic with Toasted Pine Nuts, Lemon Rice, Pinot Grigio

Our second night in a row of eating together as a family! (Duh, it's the weekend, Carol) Since Declan has been getting tired early, we planned an "early" dinner - 6pm - definitely early for this family. Javier gets most of the credit for tonight's dinner (I did the beans). We chose grilled fish because I've been trying to avoid red meat two nights in a row, and I try to do fish dinners on the nights that I make it to the grocery store since it's fresh. I bought 1.1 lbs of the halibut fillet, probably could have done slightly smaller, but not by much.

Javier put a little bit of lemon and olive oil on the fish, and then salt, pepper, fresh garlic and sage from our herb pot. (Picture of it "marinating" is above.) While the fish was sitting, he sauteed 1 cup of white rice in a little bit of olive oil, added lemon zest and garlic, and then added two cups of hot water from the microwave. He lets the water cook down until it's about the same level as the rice and then covers it, lowers the heat, and lets it simmer for 12 minutes. Then he takes it off the heat and leaves it covered until it's time for us to eat.

To cook the fish, Javier pre-heated the grill so one side was set to medium, one side on low, and had a temperature of 350-400 degrees F. He put the fish on the low-heat side of the grill, skin side down, and let the fish (about 2" at it's thickest) cook for about 20 minutes. When I asked him how he knew the fish was ready or wasn't ready, he said he touched it and it just felt "cooked". This is no help to me, but he says it's practice. He does say it feels firmer. I'm sorry I cna't be any more help than that.

The green beans were easy easy easy. I toasted the pine nuts in a dry pan over medium heat. I got distracted while they were toasting, so I over toasted one side, but they weren't burned. Lesson: pine nuts toast quickly and next time I won't wander away. Then I put the green beans (ends trimmed off) in a bowl with a little bit of water, microwaved them for 45 second to get a pre-cook. I heated up a teeny bit of olive oil over med-low heat, added chopped garlic, and then added the beans. I didn't cook them too long since Jav and I like the beans on the crisp/crunchy side, but I did leave about 10 beans to cook longer and get soft for the boys.

Bottom line:

Rack of Lamb Persillade

Dinner: Rack of Lamb Persillade, Brown Rice, Arugula and Romaine Salad, Smoking Loon Pinot Noir

This is one of my favorite dinners. The rack of lamb comes from Costco, so when I go, I just grab a few racks (about $13 a rack, or $9.99/lb) and throw them directly into the freezer. If I'm in a rush, I can throw the frozen lamb (shrink wrapped) into warm water, and it's ready to cook in about an hour. It's also great because after cooking, (in the oven for only 25 minutes!), it needs to sit, and it's one of those dinners that can totally be served at room temperature. This is good for me because there are nights when I don't really know what time Javier is going to be home, but we can still sit down to a nice dinner together.

Tonight's dinner was also a success because we coordinated it so that the boys could have it for their dinner as well. I'm constantly striving to make one dinner for the four of us, and tonight worked because we stretched the boys a bit later. I also substituted a Dr. Praeger's Spinach Pancake and Sweet Potato Pancake for their veggie, since neither boy really eats salad. (I always have Dr. Praeger's on hand, this is one of the main veggie sources for my boys. They're great, but I'd love to work in other kinds of fresh vegetables.)

This lamb dish is sooooo easy. The one drawback is that you have to use the food processer. The only reason this is a drag is because it's one more thing to clean afterwards. But really. Easiest recipe ever, from Barefoot Contessa in Paris cookbook. Here is a link to the recipe if you don't have the book:
http://www.recipezaar.com/Rack-of-Lamb-Persillade-113816

The salad - same ol, same ol - used my standard vinegrette (see lunch below), but for my acid, I used lemon, to match the lemon zest that goes on the lamb. A little tomato, a little shallot, a little goat cheese.

Javier made the brown rice and it was dee-lish, and I don't always love brown rice. (And both boys loved it too. Jack said "Mmmm! Rico!") To make it, Javier browned the rice in olive oil, threw in some garlic cloves, and added chicken stock in a 1:1 ratio to the rice, letting the rice absorb the stock. Then he added water in a 2:1 ratio to the rice and cooked it uncovered at a low heat until the liquid level was about par with the rice. Then he covered the rice and let it cook/simmer for 20 more minutes, took it off the heat and it sat like that until dinner. I know this is a lot of detail, but I'm always struggling to make good brown rice, and this was it.

The wine: another Pinot Noir - runs about $15 bottle - slightly lighter than the wine from last night - I think I like last night's better, but seriously, I'm not complaining. It will be a banner day when I write on this site that I had a glass of wine that I didn't enjoy.

Lunch:
Delicious leftovers! Baby arugula salad, with my "special" dressing - modified from Jamie Oliver recipe:
1 part creme freche
1.5-2 parts vinegar (champagne vinegar, good balsamic vinegar)
4-5 parts oil
salt and pepper
Also threw tomatoes, cucumber, shallots, and feta cheese into the salad.

Then we had leftover beer battered flounder from Thursday night and it re-heated so well! Jav just threw the pieces in the over on a baking sheet at around 400 degrees F until heated through. We blotted with paper towels, and yum, yum, yum. Jack loved the fish, poor Declan didn't get any because he was napping, and it was gobbled up by the time he woke. We also had the remainder of scallops that we didn't eat/cook from last night. I need to better figure out portion sizes so that I don't over-buy, but the leftovers worked in this case. Jav and I shared a bottle of the Dogfish IPA 90 Minute beer, which is very tasty, but not a beer I'd reach for on a regular basis.

Breakfast:
J&C: Scrambled Eggs with chorizo, shallots, tomatoes, goat cheese; Toast w/ Apricot Jam; Coffee; Juice
Kids: Share 2 egg omelet (could have eaten more); pineapple - not their favorite; chocolate milk

Pan Seared Diver Scallops

Dinner: Pan Seared Scallops over Whipped Potatoes with mushrooms, Sauteed Asparagus, Carmel Road 2007 Pinot Noir

For the scallops, I used the following two recipes for inspiration:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/pan-seared-divers-scallops-with-roasted-red-pepper-paint-and-basil-oil-recipe/index.html

and

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/seared-scallops-with-morel-cream-sauce-recipe/index.html

It was a pretty easy dinner to put together. Earlier in the day I was able to peel, dice, and boil two Idaho potatoes (at the same time I was boiling water for the boys pasta dinner), and then I dumped them into the KitchenAid mixer, mixed them, and added 1/3 cup of hot milk, and mixed again. I also took out the scallops, cleaned them, and cleaned and trimmed the asparagus.

Then, 30 minutes before Javier came home, I rough chopped pre-sliced baby bella mushrooms, threw them in a saucepan that had a bit of olive oil and a few tbsp of butter, sauteed them, threw in a splash of the Pinot Noir and reduced it, and then mixed in the potatoes. Done.

For the asparagus, I threw them in a glass pan with a splash of water, salted them, and put them in the microwave for 45 seconds. Then I added lemon olive oil and a pat of butter to a non-stick pan, and sauteed up the aspargus for just a few minutes.

For the scallops, I used paper towels to make sure they were super dry, then I lightly scored them with a paring knife, salted and peppered them. When Javier got home and went upstairs to change, I heated up vegetable oil in a frying pan, and while it got nice and hot, I dredged all of the scallops in flour and patted off the extra, then put them in the hot oil. After about three minutes (a nice crust forms on the bottom) I added a couple pats of butter for flavor, waited another 30 seconds, and turned the scallops and let them cook for another two minutes or so. Again, I looked more at the crust forming on the bottom.

Overall, I think the dinner was good. The scallops and asparagus were better than the potatoes. I don't know if I liked the texture of the potatoes. I think next time I would use a soft polenta, Javier thinks with the mushrooms, but I would maybe keep it lighter and use fresh herbs. Also for the scallops, maybe start them in a slightly higher heat pan, to sear them quicker and get them off the heat cooker. Last, if we're being super picky, we could shave the thickest end of the asparagus so that it's the same thickness as the rest and cooks for the same amount, and maybe put in a bit of sage. Suggestion from Javier - who hates cauliflour - to make a cauliflour puree as the base.

Portion: I bought way too much! I bought 9 scallops (1.08 lbs), I cooked 7, we ate 5. This is good to know because it essentially cuts the cost of the dinner in half.

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the wine (but I always do, so I must defer to Javier on the nuances of the wine) - the bottle runs around $20 - it's a great light red wine that's very drinkable despite the heat of the summer.