Weeknight Dinners

Weeknight Dinners are challenging. After a long working day and probably stressful commute, very few people wouldn’t have energy to spend hours to cook up a full meal from scratch. What we end up are probably leftovers from the weekends, or frozen dinners from grocery stores and take-outs. Not healthy or delicious in particular.

The #1 criterion for weeknight dinners then is then quick and easy. We set the preparation time limit to below 45 minutes. Salads, soups, sandwiches, and stir fries are great candidates. Also, leveraging on weekend cooking would be helpful as well. For instance, the elements in meals that require longer cooking time can be prepared over the weekend. For instance, roasted vegetables, lentils, quinoa, and farro can be cooked over the weekends.

We started organizing our weeknight dinners a few months ago. One thing we noticed was that we spent quite a bit of time standing in front of the fridge, wondering what to cook every evening.  We figured that a little bit of planning would certainly help.

Every Thursday evening (almost) we would look through our cookbooks and cooking sites for inspiration of the weeknight dinner menus. This is usually done with a glass of wine (or two) to add some enjoyment to the process. We also found that the planning has also made grocery shopping easy and we very rarely throw food out from the fridge!

 Here is our last week’s menu. Let the game begin!

Monday: Lentil Salad with Roasted Vegetables (serves 4)

This is a simplified version of the New York Times Cooking (NYT Cooking). There are fewer kinds of roasted vegetables in ours. But the taste was great regardless. The sweetness of the roasted vegetables works perfectly with the earthiness of lentils, the bitterness of radicchio and the sourness of the vinaigrette.  

We cooked the roasted vegetables and the lentil over the weekend and they were part of our lunches. With the roasted vegetables and the lentils out of the way, the only work required was to make the vinaigrette, prepare the garnishing and mix the salad.   It took us about 10 minutes to make (I know, we are kind of cheating here ….)

2 medium carrots, peeled

3 small beets, cleaned

1 sweet potato, sliced

1 cup brown or green lentils

3 cups vegetable broth

1 head radicchio, sliced

1 scallion, thinly sliced (whites and greens)

Parsley, roughly chopped, for garnish

1/2 tangerine, seeded

Salt and pepper to taste

For the vinaigrette dressing:

¼ cup white wine or red wine vinegar, more to taste

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil, more as needed

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Place vegetables in separated baking sheets, toss with olive oil and salt. It is important to cook the vegetables separately and do not let the pieces to touch to allow air flow. Roast until vegetables are tender. It takes about 25 minutes for the carrots and the sweet potato, an hour for the beets.

In a large pot, combine lentils and 3 cups of vegetable broth and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, until lentils are tender.

In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, mustard and salt. Then whisk in olive oil.

Toss cooked lentils with half of the vinaigrette.

Toss radicchio with enough of remaining vinaigrette to lightly coat it and arrange it on a platter. Combine lentils and roasted vegetables, adding more of the vinaigrette to taste; spoon mixture on top of radicchio. Garnish with scallions, parsley, sea salt and black pepper. Squeeze tangerine juice over the lentils and drizzle with more olive oil if needed.

Tuesday: Danish Shrimp Smørrebrød (serves 2)

Smørrebrød is basically a Danish-style open face sandwich. It is a popular lunch choice in Denmark. We fell in love with it when we were in Denmark for its simplicity, refreshing tastes and beautiful looks (like all things Danish). The bread used is the Danish-style rye bread. We bought it from the Danish Pastry House, a bakery specialises Danish pastry with multiple locations in GTA (Great Toronto Area). If you don’t have any Danish bakeries close by, any rye bread would do.

Because we made the mayonnaise from scratch, it took us about 40 minutes.

6 ¼-inch-thick slices Danish-style rye bread

3 eggs

6 Argentinian shrimps, deshelled

2 radish, thinly sliced

Freshly ground black pepper

Small dill sprigs, for garnish

Flaky sea salt, for garnish (We used the Icelandic volcano salt just because we have it around)

For the dill mayonnaise:

1 egg yolk

¾ cup olive oil

2 tablespoon chopped dill

Salt to taste

In a small bowl, separate the egg white from the yolk. Slowly add the olive oil to the egg yolk while whisking the egg yolk, one drop at a time for the first half the oil. Add the oil a bit faster for the rest. Add dill and salt (to taste) to the mayonnaise. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Fill a small pot with enough water to cover an egg, and bring it to a boil. Gently set the eggs into the water and continue to boil for 7–8 minutes. Remove the eggs and transfer immediately to a bowl of cold water; let rest until cool, then carefully peel. Cut crosswise into ¼-inch-thick pieces and set aside.

Pan-sear the deshelled shrimps for about 2 minutes.

Assemble the smørrebrød: Spread each of the 6 bread slices with about 2 teaspoons of the dill mayonnaise, then season lightly with salt. Top each with 2 slices of egg and 3 slices of radish.  Add 1 shrimp on each piece, then garnish with dill and season with salt and pepper to finish.  

Wednesday:  Pesto Pizza with Artichoke and Prosciutto (Serve 2)

 Pizza is always a go-to choice for a quick dinner, especially in cold winter evenings. We like to make pizzas from fresh pizza doughs and they do taste better than the standard supermarket pizza packages. Pizza dough from Sanremo Bakery in Etobicoke is pretty great.

 You can stretch out the dough to the thickness you like, usually ¼ inch. We like our pizza even a bit thinner.

3 tablespoon green pesto

6 (4 if large) jar artichoke hearts or baby artichokes in oil, halved if not already done

6 thin slices of prosciutto

150g packet mozzarella, drained and finely sliced

1 tablespoon oil from the artichoke jar (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degree. Place parchment paper on a baking sheet. Put the stretched pizza dough on the parchment paper.

Mix the tomatoes with 2 tablespoons of the pesto and spread over the pizza, leaving a bare rim around the edge. Scatter the artichokes and prosciutto on top. Cover with the mozzarella and sprinkle some freshly ground black pepper, then drizzle with the rest of the pesto mixed with the artichoke oil.

Bake for about 20 minutes until the base is cooked through and the cheese has melted. Serve hot.

 Thursday: Stir Fried Spicy Beef (serves 2)

 Stir fries are the perfect go-to dishes for weeknight dinners because the very short cooking time. Most of the cooking time actually is on the preparation, such as washing and cutting. It took us about 20 minutes for the meal.

1 tablespoon grapeseed oil

½ pound beef tenderloin, cut diagonally across the grain into thin slices

½ yellow bell pepper, cut into thin strips

2 celery ribs, cut diagonally into thin slices

1 onion, diced

2 tablespoons lower-sodium soy sauce

1½ tablespoons rice wine or mirin

1 teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger

1 clove of garlic, thinly diced

1½ teaspoons Chinese chili sauce

4 tablespoons cornstarch

Salt, to taste

Mix the sliced beef, rice wine and soy sauce in a bowl. Add cornstarch to coat the beef. Set aside.

Heat a skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Make sure it is hot before adding oil. Add ginger and garlic to the pan; cook a few seconds.

Add the beef to the pan; cook until the surface of the beef has turned into light brown, but the inside is still a bit raw, about 2 minutes. Remove beef from the pan and put aside.

In the same pan, add onion and celery. Add a bit more oil if needed. Cook until the vegetables soften. Add bell peppers; cook 1 more minute. Add spicy sauce and cook for another 30 seconds.

Add the beef back to the pan; cook another 30 seconds.   

Friday: Seared Tuna Steak with Fennel Orange Salad and Sauteed Kale
We love the Sicilian fennel and orange salad that we ate often on our Sicilian trip. Cooking the salad brings back our memory of the bright Sicilian sunshine, the turquoise Mediterranean sea, and the scant of fresh oranges. Hopefully this memory will help us to beat the grey and cold Toronto winter sky.

10 cherry tomatoes

a tablespoon capers

2 tuna steaks

1 small organic fennel, thinly sliced

1 blood orange, peeled and flesh section divided

½ red onion, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 pounds kale, sliced

Salt and pepper to taste

Cut cherry tomatoes to half. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add halved tomatoes and caper to the pan. Cook until tomatoes are softened, about 3 minutes. Add tuna steaks to the mixture and cook another 2 minutes. Remove from the pan and put on the plate.

Meanwhile, mix the sliced fennel, red onion and orange pieces in a bowl. Drizzle red wine vinegar and 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the mixture, and toss well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add kale and saute until the kale is soft. Add a bit water if needed.