Food Friday!

40 days of Lent... As a kid going to Catholic school, I remember Lent being McDonald's Fish Fillet Fridays and giving up of some kind. Most memorable? 5th grade. It was soda. That was a hard one. But I gotta tell ya, I don't even drink soda now..some 20 odd years later!

So this Lenten season, Going Out To Eat was on the chopping block. If you glanced at our credit card bill each month, I would say 75% of the charges are restaurants. It's no wonder we don't blog more about restaurants or food... Wait, that's what YELP is for! But I digress.

We grew up with our mom and dad cooking dinner almost every night. It's not your one-pot meal either. It was always a soup, a meat dish (fish on Fridays for lent), a veggie dish if the meat dish didn't have any, and rice. Our mom was kinda crazy...ah, meticulous, about her weekly menu. She would scour the ads to check what was on sale and build a list of dishes based on that for the week. It was like clock work. The weekends were for shopping and prepping all of the goods to be cooked for the rest of the week. I guess you could say she was a kitchen seargent!

I guess it's our turn now. So for this week, we're starting out slow...

Monday- Indian Fish Vindaloo Stew and Onion Naan
This was completely an experiment. We had purchased a bottle of Pataks Vindaloo Curry Paste a while ago but never used it. Till now!
I cut up some Alaskan yellow tail tuna that a friend had caught fresh from his last fishing trip. I made them into 2 inch nuggets and poached them in salted water for 30 seconds to firm them up.
In a seperate pan, I combined 4 tablespoons of the paste, 1 chopped onion and 8 oz of sliced mushrooms. Cooked that for 4 mi. Added 1/2 cup water and the fish pieces. Bring it to a simmer and let go for 8-10 min. Turn off the heat and add 4 oz of plain yogurt.
That last step adds creaminess to the dish and also cuts the heat of the stew. Served with naan! Yeah!!

Tuesday- Daikon Tofu Soup w/ Seaweed, Mo Po Tofu and Brown Rice.
Kinda had a tofu feeling today....We went to check out the Irvine Great Park Farmers Market last Sunday. It was OK. The UCI Farmers Market is the best!
But we did find a grower that had some nice, young daikon. It was crying out to be made into soup w/ soft, silken tofu and seawood. The Mo Po Tofu was made w/ ground turkey and firm tofu. Yumm!

Wednesday- Butternut Squash Ravioli w/ browned butter and sage, with cheese and garlic flatbread.     

This one was courtsey of Fresh and Easy.
If you are lucky enough to have one near you, check them out!
I think they are comprable to Trader Joes, but not as pricey.
Sorry! I got the pasta, but forgot to photograph the bread....but it was really good!
I first cooked the pasta to al dente, then browned the butter and put in approx 2T of chopped fresh sage and cooked them till they were crisp.
Added some fresh sage leaves for garnish.

Thursday- Fish tostadas w/ guacamole, cabbage and mango salsa.
Sis found a great alternative to frying the tortillas. Just brush them on both sides with oil and pop them into a 350° F oven for 5 min. on each side. The come out nice and golden. We found that
Mission Extra Thin Yellow Corn Tortillas works the best. No splatters or wasted oil to throw away!

Friday- It's our belated St. Patrick's Day celebration. That's why we went fish yesterday. I'll bring you pics of this one next Friday!

Jen