Wednesday is cooking day…
In an effort to continue my culinary education I have declared Wednesday Cooking Day! I awoke early Wednesday morning to work out my meal plan based on the good-looking produce I picked up at the Farmer’s Market on Tuesday. Here’s what I came up with.
Menu Idea #1
First Course
Summer Squash Soup with Basil Olive Oil and Garden Herbs
Entrée
Skirt Steak with Chimichurri topped with a Fried Quail Egg
Sautéed Oyster Mushrooms
Dessert
Honey Walnut Wedge with fresh Passion Fruit drizzle
But – after some thoughts about the oppressive heat things start to change.
Menu Idea #2
First Course
Yellow Tomato Gazpacho (Nobody wants hot soup when it’s 80 degrees in the kitchen!)
Entrée
Skirt Steak with Chimmichuri topped with a Fried Quail Egg
Sautéed Oyster Mushrooms
Dessert
Strawberry Sorbet with Citrus, Sea Salt and Pepper drizzled with Thick Aged Balsamic (I couldn’t bear to turn on the oven for that Walnut Wedge. And in classic Sarah Jo fashion I couldn’t help adding additional ingredients to that simple sorbet. It’ll make it more fun when it comes to tasting time!)
By 2:00 in the afternoon the sorbet was chillin’ and the chimichurri was resting on the stove.
By 4:30 I was back from the store with the skirt steaks. I did a little trimming and got them dry brining in the fridge with salt (Zuni Café Cookbook recommends ¾ teaspoon of salt per pound, so I went with that).
Dinner was looming with a 6:00 deadline so I got the rest of my ingredients ready to go. But…the menu changed again!
Final Menu
First Course
Baby Zucchini Soup with Basil Olive Oil and Garden Herbs (I guess I do want soup on a hot day!)
Lovely green Zucchini Soup
Next time I’m serving this on a bed of spinach.
Strawberry Sorbet looks beautiful and is a terrific dessert on a hot hot day
This was it! It was a fun menu and easy to throw together once I made up my mind. I was taught there are two speeds in the kitchen. One is when you’re just prepping and getting stuff done. And Two is when you’re counting down to the finish line and it’s almost time to eat! We enjoyed this 3 Course Meal and the leftovers it produced for Thursday’s lunch!
Steak Salad with Fresh Veggies and Chimichurri makes a fine lunch.
The fun of this dinner was cooking the steak, mushrooms and quail eggs just before we ate them. Great and interactive with guests. The skirt Steak and quail eggs cook so quickly as long as everything is ready to go – it’s hot dinner here I come!
Hrmmmm…what should I cook next Wednesday?
I’m still thinking about that sorbet-vinegar combination. It sounds like foodie show-off stuff but it was one of the best things I’ve tasted in a long time.
Glad you enjoyed it. Strawberries and balsamic are a great pair. I made Rose-Apple sorbet as a follow up. Haven’t decided on a topping yet. But it will most likely make it into my Wednesday menu this week!