What to Cook this Week is a new weekly series that we’ll publish every Monday morning with ideas for weeknight dinners from our recipe archives for the week ahead. Suggestions might include recipes to make for upcoming holidays, dishes we’re cooking at home, and the occasional recipe we’re developing that we’d love you to test out.
Welcome to our new series What to Cook this Week, which we’ll publish each Monday morning, with recipe suggestions from our archives for easy dishes for weeknight dinners and meal ideas that might involve a bit more prep for Friday night. We’re planning on sharing a What to Cook this Weekend on Friday mornings.
In What to Cook this Week, we’ll share ideas for what to cook for holidays that are approaching and let you know what we’re cooking in our kitchen here in Cambodia. And if you’re up for it, we’d also love to share the occasional recipe that we’re developing for our cookbooks and invite you to help us test them out. Let us know if that interests.
Before I make any suggestions as to what to cook this week, we have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader-supported. If you’ve enjoyed our recipes, please consider supporting Grantourismo by using our links to book accommodation, rent a car or campervan or motorhome, buy travel insurance, or book a tour on Klook or Get Your Guide. You can also shop our Grantourismo store for gifts for foodies, including fun reusable cloth face masks designed with Terence’s photography. You could also buy us a coffee, although we won’t buy coffee, we’ll put that donation toward cooking ingredients for recipe testing.
Another option is to contribute to our epic Cambodian cuisine history and cookbook on Patreon or purchase something on Amazon, such as these James Beard award-winning cookbooks, cookbooks by Australian chefs, classic cookbooks for serious cooks, cookbooks for culinary travellers, travel books to inspire wanderlust, gifts for Asian food lovers, picnic lovers and travellers who love photography. Now let’s give you some ideas as to what to cook this week.
What to Cook this Week from Beer Battered Fish and Chips to Authentic Mexican Sopa de Tortilla
Beer Battered Fish and Chips Recipe
Fish and chips was always a Sunday night summer-time takeaway meal after a day on the beach for us, but why not enjoy it on a Monday evening after a day at work and bring a little sunny holiday magic into the home? This Monday night we’re making this beer battered fish and chips recipe for perfect crunchy battered fish and crispy chips and we suggest you do the same. This classic takeaway dinner is such an iconic dish for Australians and our New Zealand and British friends – eating fish and chips, preferably by a beach, is intrinsic to our culture – so we often make this when we’re homesick, nostalgic or just missing meals by the sea. Use this recipe (link below) along with our hand cut potato chips recipe and easy homemade tartare sauce recipe and you’ll be tucking into your best fish and chips ever and be taken back to balmy beachside dinners. To help the imagination along, serve on newspaper or butcher’s paper on your backyard picnic table.
Best Beer Battered Fish and Chips Recipe for Perfect Fish and Chips
Sopa de Tortilla Recipe
Mexico’s holiday Day of the Dead on Tuesday 2 November is a good excuse if you ever needed one to cook Mexican food – or Mexican-American food or Tex-Mex food if you prefer. How about making our traditional sopa de tortilla recipe which we learnt at a Mexican cooking school in San Miguel de Allende, so authenticity is 100% guaranteed, followed by Terence’s tacos al pastor, which were inspired by the tacos al pastor we used to order from Mexico City’s Salón Corona to take you back to Mexico’s vibrant streets? Mix yourself a michelada, a spiced-up Mexican beer from Mexico City’s markets or a genuine margarita, the most quintessential Mexican cocktail, and you’ll forget it’s a Tuesday. And if you’re on holidays or you’re working from home, you could go all out and start the day by making one of our best Mexican breakfast recipes, such as huevos rancheros, huevos con chorizo or huevos revueltos con chorizo. And, why not go loco, as it’s #tacotuesday after all, and make our chicken tinga taco or shredded chicken tacos for lunch? You’ll need some Mexican pickled onions or purple cabbage pickles to go with those.
Sopa de Tortilla or Tortilla Soup Recipe from San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Japanese Tamagoyaki Recipe
Wednesday is World Sandwich Day so why not go all out and make the king of sandwiches and try your hand at a tamago sando or Japanese egg sandwich using our Japanese rolled omelette recipe for tamagoyaki for a light yet filling dinner? It makes a soft, fluffy, rolled omelette that we love to eat between thick slices of melt-in-your-mouth white Japanese bread. During our time in Tokyo we found Japanese rolled omelettes were eaten everywhere, from boozy izakayas and gastronomic restaurants to set breakfasts and bento boxes, but home-cooked tamagoyaki has a special place in the hearts of Japanese and the stomachs of these two food writers! Making the Japanese rolled omelette is an art form, so if it’s your first time making tamagoyaki, buy some Japanese beers and sake and make a night of it: a DIY Japanese home cooking class-cum-Japanese-dinner with your loved-one followed by a Japanese food movie such as Tampopo or Jiro Dreams of Sushi.
This Japanese Rolled Omelette Recipe Makes Tamagoyaki for Your Tamago Sando
Russian Beef Stew Recipe
I don’t know about you, but by the time Thursday night comes around I need a heavy dose of hearty comfort food and no matter what the season I can do stew. How about you? On Thursday, I’m going to make this traditional Russian beef stew recipe for solyanka, a deliciously old-school stew – or heavy soup if you prefer – that’s a little sour and a little sweet. First mentioned in print in Russia in the 15th century, solyanka is an ancient dish made for modern times: it was invented to use leftovers and it’s a one-pot dish that is filling and comforting. Are you up for it? If you’re in the southern hemisphere and thinking stew is too heavy, lighten the meal up by serving it with this classic garden salad or one of our cold summer soups, such as this chilled beetroot soup or this cold vegetable soup with a kefir base called okroshka.
Traditional Russian Beef Stew Recipe for Solyanka, a Medieval Dish for Modern Times
Gaeng Hang Lay Moo Recipe
We can’t go long without making a curry for dinner and Friday night, when we have more time, is when we usually make a curry. Let’s call it #currynight shall we? This week I’m thinking of making this Northern Thai pork belly curry called gaeng hang lay moo, which is one of the most decadent and moreish of all Thai curries, with unctuous pieces of gloriously fatty pork belly in a rich curry enlivened by bright shallots and fresh fragrant coriander. I recommend giving this a go. It’s a red curry on spice steroids and the extra kick, as well as the richness of the pork belly, make this one of our favourite Thai curries and if you’re not familiar with it, I guarantee it will quickly become one of your favourites too. While the curry is simmering, put some jasmine rice in the rice cooker, open some Thai beers, and make some of these crispy chicken skins, khao tang na tang or spicy lettuce wraps to snack on while you wait. It will be worth it.
Gaeng Hang Lay Moo Curry – Northern Thai Pork Belly Curry Recipe
Please do let us know in the comments below if you’ve cooked any of our What to Cook this Week recipes as we’d love to get your feedback and hear how they turned out for you.
