For our latest edition of What to Cook this Week I’m sharing recipes for five comforting weeknight meals. I’ve got recipes for an eggs potatoes and chorizo breakfast dinner skillet if you don’t mind breakfast for dinner, a quick and easy peanut butter noodles, Mexican grilled chicken tacos, a Cambodian fish curry, and a meatball Stroganoff.
If you’re visiting us here at Grantourismo for the first time – welcome! – What to Cook this Week is a random-ish weekly-ish recipe series, where on most Mondays I dig around in the Grantourismo recipe archives, which are bursting with countless recipes from around the globe, for five delicious midweek dinner ideas for you.
For What to Cook this Week we try to suggest a real mix of recipes – ideas for dishes to cook when you don’t feel like cooking, recipes that might require a little bit of an effort but will be worth it, and dishes to make on a Friday night when you’re looking forward to spending some time in the kitchen with loved-ones, a bottle of wine, and good music in the background.
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What to Cook this Week – Peanut Butter Noodles, Pineapple Fish Curry and Meatball Stroganoff
Our ideas for What to Cook this Week include everything from peanut butter noodles to a coconut pineapple fish curry and meatball Stroganoff.
Monday – Eggs Potatoes and Chorizo Skillet Breakfast for Dinner
Topping my list of suggestions for what to cook this week is this eggs potatoes and chorizo breakfast dinner skillet recipe, if you’re not adverse to the idea of breakfast for dinner and you’re like us and can eat anything at any time of day, then join us in making this classic American comfort food favourite.
Originally created for our Weekend Eggs series, the recipe makes our favourite take on the classic American country skillet breakfast made in a cast iron skillet. Instead of bacon or ham, we make this hearty meal with spicy chorizo sausage.
Perhaps it’s due to a decade or so living in Southeast Asia where dishes are rarely confined to a specific meal time – rice porridges, noodle soups, stir-fries, and even barbecued pork and rice are all popular breakfast dishes but are also eaten by locals at other times of the day – that we, too eat anything at anytime.
And like you, we’re also seeking food that comforts right now, in the form of warming soups, hearty stews, spicy curries, filling pastas, and big country breakfasts, such as this eggs potatoes and chorizo breakfast skillet. We’re going to take into a big plates of this while we watch Netflix tonight.
A few tips: we use a 25cm (10″) cast iron skillet for this dish. Monterey Jack cheese is a must, otherwise a young cheddar cheese will work. For the hot sauce, our favourites are Tapatio Salsa Picante and Cholula Original Hot Sauce. You want the soft Mexican chorizo; firm Spanish-style chorizo can also be used, but take care not to over-cook it, as it tends to go hard.
If you love chorizo as much as we do, you might want to check out these chorizo recipes: Spanish potato omelette recipe with chorizo, this Basque-style ‘messy eggs’ recipe for fried eggs with chorizo and potatoes, and our breakfast taco recipe with fried eggs, chorizo and crunchy potatoes.
Eggs Potatoes and Chorizo Breakfast Skillet Recipe for a Twist on a Classic American Breakfast
Tuesday – Spicy Peanut Butter Noodles Recipe
As Tuesday is Peanut Butter Lover’s Day according to the international food days calendar, next on our list of ideas for what to cook this week is this spicy peanut butter noodles recipe. It makes a quick and easy bowl of noodles that are perfect for a mid-week dinner.
It’s something of a fusion dish. It’s partly an evolution of a peanut butter sauce I used to make way back in the Eighties, based on saus kacang from The Complete Asian Cookbook by Sri Lankan-born Charmain Solomon, regarded as the ‘Queen of Asian Cooking in Australia’.
It’s also obviously influenced by China’s famous Shaxian and Fuzhou peanut butter sauce noodles, usually garnished with scallions and sesame seeds, as well as chilli oil, but clearly influenced by our decades cooking Southeast Asian food.
This dish is an evolution of that, but also influenced by Fujian peanut butter noodles, where thick noodles are boiled before being combined in a sauce made from dark soy, shallot oil or sesame oil, scallions, and peanut butter. China produces an infinite array of peanut butters, many of which come with sesame seeds.
A few tips: I recommend a round flat bottomed wok for cooking this dish – as you’re going to toss the noodles into the wok when they’re done. Lightly stir-fried Asian greens, such as bok choy, make a perfect side, but condiments and garnishes also satisfy, such as homemade Szechuan chilli oil, chilli flakes, and crispy fried shallots.
Spicy Peanut Butter Noodles Recipe for a Quick, Easy and Tasty Bowl of Noodles
Wednesday – Mexican Grilled Chicken Tacos Recipe
This easy Mexican grilled chicken tacos recipe for tacos de pollo asado is my next suggestion for what to cook this week. This recipe makes corn tortillas filled with incredibly delicious chicken pieces that are moist and flavourful thanks to a marinade of chipotle and spices such as cumin and paprika.
They’re delightfully smoky courtesy of the griddle pan, although you can also cook the chicken on a barbecue or grill. We top the chicken with this tasty Mexican corn salsa.
A few tips: we recommend having some long tongs handy; things still get hot on a griddle. Try to source soft corn tortillas for more authentic Mexican tacos, although wheat flour tortillas will work if you can’t. Guacamole is also delicious on the side, as are refried beans and Terence’s spicy red tomato salsa.
I like to pop some pickles on top and serve dishes of our homemade pickled jalapeños, pickled purple shallots, pickled purple cabbage, and Mexican pickled vegetables. I also like to crumble a little cotija (Mexican white cheese) on top. When it comes to hot sauces, we like Tapatio and Cholula.
If you have any leftover chicken, you could sandwich it with the corn salsa between soft tortillas to make some quesadillas or roll it all up to make burritos, or sprinkle the chicken and corn salsa onto tortilla chips to make nachos. Whatever you do with it, make sure to wash it all down with margaritas or micheladas.
Mexican Grilled Chicken Tacos Recipe for Tacos de Pollo Asado for an Easy Mid-Week Meal
Thursday – Creamy Cambodian Coconut Pineapple Fish Curry Recipe
My next suggestion for what to cook this week is for our friends and readers in the northern hemisphere wishing that winter would end. This Cambodian coconut pineapple fish curry recipe for samlor ktis Koh Kong makes a sweet-ish gently spiced curry made with coconut cream, pineapple and baby eggplants.
It’s from an island and coastal province in Cambodia’s southwest and it’s a rich aromatic curry that tastes of a tropical island. It’s the kind of curry that you imagine tucking into on a beach holiday, sitting within splashing distance of the sea – with a bowl of fragrant jasmine rice, an icy cold beer to wash it down with, and your toes in squeaky white sand.
Samlor ktis Koh Kong is sweet from the coconut cream, fresh ripe pineapple and creamy palm sugar, and gently-spiced and fragrant from the herbaceous red kroeung – a Cambodian herb and spice paste pounded from fresh lemongrass stalks, galangal, kaffir lime zest, turmeric, garlic, shallots, and red chillies.
A few tips: we recommend pounding the spice paste in a large granite mortar and pestle but by all means, if you don’t have the time, use a blender or food processor. Any firm white fleshy fish will work. Fresh ripe pineapple is better than canned pineapple if you can get hold of it.
If you want to turn the meal into a Cambodian feast, you could make these fried spring rolls and serve the curry with steamed rice and leafy greens.
Creamy Cambodian Coconut Pineapple Fish Curry Recipe for Samlor Ktis Koh Kong
Friday – Meatball Stroganoff Recipe for Juicy Meatballs in a Gently Spiced Mushroom Gravy
Last on my list of ideas for what to cook this week is this meatball Stroganoff recipe, which combines recipes for two of my favourite Russian dishes: a spicy mushroom Stroganoff and tender meatballs. It makes a deliciously comforting dish of Stroganoff meatballs that in winter can be served with mashed potatoes, pasta or rice and in summer can be lightened up with a fresh green garden salad.
If you’re fond of beef Stroganoff and its various iterations – from chicken Stroganoff to mushroom Stroganoff – and you’re also a devotee of meatballs (more meatball recipes here), then you’re going to adore this meatball Stroganoff recipe which makes the soft succulent Russian meatballs called tefteli that swim in the famous mushroom dish that’s something of a global phenomenon.
If you’re in the chilly northern hemisphere winter right now, then you probably won’t think twice about making my Russian meatball Stroganoff recipe. The dish is essentially juicy, tender and textured meatballs in a gently spiced mushroom gravy. It’s such a warming and filling dish, especially when served with creamy mashed potatoes, pasta or fries.
But I’ll happily tuck into a smaller serving of meatball Stroganoff in summer, too. During the warmer months, I’ll do as the Italians do – most Italian-style meatballs or polpetti are served with little else but a side of rucola – and I’ll enjoy this dish with a crisp green garden salad.
Meatball Stroganoff Recipe for Juicy Meatballs in a Gently Spiced Mushroom Gravy
Please do let us know if you make any of our recipes from our What to Cook this Week recipe series this week as we’d love to hear how they turned out for you.
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