For our latest edition of What to Cook this Week we’ve got five recipes for easy weeknight meals – even my Valentines Day dinner suggestion is a breeze to make, because who wants to spend Valentines Day evening in the kitchen? We’ve also got recipes for a Thai meatball red curry, Mexican tortilla soup and authentic guacamole, and Spanish garlic shrimp.
If you’re cooking a special dinner for a loved-one for Valentines Day dinner, I really think you should try Terence’s Italian roast chicken recipe with peppers, leeks, olives, and capers, which we just shared. And we’ve got lots more recipes here for romantic Valentines Day dinners.
If you’re a soup lover, we’ve got an easy cauliflower cabbage potato soup recipe for a rich and creamy vegetable soup without the cream, and a traditional Mexican tortilla soup and authentic guacamole we learnt to make many years ago in Mexico.
I’m also sharing a recipe for a Thai red curry with tender meatballs, garnished with fresh fragrant Thai basil and coriander, red chillies, and crunchy fried shallots. The red curry is authentic, meatballs are not, but they’re incredibly tasty.
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.
Now, before you scroll down to my suggestions for what to cook this week, I have a favour to ask of you. Grantourismo is partly funded by its readers. If you’ve enjoyed our recipes, please consider supporting our work by supporting our epic Cambodian cuisine history and cookbook on Patreon, which you can do for as little as the price of a coffee.
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What to Cook This Week – Thai Red Curry, Mexican Tortilla Soup, Spanish Garlic Shrimp
Our ideas for What to Cook this Week include everything from a cauliflower cabbage potato soup and Thai meatball red curry to Mexican tortilla soup with authentic guacamole, and Spanish garlic shrimp.
Monday – Cauliflower Cabbage Potato Soup Recipe
If it’s still soup weather wherever you are, then my first suggestion for what to cook this week is this easy cauliflower cabbage potato soup recipe, which makes a creamy vegetable soup that’s incredibly rich and comforting.
You could enjoyably slurp it as is on a chilly late winter or or autumn/fall evening, dunking toast into the silky broth, or add texture by sprinkling on some crushed homemade croutons, fresh fragrant dill sprigs, and cracked black pepper.
I can happily tuck into a bowl on the sofa in my PJs for a Netflix binge, but you could also make it a bit fancy and serve it as a dinner-party starter. Terence used to serve a similar soup in shot glasses with dollops of caviar back in the day.
Cauliflower Cabbage Potato Soup Recipe for a Comforting Creamy Vegetable Soup
Tuesday – Valentines Day Dinner
Tuesday is Valentines Day and if you’re considering preparing a special dinner for a certain someone, we’ve got lots of recipes for romantic Valentines Day dinners for you, along with ideas for Valentines Day breakfast if you’re an early riser.
If I had to choose one Valentines Day dinner recipe to suggest to you, I’d recommend you make Terence’s Italian roast chicken recipe with peppers, leeks, olives, and capers, which we just shared.
The recipe makes succulent chicken quarters roasted on a bed of leeks and red and green peppers with plump black olives, briny capers and sprigs of fresh thyme, and it’s another of my top suggestions for what to cook this week.
The slow-cooked chicken is not only incredibly delicious, it will fill your home with the sweet scent of roasted peppers, which is a warm, welcoming and comforting aroma. Someone should bottle that!
Italian Roast Chicken Recipe with Peppers, Leeks, Olives, Capers and Thyme
Wednesday – Thai Meatball Curry Recipe
It’s been ages since I’ve made a curry, especially a Thai curry, so this Thai meatball curry recipe is another of my top picks for what to cook this week. The beauty of this dish is that it’s wonderful in winter or summer. In winter, it will warm you up, in summer it will make you sweat and cool you down.
This recipe makes a Thai red curry with tender meatballs flavoured with Thai spices and fresh herbs, and garnished with fresh fragrant Thai basil and coriander, red chillies, and crunchy fried shallots.
While the red Thai curry is traditional, the soft succulent meatballs are a not-so-traditional addition, but they’re incredibly delicious all the same, and taste even better the next day. In fact the whole dish tastes better the day after, making fantastic leftovers.
I make this dish with a homemade red curry paste recipe, which I make with my new KROK, which is the best mortar and pestle, but you can use any mortar and pestle, or if you’re tight on time, use a blender. But this is also delicious with a homemade Massaman curry paste recipe. And of course you could use a store-bought Thai red curry paste.
Thai Meatball Curry Recipe for a Thai Red Curry with Tender Meatballs and Fragrant Basil
Thursday – Mexican Sopa de Tortilla or Tortilla Soup
This sopa de tortilla recipe makes the best tortilla soup and it’s another of my top suggestions for what to cook this week. It’s a soup that Terence has been making for decades and we never get bored with it.
While we can’t recall the first recipe that Terence used all those years ago – it was probably from Diana Kennedy’s tome on Mexican cuisine, The Art of Mexican Cooking – Terence enhanced his recipe after we did an excellent Mexican cooking class in San Miguel de Allende.
There are few things easier to prepare than soup and while this tortilla soup is simple to make and takes just half an hour, it’s easy to make a bad version. If you don’t have chicken stock in the freezer, use a quality store-bought stock.
After the stock, the next key ingredients are the chillies, which you’ll probably have if you regularly cook Mexican food. Serve with fresh coriander, lime wedges, avocado slices and crunchy tortilla chips.
Sopa de Tortilla or Tortilla Soup Recipe from San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
We’re getting beautiful avocados here right now, so I will also be making a bowl of this authentic Mexican guacamole recipe – the kind that’s made at home and table-side at good restaurants in Mexico. It’s all about the creamy luscious texture, bright green colour and full flavour of perfectly ripe avocados. We’ll be washing everything down with micheladas.
Authentic Mexican Guacamole Recipe Just Like Your Mexican Abuela Would Make
Friday – Spanish Garlic Shrimp and a Tapas Feast
This classic Spanish garlic shrimp recipe for gambas al ajillo is another one of my top picks for what to cook this week. The recipe will make you one of the most popular Spanish tapas dishes on the menu at tapas bars in Spain and around the world, and it’s one of our favourites.
Sweet plump garlic prawns are just cooked in a fragrant, gently-spiced, garlicky virgin olive oil that’s just calling for you to mop it up with crusty bread. While you could certainly tuck into this dish with a side salad or serve it with rice, the best way to eat it is part of a Spanish tapas spread.
So we plan to make a handful of tapas or small plates, including these scrummy Spanish meatballs called albondigas, some crunchy chorizo and potato croquettes or croquetas de patata y chorizo, and Terence’s favourite tapas, chorizo in red wine recipe for chorizo al vino tinto. That’s Friday’s dinner sorted.
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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