Our own rituals

 

Jordan's chicken Caesar wraps

AS we go through life, I think all of us develop little rituals. I’ve thought about this a lot lately because some are so repetitive they annoy me—sometimes when I brush my teeth in the morning, I think with a sigh that it just has to be done again that night. And when I wash my hair, I think how it delays me getting to my day’s work. First world problems for sure.

Lately I’ve developed a more cheerful ritual. Saturdays may have long been cooking days for me, but now the Burtons are often gone, and I plan meals I want to cook. Then my good friend Jean comes and  enjoys them with me, though she is great about contributing a salad or a bottle of wine. For the last two Saturdays the Burtons have been going to Waco—and didn’t go. But they weren’t here for dinner. Last week, Jean and I had spanakopita, and I nibbled on leftovers for breakfast for several days. The leftovers are one big benefit of these dinners.

Today I cooked most of the day—almost no computer time. The menu was lamb meatloaf and zucchini casserole, mostly because a couple of weeks ago I asked Jean if she would prefer salmon or lamb—I specified burgers. She said she loved lamb, but I talked her into salmon because it seemed lighter for a summer meal. As it turned out, I decided I like the croquettes my mom taught me to take of canned salmon better than the fancy and expensive burgers made from fresh salmon. Lesson learned.

But I felt I owed Jean some lamb, so tonight I made a meatloaf of ground lamb and beef, with thyme, basil, onion, garlic, ketchup, and Worcestershire. Delicious, and I have plenty left for one of my favorite lunch treats—a cold meatloaf sandwich with mayo. The lamb is subtle, but it’s there and you can taste it. I know I’m always crowing about cooking what Jordan and Christian won’t eat, but I have to say in their defense they both like this meatloaf. If you want the recipe see “Gourmet on a Hot Plate,” (Gourmet on a Hot Plate: April 2020). Once again, I forgot to take a picture—but, hey! Meatloaf looks pretty much like meatloaf.

Tonight, I paired it with a zucchini casserole that was good but not as great as I wanted it to be. Zucchini was steamed, sliced, mixed with a sauce of butter, sour cream, Parmesan, salt and paprika, and egg. Maybe the zucchini was steamed too much; maybe there wasn’t enough sauce; maybe (my first thought) it needed more salt. Jean and I decided it needed some breadcrumbs, in addition to those on the topping, more salt (that was me—she doesn’t like much salt and once tried to grab the saltshaker out of my hand because she thought I was using too much!), and maybe a bit of cheddar—or more sour cream. I”ll play with what’s left.

But all in all, it was a good dinner, although slightly heavy for a warm night. I’ve had several light meals lately—for lunch a couple of days I made myself a sandwich of cream cheese spread with a bit of mayo and dill, smoked salmon, and cucumber. If that’s not self-indulgent, I don’t know what is.

Last night Jordan fixed us lettuce wraps with Caesar chicken—refreshing and good. She served them with pickled cucumbers and added a plea for me to pickle more cukes This morning I found a cucumber on the cutting board in my kitchen—think that was a hint? So this morning, I made a new batch of pickled cucumbers and onions. Here’s what I did.

Pickled cucumber

Cucumber

Sweet onion

1 c. cider vinegar

1 c. water

¼ c. sugar

1 Tbsp Kosher salt

Pack a clean pint jar with layers of onion and cucumber, packing down as tight as you can. Heat remaining ingredients in a saucepan and stir until sugar is dissolved. Let cool slightly but not to room temperature. You don’t want to pour boiling liquid over the cucumbers and onion, but neither do you want to let it get cold—moderate heat helps marinate the vegetables.

Refrigerate well.

Couldn’t be easier. Now, what shall I cook next Saturday?