menu of the week

It's the still the weekend for us (Matt has today off) but I wanted to get this post up first thing. Last week was an unusual one in our house because each night I made a new recipe. That's right, every single night was basically an experiment in prep & presentation, and all in all I think it went pretty well. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I created the menu because it could have gone horribly wrong but luckily that wasn't the case.

hearty kale & potato soup - Another recipe from The Cleaner Plate Club and another success. It came together quickly and the kale was tender rather than bitter. I thought Ezra might turn his nose up at this meal but he dug in with his own spoon and ate quite a lot.

steak au poivre with long leek pie - If you read my post from the day after Valentine's Day then you know my special date night dinner didn't go as planned. For one, I didn't realize the steak was folded inside the package and only realized it when I took it out of the pan. Fail. After making the sauce, I practically started over with the steak so the ends were on the tough side, but the majority turned out just fine. Phew. The long leek pie is another story altogether. I thought four sheets of puff pastry sounded like a lot but I generally follow recipes pretty closely the first time around so I went with it. While the edges crisped nicely, the underside was doughy and quite the disappointment. If I made it again I would only use one or two sheets of puff pastry, but the leek and goat cheese topping was delicious.

spaghetti with herbs, chilies, and eggs - This one was super quick and easy, but I did leave out the chilies because I'm lame like that. I was surprised at how much I loved the runny egg yolks with the pasta, which was whole wheat, by the way.

salmon and brussels sprouts with ginger-scallion sauce - A new favorite of mine. I wrote about my usual way to prepare salmon here, but this was a refreshing change and the ginger scallion sauce so good that I completely smothered my salmon and brussels sprouts in it.

swiss chard and cheddar quiche - Thanks to a pre-made pie crust I picked up at Whole Foods, this meal was a cinch to prepare; however, the oven time just about killed Matt who was apparently wasting away. I told him to eat an apple and be quiet. Forty-five minutes later we ate the hot quiche with a salad of red and green leaf lettuce with sliced pink lady apples and a mustard vinaigrette. Very satisfying, although Matt was a bit ravenous so I imagine he would have been satisfied with almost anything.

To satisfy our sweet teeth (tooths?), I made peanut butter and fleur de sel brownies. They disappeared in just three days. What are you cooking this week?