C. sapidus

Sometimes using up odds and ends leads to a fun meal. We had de-boned Costco chicken, some chipotle en adobo that needed using up, and sad-looking potato rolls. Sauteed and pureed the chipotle with garlic and cumin seed. Mixed with mayo, S&P, and chopped Tony Packo's sweet hot pickles. End result: probably my favorite chicken salad ever (caveat: I rarely have chicken salad, so competition is low 😉).

Cilantro fried rice with steelhead and stir-fried yellow bell pepper, topped with bird chiles in fish sauce. Roasted chile paste and lots of garlic in with the fried rice. Cukes on the side.

Maybe bars should offer a discount if you open a tab. Sounds like it would save everyone money, except the credit card companies.

Parsi soft-scrambled eggs with seared gulf shrimp and sauteed shallot, ginger, garlic, bird chile, ghee, half-and-half, scallions, and cilantro.

For me, minimal prep food includes an omelet, tuna salad, leftovers, or just a can of sardines with hot sauce. Or, as weinoo says, go out for dinner. Hope your ennui is soon on its way. 😉

Dinner was nearly all Mrs. C tonight: Steelhead, seared to remove the skin and then baked. Very simple - just lemon juice, S&P - but very tender. I had mine with some tartar sauce from the other day. Beet and baked rhubarb salad with fried plantains, parsley, shallot, and a dressing of olive oil, pomegranate molasses, and champagne vinegar. I would happily eat that in a restaurant. I had mine with feta cheese. My only contribution was frying the plantains.

Beef curry with spinach. Beef chuck (sub for lamb) was cubed and marinated with pureed ginger, garlic, jalapenos, yogurt, and cumin. Fry black cardamon, cloves, and bay leaf, slowly sautee onions, and then add ground coriander and cumin. Simmer with the meat and marinade, crushed tomato, and tomato paste. When almost done, mix in pureed spinach and sprinkle with ground nutmeg. Tasted better than it looked - I feel like I've been saying that a lot lately. Turmeric rice with black cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon stick, topped with scallions. Sliced and salted cukes.

Zucchini and shrimp with a yogurt and chipotle sauce. Separately seared and removed shrimp and cubed zucchini. Sauteed onions to deglaze the pan, then added cumin seed, garlic, fish sauce, and minced chipotle in adobo. Mixed in yogurt to tame the heat, and finished with Mexican oregano. Kind of a Mexican yogurt curry.

Papas chirrionas (potatoes with pasilla chile sauce). Toast pasilla chiles and blend with chipotle in adobo and crushed tomato (sub for tomate verde). Cube, boil, and fry potatoes, add sliced onion and garlic, and then add the blended sauce and cook down. Finish with Mexican oregano and feta cheese, and serve on corn tortillas. Send-off breakfast for elder son, who is on his way to the airport.

Elder son requested grilled five-spice chicken for his last dinner. Drumsticks were slashed and marinated with ginger, garlic, 5-spice powder, turmeric, soy sauce, oil, and toasted and ground star anise. Somewhat over-enthusiastically grilled over charcoal, but stayed nice and juicy after resting. Since I had the grill going, I quickly marinated zucchini with fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, oil, salt, and black pepper

No, look what YOU made ME do . . . also jumbo lump. To be fair, elder son was visiting . . .

Hacked-up omelet with bay scallop, white onion, and long red chile. Plain for elder son, who is visiting. Topped with feta for me. Fried plantains, burned black like Mrs. C prefers. Tasted, as they say, better than it looked.

I suppose I should call this "zucchini-enhanced crab dip". Zucchini - cubed, salted, rested, seared, and removed. Sauteed chorizo, shallot, jalapeno and bird chiles. Mixed in the zucchini and leftover crab dip. Tasty, but still pretty heavy.

Heading back from Havre de Grace, MD, so I had to stop for crabcakes at Conrad's Crabs and Seafood Market. The fresh seafood looked amazing, wish I had brought a cooler. Crabcakes with mustardy tartar sauce. Good, but maybe I should have splurged for the jumbo over backfin. Crab dip - very rich, this would have been better for sharing

I am so glad that you are home and recovering well enough to cook up some delicious meals.