It looks like in just about a week we’ll be able to EAT OUT! Go to the PUB! Have friends round! It sounds like a fairy tale after these months of solitude and pasta. A respite from everyday washing up and dinners of what you can’t cook very well.
But we’re wary and rightly so – the virus unlike most of the population is not obedient to government say-so. The fact that infection rates are going down doesn’t mean they can’t jump up again as we can see elsewhere in the world, so – are we going to be safe? How will those abruptly shrunken distancing measures going to be implemented by restaurants who need to maximise covers? Table service in pubs – that will be a laugh. Sanitiser as amuse bouche, masked waiters, limited menu options – apart from safety, is it even going to be enjoyable?
To be seen – and for the present week, it’s still lentils and seclusion. The former is not such a bad thing, especially in the spicy cheesy baked version. Baked dinners have something going for them even if you think it’s too hot to have the oven on, because it’s better than flipping things in a hot frying pan and there’s usually less washing up. So here’s also baked rice with brown shrimp you might fancy, or oven baked Korean BBQ meatballs – those will be awesome with kimchi-style fermented red cabbage. More salads on the side please: crunchy cabbage or courgette ribbons.
If you’d like to stick to just a salad for dinner and not bother much with ovens and hobs, how about pear pumpkin and haloumi salad? Or chicken and melon with feta cheese? No-recipe hack for feta salad topping: crumble it on an oiled tray, sprinkle with herbs of your fancy and bake in hot oven for 15 minutes until browned and crispened. There was supposed to be no oven? Oh but this is worth turning it on.
An easy everyday idea: crispy ginger beef noodles. Something fancy – scallops Thermidor. In between – turkey or veal scaloppine al vino bianco. And don’t forget desserts: if ice cream from last week’s What To Cook is all gone, make blueberry parfait. If you’re a keen baker no matter how hot it is, bake the strawberry yoghurt cake or the redcurrant sponge. Plenty more to choose from in the content pages and new recipes will flow into your inbox via newsletter if you subscribe. Stay safe and keep cool!