Friday, July 23, 2010

Getting Started on This Week's Dinners

Looks like fresh corn will be a dominant theme this week, whether it's the 10 ears for $1 deal at Sunflower, or a celebration of the arrival of our own local sweet corn at places like Munson Farm. This weekend has some wacky aspects for me to take into consideration as well, ranging from what needs to be used up in my fridge to some crazy weather: steamy today, cooler and maybe stormier over the weekend.

Starting with today, I hate to be repetitive, but with tortillas in my fridge from the fajitas earlier in the week, and some leftover basil pesto as well from the zucchini, corn and basil fusilli with bacon (oh was that ever good), I'm once again thinking wraps for this hot night, using Mark Bittman's suggestion (number two in the list) to wrap chicken, arugula, and sundried tomatoes in a tortilla brushed with pesto. Alternatively, Whole Foods still has prepared smoked turkey pesto wraps on sale for $4.99 each, and they're pretty big. My wonderful beets from Cure Organic Farm will go on the side, trying a simple recipe from an actual cookbook: cook, peel, and slice the beets then combine gently with 1 cup plain nonfat yogurt, 1 tablespoon low fat sour cream, and three teaspoons of Dijon mustard that have been mixed together.

We have to fit in at least one grilling session over the weekend, even if temperatures will drop and storms will be threatening. All sorts of good choices for the grill, maybe fresh wild salmon from Sprouts or Safeway, top sirloin (ginger-soy grilled steak from Bon Appetit is really good) from Sunflower (only $2.97/lb), or the organic steaks that are 40% off at Sprouts. Corn will find itself on the side, either as whole ears or possible corn and summer vegetable saute from Cooking Light.

Then, again with temperatures dropping well down towards 80, we'll jump on the chance to make another pizza, a rarity in the middle of summer. With chicken parmesan sausage $2.99/lb at Sprouts, we'll turn to a favorite, pizza alla salsiccia (sausage pizza) from Cooking Light. Since we'll use a whole big ball of fresh dough for the base, the toppings need to be adjusted upward to cover a pizza the size of an entire cookie sheet. Since this makes such a huge pizza, it can also do for a quick reheat later in the week, if things get really busy. That's a trick we play all winter with soups, chowders, and casseroles, but those just don't sound as appealing in July.

More thinking to come, undoubtedly incorporating more fresh corn.

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