Week of 2/1
Sausage, Egg, and Kale Casserole, Thai-inspired Chicken Meatball Soup, Spinach Salad with Roasted Vegetables & Spiced Chickpeas, and Bricklayer-Style Nachos
I hope that everyone enjoyed a super bowl weekend full of great food! Even though there may not have been any parties to attend this year, I still made some great recipes for the game. In addition to those, I also made a Thai-inspired chicken meatball soup that is one of my favorite dishes but hasn’t yet been featured in this newsletter.
Also, one of our recipes this week is a suggestion from a reader! One of my friends from my former life in Austin recommended the egg casserole. If you have any recommendations on what I should try cooking, please don’t hesitate to let me know!
This week I have cooked the following:
Sausage, Egg, and Kale Casserole
I haven’t put together a good egg dish in a while, and I am so glad I decided to make this one. An amazing dish that incorporates the ingredients in the name along with parmesan cheese and tomatoes. The original recipe calls for Fontina, but I couldn’t find any at Trader Joe’s and also worried about the richness of the dish if I added another cheese. I skipped it and didn’t feel like anything was missing. I also used a sweet sausage, it worked well with the other ingredients. Being a fan of spicy foods, I will likely try this again in the near future with spicy sausage instead.
This recipe seems quite versatile, some other easy modifications would be replacing the sausage for mushrooms for a vegetarian version. The kale could easily be swapped for some spinach. Even the red onions could be exchanged for scallions or something else. Try it out with your favorite ingredients and let me know how it goes!
Following the directions as listed produced a ton of servings that will be easy to heat up for breakfast over the next few days.
Recipe: Sausage, Egg, and Kale Casserole
Thai-Inspired Chicken and Meatball Soup
This is my favorite comfort dish. The flavors are interesting. The broth and meatballs are filling. Softened rice textures match well with the caramelization on the meatballs. I always make this with Jasmine rice because the soup broth gets absorbed by the rice and elevates it without the need to flavor the rice with cilantro.
The meatballs involve 4 ingredients which simplifies the recipe, but the 30 minute time assessment on the NYT Cooking website is overly optimistic. This soup also reminds me of one of my favorite restaurants in Austin called “Sway” located on South 1st St. This restaurant is the first place where I tried “Tom Kha Gai”, which is the traditional version of this dish that uses shredded chicken instead of meatballs.
I cannot recommend this dish enough if you are looking for a warm meal on a cold day.
Recipe: Thai-Inspired Chicken and Meatball Soup
Spinach Salad with Roasted Vegetables & Spiced Chickpeas
This is the first dish of two that I cooked for the super bowl. I wanted a light salad to balance out the heavy nacho dish that I was also making. This fits that bill perfectly. The salad has a spinach base, chopped shallots, roasted sweet potatoes, roasted chickpeas, and roasted carrots.
The spiced chickpeas bring back a recipe and a technique from the first issue! I used the recommended chili pepper and cumin mixture to flavor the chickpeas. However, there are lots of other flavor combos that could work well here. Chickpeas are a versatile vehicle if chili powder is too spicy for you.
Of the dish’s components, the salad dressing was the most surprising! It involved greek yogurt, lemon juice, garlic paste, and olive oil. Surprisingly the garlic shines through the tart flavors of yogurt and lemon. Pairing this dressing with spinach is well received and not overwhelming as other dressings might be. Overall, this was easy to make and delicious to eat!
Recipe: Spinach Salad with Roasted Vegetables & Spiced Chickpeas
Bricklayer-Style Nachos
This dish is heavy. It weighs you down after eating it for up to two days. I ate this yesterday, and I am still recovering. You have been warned. That being said, it tastes delicious even if you can’t find all of the perfect ingredients.
I opted to create a homemade fire-roasted salsa instead of buying the canned version. If you have a grill or broiler this is easy and is more rewarding than pulling tomatoes out of the can. I used two jalapenos, but in future iterations, I will experiment with using habaneros, serranos, and other pepper varieties. I used a mixed cheese option from Trader Joe’s, but this is another area where you can get creative.
The only mistake that I made with this dish is that I cooked the sirloin tri-tips for too long. This meant that part of the meat was overcooked instead of tender as hoped. However, the chorizo and bacon were cooked perfectly and make up for it in the dish.
If you are going to make this dish make sure to size it appropriately for the number of servings you need. I made this for 3 people and it resulted in more than 8 servings.
Recipe: Bricklayer-Style Nachos
Week in Review:
Overall, this week was enjoyable to cook, and the majority of the dishes will yield fantastic leftovers. I often cook for my girlfriend and myself so I like to prioritize dishes that will feed us in the future, not just for the current meal. I need to be thinking ahead or I will be cooking every day. The Thai-Inspired meatballs recipe is a great example of a good leftover dish. My egg casserole and the nachos are other great examples. Making additional servings isn’t challenging and the flavors seem to increase over time.
Ratings:
Sausage, Egg, and Kale Casserole: 5/5
Thai-Inspired Chicken Meatball Soup: 5/5
Spinach Salad with Roasted Vegetables & Spiced Chickpeas: 4/5
Bricklayer Style Nachos: 4/5 (May have been 5/5 if the sirloin was cooked properly.)
Thanks for reading! Please share with friends that need recipe inspiration!
Ahhh heck yes! Glad y’all loved the egg casserole!