5 THINGS YOU CAN DO THIS WEEKEND TO MAKE MEALS A BREEZE NEXT WEEK
Forward thinking. Well-planned. Squared away. Call it what you will, but a little bit of concentrated effort can make life a whole lot easier down the road. That principle is especially true with cooking. Which is why we deliberately start the week of Nourish Weekly Menus on Sunday. We use that extra little bit of “leisure” to make helpful components you’ll use as building blocks throughout the week. Fast-fixes like vinaigrettes and sauteed greens along along with those that go at a slower pace, like lentils, beans, homemade stock or a long-simmered braise. Besides, being in the kitchen fits right in with how a Sunday should feel. Page 1
Simplest Roast Chicken (recipe on page 15)
No-Knead Rosemary-Olive Loaf
Are you ready?
Here are five things you can do this weekend to make dinners (and breakfasts and lunches) a breeze next week.
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1Make a Vinaigrette
You’ll be stunned by how simple homemade vinaigrette is to make once you’ve got the “jar” technique down. And amazed by how enticing a salad can be when you’ve got a jar of vinaigrette in the fridge. My friend Honore turned me on to making vinaigrette in a jar long ago and I’ve never looked back. I shake together a big batch in the beginning of the week and keep it in the fridge to have on-hand. Here are two of my favorites.
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Mustard-Shallot Vinaigrette
This is a French-inspired vinaigrette that I love to use for hearty, rustic salads. • 1/4 cup minced shallot • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil • 1/4 cup white wine vinegar • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Go-To Vinaigrette
People are often shocked when they see how easy it is to make homemade vinaigrette. Feel free to experiment with the ingredients using these general ratios. Try swapping the garlic and white wine vinegar for shallots and champagne vinegar, for instance, or even ginger and rice wine vinegar. • 1 clove garlic, minced • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil • 2 tablespoons lemon juice • 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar • Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Instructions for both: Shake ingredients together in a tight-sealing jar. Refrigerate for up to 5 days. serves 4-6
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Make a Batch of Whole Grains
Bulgur is my go-to grain at the moment. I love how it cooks up super quick and has both a toothsomeness to make you take notice and a neutrality quality that makes it ridiculously versatile. I’ll cook up a ginormous batch and use some as a side dish with, say, lamb. Then I’ll use it as a base for throw-together lunch salads all week made up, you guessed it, of the other four make-ahead musts I have in my fridge. And if I have any leftover, I’ll treat myself to dessert at the end of the week. Other grains that are great to have on hand are quinoa, oats, farro and wheat berries Page 7
serves 4
• 1/2 cup water • 1/2 cup bulgur, fine or medium • 2 cups plums, pitted, halved and thinly sliced crosswise • 2 tablespoons sugar • 1/4 cup orange juice • 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch • 1/4 teaspoon almond extract • 2 cups lowfat vanilla yogurt • 1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted
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Plum Parfaits with Bulgur and Vanilla Yogurt
Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Stir in bulgur, turn off heat, cover and let sit for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
Stir together plums, sugar, orange juice and cornstarch in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for 4-5 minutes, until thickened slightly. Stir in almond extract. In each of 4 small, tall glasses, layer a third of the yogurt, plums and almonds. Add a layer of half the bulgur, then repeat with half the remaining yogurt, plums and almonds. Finish with a final layer of bulgur, yogurt, plums and almonds.
Bulgur cooks up super-fast in just 10 minutes. Make a double batch for lunches, dinners ... and desserts ... throughout the week.
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Really Easy Roasted Ratatouille
• 2 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped • 2 large bell peppers, cut into 1/4-inch slices (use red, green, orange, yellow or a combination) • 2 Japanese or 1 medium Italian eggplant, cut into 1-inch cubes
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Combine first 6 ingredients in a roasting pan. Add thyme, oil, vinegar, salt and black pepper; toss with your hands to combine. Spread vegetable mixture into an even layer. Roast for 40 minutes or until vegetables are very tender, stirring after 20 minutes. Transfer to a serving dish, and garnish with basil.
• 1 medium zucchini, cut into 3-x-1/4inch slices • 1 medium onion, thinly vertically sliced • 2 garlic cloves, minced • 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme • 3 tablespoons olive oil • 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar OR fresh lemon juice • Sea salt, to taste • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste • 1/4 cup thinly sliced basil (chiffonade) Page 9
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The possibilities are endless! Serve the ratatouille hot, at room temperature or cold as a side dish, tossed with pasta, atop pizza or grilled bread, or even tucked into a quesadilla.
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Roast (or Grill) Some Vegetables
In winter, it’s root veggies. In spring, asparagus virtually live in our fridge. In summer, it’s some sort of variation on a ratatouille. Whatever the form, cooked veggies are a HUGE help in a busy kitchen. Need a quick nibble before dinner? Pile some on toasted baguette slices. Want to pull together a quick dinner? Toss some with cooked pasta and a paste of mashed garlic and olive oil. Looking for an easy lunch? Mix them with some bulgur and vinaigrette (because I know you have those on hand).
serves 6-8
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Make a Batch of Lentils
I call these All-Purpose Lentils the “little black dress� of legumes, because they go with just about anything: as a side dish or an addition to a salad, or quickly pureed into a spread or a soup. Nutritionally, they a great source of protein. I love dotting a bowl of whole grains with them, or tossing a cup or two into a salad with a nice, tart vinaigrette.
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serves 4
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All-Purpose Lentils
• 1 cup Lentilles du Puy (or sprouted green lentils) • 1 tablespoon olive oil • 1 cup carrot, peeled and finely diced • 1/2 cup onion, finely diced • 1/2 cup celery, finely diced • 1/2 cup green pepper, finely diced • 3 cloves garlic, minced • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar • 1 tablespoon honey • Sea salt and freshly ground black
Place lentils in a medium saucepan and cover with 2 inches of cold water. Bring to a lively simmer and cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Strain and return to pot.
In the meantime, heat the oil in a medium sauté pan over mediumhigh heat and sauté carrot, onion, celery, green bell pepper and garlic for 5-8 minutes, until deep golden brown but not mushy. Stir into lentils with vinegar, honey, salt and black pepper and up to a quarter cup of juice from any meat or poultry being served with the lentils (like duck). Cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes to marry flavors. Serve warm or cold.
pepper
If you’re serving these with roast poultry or meat, feel free to mix in any extra juices.
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Roast a Chicken
I like roasting a chicken on Sunday or Monday night and using it throughout the week: in pull together salads using the rest of the components I’ve made, in sandwiches, in fancier salads where they take the lead. It’s like a week’s worth of meals for 5 minutes of hands-on prep and an hour of savory wafts of goodness. Not bad!
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serves 4
• 1 (3-1/2 pound) good-quality chicken (take this to mean what you like: free-range, locally-raised, organic . . . just preferably not a brine-injected, mass-produced one) • Sea salt and freshly ground pepper • 8 thyme sprigs • 1 lemon, halved lengthwise
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
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Simplest Roast Chicken
Gently work your fingertips under the breast, leg and thigh, and rub meat with salt and pepper (I like to fill a separate little ramekin with a mix of salt and pepper to do this so I don’t get my pepper grinder all chickeny). Sprinkle more salt and pepper on top of skin and in cavity. Stuff the thyme sprigs under the skin and the lemon halves into the cavity. Roast on a v-rack in a roasting pan, breast side up, for 60-75 minutes, until the legs pull away easily and the juices run clear. Let chicken stand at room temperature for 15 minutes (tent it with foil to keep it warm) before carving.
I’ll admit it: I’m a lazy chicken roaster. I like to pop it in the oven and not think about it again (aside from swooning over the scent) until the timer goes off for good. And good—very good—is what we’ve found this bird to be.
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12 THINGS YOU CAN MAKE WITH WHAT YOU’VE GOT ON HAND 1. Quick Lentil Soup
7. Veggie, Lentil and Bulgur “Burgers”
2. Greek Chicken Salad
8. Chicken Salad with Lentils, Bulgur and Veggies tossed with Vinaigrette
3. Roasted Veggie Crostini with Goat Cheese 4. Bulgur Salad with Lentils, Roasted Veggies, Shredded Chicken and Vinaigrette 5. Chicken Quesadilla with Smashed Roasted Veggies 6. Roasted Veggie Frittata with a Bit of Bulgur Page 15
9. Grilled Marinated Halibut on a bed of Lentils 10. Veggie-Lentil “Hash” with a Fried Egg 11. Breakfast Bulgur with Yogurt, Honey Fruit and Nuts 12. Lamb and Blugur Meatballs with Smashed Veggie “Pancakes”
See ... that was easy, wasn’t it?
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AND WHILE WE’RE COUNTING ... HERE ARE 7 REASONS WE THINK YOU’LL (HEART) NOURISH WEEKLY MENUS
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It’s just what you need | Other menu services give breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. We don’t. The majority of people struggle most with getting dinner on the table Monday through Thursday, so that’s what we focus on. We carefully craft the week, using Sunday as a launching pad for making foods do double duty—saving you time and cutting down on waste. (You can enjoy some tasty leftovers for lunch, too!)
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It’s designed for weeknights | Most of the weeknight recipes are on the table in 30 minutes or less … many with just a few minutes of hands-on prep. We also don’t assume you have a staff of sous chefs and dishwashers on hand (we don’t), so we think about things like streamlining steps and using as few pans as possible when we develop our recipes.
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We believe whole foods can be “fast food” too | We don’t take shortcuts with processed ingredients, because they often end up sabotaging with sodium, fillers, calories and fat that you wouldn’t put there on your own. Instead, we focus on seasonal vegetables, whole grains, and sustainably-sourced meat, poultry and seafood, along with smart strategies for making them “fast food” on a weeknight.
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We balance your plate | A big part of a nourishing lifestyle is a balanced plate. You get to feel great that you’re serving a meal with all the right proportions (and portions!)
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You can trust you’re getting sustainable choices | We don’t dictate your priorities, but we do steer you towards sustainable choices. All of the seafood we feature in our nourishing menus, for instance, are sustainable picks, and we use much less meat than traditional menu services.
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You’ll get really, really scrumptious recipes | This ain’t a “boiled carrots and baked chicken” type of menu service (you know what I mean). We’re talking delectable, scrumptious, nourishing recipes developed by me and Alison, two veterans of Cooking Light magazine. PLUS, gorgeous photos and eye-candy layouts that will get your whole family excited about the week.
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We give you tools you can really use | We asked a LOT of questions when we were developing Nourish Weekly Menus which allowed us to create a delivery system that really works. At-a-glance icons, step-bystep guides and links to relevant information and tips all make it entirely doable to get nourishing meals on the table five nights a week.
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WOULD YOU LIKE TO GIVE NOURISH WEEKLY MENUS A TRY? Sign up on the Nourish Network website and enter NWMLAUNCH as the coupon code for a special discount!
I HOPE YOU ENJOYED OUR E-BOOK. GO BE NOURISHED!