I have great roommates. The best. Not only are they supportive, friendly, wonderful people, but they also feed me on a regular basis. This week in particular was a jackpot in terms of dinner. No, I do not have pictures from many of the meals this week. I was too busy eating them.
On Sunday the Boyfriend made us girls a roasted chicken with pistachio butter and farmer’s market green beans. He brought home pistachio butter and pecan butter (a la peanut butter) from work a while back. The pecan butter I have incorporated into my daily routine as if it were oxygen, but the pistachio butter left us stumped. It was tasty, but too savory for toast and oatmeal. But when Boyfriend smeared it on the chicken and used the leftover butter and drippings from the roast to make a sauce, it was heaven.
3. I did not take a picture because I was too busy, uh, stuffing noodles and beef and sauce into my mouth. Not only is it easy to eat a large bowl of this stuff, but the dish is quite easy to make. The recipe comes from The Ex-Boyfriend Cookbook by Erin Ergenbright and Thisbe Nissen, which is a fun and colorful collection of recipes.
It would make an awesome housewarming present for that cute, artsy friend we all have, the one who makes her own jewelry and whose house is effortlessly chic. The friend you love so much despite the fact that she makes you feel kinda bad about yourself. I also read the introduction and I sort of want to hang out with these girls. They seem funny with a bitter streak — just my type. But I digress…
Basically, buy The Ex-Boyfriend Cookbook. I feel awkward passing out the recipe (I feel like we can’t be friends if I breach copyright laws), but I will tell you that the ingredients list is simple: butter, onion, beef tenderloin, mushrooms, pepper, nutmeg, and sour cream. Hello.
To combat the Monday night’s cream and beef, I went lighter for dinner on Tuesday. Using my farmer’s market zucchini, I made Disappearing Zucchini Orzo from Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Vegetable Miracle. Only it was Disappearing Zucchini Rotini since the supermarket did NOT have orzo but my pantry shelves had rotini. (I’m still bitter about this — what kind of freaking supermarket doesn’t have orzo? Have you no pride? Nothing so super about not having orzo…). The dish, consisting of zucchini, parmesan, thyme and oregano, was yummy enough, but ultimately the purpose of the recipe is to promote using fresh, high-quality ingredients. My zucchini was straight from Saturday’s farmer’s market trip, but my thyme was the dried stuff I have in the cupboard, and the parmesan, while nicer than what I normally buy, was still on the budget-friendly end of the cheese spectrum.
Dinner with Sam Adams:
Whew. I’m full from thinking about all that I ate this week
