Midweek Supper
Post Author: Blog Master!by Reine Dugas Bouton
Planning dinner for the middle of the week is always something of a task. For one thing, I’m tired by that point. For another, I’m tired by that point. Oh, I just said that-it must be Wednesday.
The beginning of the week is generally leftovers from Sunday; the end of the week, we seem to go out to dinner often. So, in the middle of the week, I hit a wall. I don’t know what to cook and, moreover, I don’t feel like making the journey to the grocery store, doing major shopping, and cooking a big meal. I know, I’m basically lazy.
It’s always nice, then, to throw together a menu that is tasty and not too complicated. I’m just too darned taxed on Wednesdays to do much else. Tasty is important, though. You don’t want to cook something that’s ‚Äòblah’ just to get through it all. Treating yourself to a delicious meal on a Wednesday evening can help you dash through the rest of your week.
One menu that I like to do on a Wednesday is Emeril’s Roasted Vegetable Salad, Crawfish and Corn Cakes, and Shoofly Pie. The Roasted Vegetable Salad and Shoofly Pie recipes are pretty basic, and I usually have the ingredients at home. They’re both wonderful. For the Crawfish and Corn Cakes, a quick run to the corner market for a handful of items, and I have a delicious main course. The caviar and capers in this recipe add a salty, bubble texture to the cakes. Sometimes, I’ll make the pie the night before-one less thing to do the next day.
With a menu like this, I don’t even mind inviting people over. Only, once when I had friends over, I, in my ignorance, bragged that Shoofly pie was a southern classic. It sounds southern, doesn’t it? Well, as usual, shooting from the hip got me in trouble. One of my friends, Chrissy, was from Pennsylvania and launched into quite a lecture that Shoofly pie is a Pennsylvania Dutch classic, and that there are two theories on its name: one is that the pie, though some call it a cake, like a coffee-cake encrusted in dough, was so sweet, you’d have to shoo the flies away. The other theory is that cooks would put the oh so sweet pie out to draw flies away from other food. I don’t know the truth; all I know is that I’m dumb. Besides the faux pas, though, the meal was delicious, and we had a nice, relaxing time.
Wednesday night. It doesn’t have to be a chore. With a menu like this one, it can actually be something to look forward to.
Filed Under: Food Talk
