This Hello Fresh recipe wants you to make tacos and serve them half-open and covered in salad and feta. The Kidlet found that form factor kind of hard to eat, but absolutely loved them as burritos and, later, as quesadillas.

We did need considerably more tortillas than it called for, though.

Smoky Lentil Tacos/Quesadillas with Corn & Poblano Peppers

Hello Fresh

Ingredients

• 1½ C dry red lentils
• ½ lb poblano peppers, chopped
• ½ C frozen corn kernels
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 2 tbsp mexican seasoning
• ¼ tsp chipotle powder
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• ½ C worth of vegetable broth concentrate
• ¼ C freshly chopped cilantro
  
• a large quantity of tortillas
• toppings (salad, feta cheese, etc...)
  

Directions

1. Add lentils and enough water to cover by 1" to a medium pot. Cover and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, covered, for 10-12 minutes.
3. Drain, reserving ½C water.
4. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
5. Add the peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender-crisp, ~5 minutes.
   
6. Add the corn and cook until warmed through, 1-2 minutes.
   
7. Season with salt and pepper, and buffer on a plate.
8. Add another 1 tbsp oil, then the onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened.
9. Add garlic, mexican seasoning, and chipotle powder. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, ~30 seconds.
10. Add the cooked lentils, soy sauce, broth concentrate, and reserved water to the pan with the onions. Simmer until sauce thickens.
11. Remove from the heat and roughly mash the lentils with a potato masher. Stir in the cilantro and the corn-pepper mixture, and season with salt and pepper.
12. Serve as tacos or burritos, or add cheddar cheese and turn them into quesadillas.
    

This Cook's Country recipe card was a huge hit! We made a half batch (for the amount of fish we had) and most of it vanished into the Kidlet. It came together really easily, too. As written it calls for salmon, but we had trout and that also worked fine. 

We made a half batch, which was enough for dinner for all of us + leftovers for the Kidlet's lunch the next day. That's the version I've written up, but if you want to scale it back up to the original, just double all quantities.

Pan-Seared Trout with Curried Couscous

Cook's Country, FIXME which issue, recipe card p??

Ingredients

• 180mL vegetable broth
• 15mL olive oil
• 7.5mL Madras Curry Powder
• 120mL instant couscous
• 240mL cooked chickpeas (half a large tin, or 120mL dried)
• 120mL chopped spinach
• 2 (180-220g) skin-on trout filets
• cayenne pepper

Directions

1. Combine broth, oil, and curry powder in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil.
2. Remove from the heat, stir in the couscous, and cover for five minutes.
3. Stir in chickpeas and couscous.
4. Meanwhile, dust the trout with cayenne powder to taste (2.5mL/filet is a good amount) and salt.
5. Cook trout, skin side down, over medium-high heat until the skin is crispy and the fat has rendered, ~7 minutes.
6. Flip over and continue cooking until cooked through, 5-7 minutes.

 We got a bunch of assorted frozen fish recently and have been seeking ways to use them up. symbol noticed this recipe in a recent Cook's Country and we decided to try it out.

It was a huge success. The recipe is written for fish alone and recommends serving it with a side of crusty bread; we served it over linguine, and I've adjusted the recipe accordingly. We both found it delicious and the only reason I didn't go back for seconds is that I'd already filled up on firsts.

This recipe is halved compared to the recipe given in the magazine, since that's how much fish we had. If preparing for more than two people you'll probably want the full-scale recipe. It also suggests skinless halibut, but we made it with skin-on filets and cooked them skin down and it turned out fine.

Halibut Puttanesca

Cook's Country, Oct/Nov 2020, p.15

Ingredients

• 2 (170-225g each) halibut filets
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp freshly ground filter
• ⅛ C olive oil (or oil from the anchovies)
• 1 shallot (or ½ small red onion)
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 oz (30g) anchovies, drained and chopped
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
• 8 oz (220mL) diced tomatoes in their juice
• ¼ C pitted kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
• ⅛ C capers
• ⅛ C parsley
• ½ lb linguine or similar pasta

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Sprinkle halibut with salt and pepper and set aside.
3. Heat oil in a large oven-safe skillet over medium low heat.
4. Add shallot, garlic, anchovies, oregano, and pepper flakes. Cook until fragrant and shallot softens, 4-6 minutes.
5. Add tomatoes, olives, capers, and parsley. Stir to combine.
6. Nestle halibut filets into sauce, skin side down. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
7. Transfer skillet to the oven and bake until fish is cooked through, 15-18 minutes.
8. While the fish is baking, bring some water to a boil and cook the pasta.
9. Serve the pasta topped with halibut and sauce.

I've been deep in the madness place trying working on kitchen renovation stuff lately and haven't exactly been keeping up with the blog(s). I've hit a bit of a lull for the moment though and figured I really should write this up.

This recipe seemed a bit unusual, but it produced delicious results. I do feel that the soy sauce somewhat overpowered the curry powder though. Next time I think I'd try it with just half the quantity of soy sauce. The original recipe calls for 1/4 c., but I think 2 Tbsp. would be plenty!

Seitan Curry Pot Pie

Slightly adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. unsalted butter
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 Granny Smith apple, chopped
• 1 delicata or 1 small butternut squash, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 3-4 carrots, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 small daikon or 6-7 red radishes, trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 medium or 2 small russet (or other floury) potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 250g cremini mushrooms, coarsely chopped
• 6-7 cloves garlic, sliced thin
• 1-2 bay leaves (optional)
• 1 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 2 Tbsp. Madras curry powder
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 2 c. vegetable broth
• 3 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 2 Tbsp. light soy sauce
• 450g seitan, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
• 400g puff pastry
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions

1. Melt butter over medium heat in a 12" braising pan or shallow pot.
2. Add onion and apple and cook for 8-10 minutes.
3. Add squash, carrots, radish, potato, mushrooms, garlic, and bay leaves (if using) and cook for another 12-15 minutes.
4. Add ginger, curry powder, and flour and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
5. Whisk cornstarch into broth until smooth.
6. Add broth mixture to vegetable mixture.
7. Stir in soy sauce.
8. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring frequently until thickened.
9. Add seitan and cilantro and mix well.
10. Set aside to cool for 20-30 minutes.
11. Preheat oven to 220°C (425°F).
12. Roll out pastry to slightly larger dimensions than the pot.
13. Place the pastry over the pot with ~2cm overhang on all sides.
14. Seal the edges and brush with egg.
15. Cut a few slits in the pastry and transfer the whole assembly to the hot oven.
16. Bake at 220°C (425°F) for 18-22 minutes.
17. Reduce temperature to 180°C (350°F) and bake for another 30-45 minutes.