This Week At Our Table | Week 04

Welcome March and daylight savings this week — one of the most hopeful days of the year, so looking forward to it still being light out after dinner!

Each week I share what we’re planning for dinner — a mix of recipes we love and a few new ones we’re trying. Think of it as a casual look at what’s actually happening in our kitchen, with links to every recipe and little notes along the way.

Salmon with Dill Cream, Roasted Hash Brown's and Green Beans — We'll often pick up a Costco salmon and divide it into two meals before it goes in the freezer. I love bbq'd salmon but Kevin was getting home a little later this night so I oven roasted it with olive oil, s+p. Another Costco pick up and pantry staple here, the hashbrowns that come in the little cartons. Have you had them? My favorite is to hydrate them per directions, and then spread them out on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, s+p and roast them at 425 until they start to brown and get crispy. Seriously the best combo with salmon. It's like a loose take on latkes or potato rosti. We love a maple mustard glaze with salmon but there's maple mustard coming up with the pork chops this week, so I mixed a little dill sauce. Sour cream, milk to thin it and fresh dill, lemon zest, s+p. Drizzle on salmon, hash browns.. all of it! Really easy and added a great flavor.

Pork Chops with Maple Mustard Sauce — I took a bit of inspiration from this recipe but I also have a favorite oven cook for pork chops > Let the pork chops come to room temp on a plate, and while they do let them sit with s+p and a sprinkle of sugar on each side. Heat butter in a cast iron or oven safe pan, let it get all browned and delicious and then give the pork chops a good sear on each side. Pop them in the oven to finish cooking. Here's where the recipe link inspo came in — the mustard sauce. I believe the recipe states to cook the pork with maple on it, but I added it instead to the mustard sauce. I didn't want the pork chops to get that burnt flavor that can sometimes happen when cooking with sugar. I also cut the quantity way down and it was plenty. SO good. Will 100% make this with pork again. I used 2 tbsp butter and flour, 1 cup milk, 1/4 cup cream and then mustard and maple syrup to liking. I omitted the garlic. It was a huge hit, the favour is fantastic.

Pad Kra Pao — this one can be a super quick weeknight meal, great flavor and comes together really quickly. I used this recipe as the base and did a stir fry with snow peas, red peppers and green beans. I tripled the sauce recipe, used a small amount to cook the pork in and then added the rest once the cooked pork + cooked veg came together. Truly a stir fry of any veg you like would be great here, adds a nice crunch and makes the meal just a bit fuller.

Ham and Cheese Stromboli — I grew up in the 90's eating Boston Pizza's ham and chicken stromboli and oh I still think about it! Ha! This stromboli can be done with absolutely any ingredients you like but I kept it really simple with thinly sliced deli ham, mozza cheese, and remember the maple dijon sauce — well I kept the left overs and used it here as the sauce. I'll normally do an alfredo sauce with the ham and cheese but oh was this good! I'll roll mine a little looser than she does in the video so the dough can cook through. Cook at 425 — cover with foil and let it cook and puff up a bit so you know the inside dough is cooked through, then take the foil off and let brown. Add a caesar salad and it's a great dinner. I like to make a quick caesar dressing, here's the recipe if you like to make your own —

Caesar Dressing > 1/8 cup mayo, small individual serving carton of greek yogurt, 1/4 cup of milk, tsp of each Worcestershire sauce, dijon and anchovy paste, a good squeeze of lemon juice, parmesan ( as much as you'd like! ) and s+p.

Stuffed Ricotta Shells with baguette toasts topped with pesto, tomato and mozzarella. These stuffed shells are fun to make ( put the ricotta mixture into a large ziplock and pipe the filling in! ) and so so good. Use any tomato sauce you like, I've gotten in the habit of buying canned Italian tomatoes and throwing them in the Vitamix with olive oil, a hint of sugar and s+p and any Italian spices you like. Toasted baguette slices and a jar of pesto, sliced tomato and mozzarella were a great side.

See you next week! :)