Each weekend, Beth Fish Reads hosts Weekend Cooking. This is perfect for me since I love food and cooking almost as much as I love books!I see that it's been a month since I wrote a Weekend Cooking post - that's because we have been busy with an unexpected surgery (successful), a 2-week vacation, a weekend with extended family, and getting ready for the kids to start school next week. Whew. The house is quiet for the moment since I am the only one up, so I want to take advantage of this brief window of me time!
My plan for this week was to make all of my older son's favorite meals before he moves back into the dorms (today) for his sophomore year of college, but he ended up spending the entire week at the beach with his friends! So, we had mainly quick, easy and traditional meals since the week was so hectic. A couple of great dishes stand out, though:One night, I made Grilled Pork Chops with Shallot Butter, a favorite of ours for summertime. The flavors in this simple dish are incredible, thanks to an abundance of fresh herbs, plus finishing the pork chops with a touch of lemony shallot butter - so good! I usually follow the recipe exactly, but this time I subbed fresh parsley and lemon basil for the other herbs, since we had those from our CSA pick-up this week, and it was just as good. On the side, we had some fabulous yellow beans from the farm and a simple cucumber-tomato salad (also made with fresh farm ingredients). Perfect summer meal!
My older son was home for just one dinner this week, on Friday, and since it was his Last Dinner with us for a while, I made one of his all-time favorites, Adobo Flank Steak with Summer Corn and Tomato Relish, another Cooking Light recipe that is packed with flavor. It takes a bit of prep the night before, to make the rub for the steak, but the result is amazing. My son loves the spice in this dish (plus, it's steak - his favorite!), and I love the depth and complexities of the flavor. It's another great meal for a summer evening, made with fresh corn and tomatoes.
So, those were the culinary highlights of our past week. I hope you are enjoying some of those great fresh summer flavors, too!
I'm huge fan of flank steak and of spice rubs, so I'm adding that to my to-try list. I've been missing some of my regular Weekend Cooking visitors, but figured summer was too busy or too hot for much cooking.
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