Greek/Asian

Leftover Greek chicken over brown rice, with spinach, a poached egg, and a little toasted pita.

Rice Dish for One

My son got a job in California. My wife is driving with him from Virginia cross-country to the San Francisco Bay area. So, I'm by myself, cooking meals for one. Tonight's dinner was a small bowl of brown rice, topped by sauteed spinach, garlic, and mushrooms, and further topped by a soft poached egg. Light and delicious.

Enchiladas From Mother's Day Leftovers

More from the "what's in the pantry?" file.

Yesterday was Mother's Day. Our big celebration was going out for a fancy brunch with two of our sons, my wife, her Mom, and me; along with two other couples and their grown daughter and sons. We've been doing this with them for about 30 years.

So, Marsha and I were home with our youngest son at dinner time. Boston Market was running a Mother's Day special; plus we had a coupon expiring yesterday.

Today, lots of chicken leftovers. We also had their garlic spinach side dish. There were corn tortillas and scallions in the fridge. Enchiladas for Monday's dinner!

What to use for cheese? Aha, Israeli sheep's milk Kaskaval, ready to be grated. All we needed was sauce, so I picked up a bottle of enchilada sauce at Trader Joe's, the only thing I had to buy.

I softened the tortillas in canola oil, and filled them with a chicken, spinach, scallion, and cheese mix. I spread a little sauce in the baking dish and put in the rolled filled tortillas, topped by more sauce and more cheese. Baked for 20 mins. in the oven at 350° F.

Here's the picture before it went in:

Enchilada casserole done:

On the plate:

Salmon Steamed Over Spinach

Tonight, I steamed a salmon fillet over spinach and onions. I stirred in kalamata olives at the end.

I heated minced garlic in olive oil over medium high heat, until it sizzled. Then, I mixed in a large chopped onion. I seasoned the onion with salt and pepper and sauteed it for five minutes, until the onion was translucent.

I mixed in six cups of seasoned spinach with a quarter cup of water drizzled on top. The salmon fillet (also seasoned) was placed on top of the spinach. I covered the saute pan and lowered the heat slightly. The recipe called for 1.5 lbs of fish, but there were only two of us, so I used 0.65 lbs.

It steamed for 15 minutes, and I checked it for doneness. I stirred a quarter cup of chopped kalamata olives into the spinach and onions, and served it up. We had chocolate-frosted (kosher for Passover) brownies for dessert.

My wife and I both agreed it was delicious. Maybe, I'd cut back on the amount of onion next time.