dinner – Page 2 – Cooking the Books

November 14, 2020

That’s amore

It’s been an eventful few weeks around here, and well, around the country.

While so much is so awful, it’s important to celebrate the good things as best we can. So, this Tuesday, to take a moment to enjoy our anniversary, my sweetie and I poured some good wine and I made a very simple, not very classy pizza supreme dip.

We listened to music while it came together in minutes on the stove top, and then while I tried not to over-broil the cheese on top. We enjoyed it with bagel chips, because then you can have pizza anytime.

Chances are good that if this were a normal year, we would have done something similarly simple. However, I think in these circumstances, and after the year we’ve had, it took on an extra significance of enjoying those things we can.

Pizza dip and zinfandel might not be everyone’s ideal anniversary dinner, but it suited us, and it’s part of why we suit each other.

Here’s to our 8 happy years, even in tough times, and here’s hoping for many more.

Here’s what I did, mostly following a Better Homes & Gardens recipe:

Ingredients

8 to 10 oz. bulk Italian sausage (I used fake sausage crumbles that came in a 10 oz. bag)
1 small onion, chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (15 oz.) can pizza sauce
1 c. pepperoni pieces, chopped or sliced
1 small can sliced black olives
1 c. Italian cheese mix, shredded
Bagel chips or baguette-style bread slices, for serving

Directions

Preheat broiler.

In a seasoned or greased 9-inch cast iron skillet, cook the sausage, onion, and green pepper, until sausage is browned. (Since I used fake sausage, I didn’t need to worry about breaking up the meat as it cooked nor draining the fat, but if you use real sausage, you may need to do those things.)

Stir in the pepperoni, pizza sauce, and olives. Continue to cook over medium heat until the mixture is bubbly and warm, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, and sprinkle with the shredded cheese.

Broil the mixture for 2 to 3 minutes about 3 to 4 inches from the broiler, or until the cheese just starts to brown (and looks like a lovely supreme pizza). Let cool very slightly, and enjoy with bagel chips and/or bread!

October 30, 2020

It’s my birthday and I’ll geek out if I want to

I recently finished a wonderful YA novel called “Wicked Fox” by Kat Cho. One of my favorite things about it, though, for this foodie at heart, is the descriptions of Seoul food. Thanks to the glossary at the back, I got an even deeper description of each food item and have been making them in the weeks since.

I’m not too proud to admit that the kitchy date night dinner of corn dogs with fried potatoes caught my attention as much as the more traditional fare. Part of the appeal was figuring out exactly how it worked; then, once I knew, another part of the appeal was a whole new way to eat hot dogs surrounded by fried stuff.

There were not many recipes available from my usual sources. Even the (amazing) site I found to make the other traditional South Korean recipes didn’t include this more modern, more urban item. Thankfully, there’s YouTube.

The wonderful Aaron and Claire came through with several recipes, including one that was what I suspected the author was going for based on some additional research.

Now, the first thing to know is that these are not actually made with cornmeal, and that’s important because when the recipe says to roll the fried dough in sugar, it is slightly less unusual than it seems to American tastes. Since the dough more closely resembles bread than the sweeter corn batter, the sugar mostly just makes it taste more like American ideas of corn batter; that said, as a person who’s OK with slightly less sweet things, I tried them both ways and was totally fine without adding sugar.

I also found that I personally liked the way described in the video that skips the fried potatoes and instead uses a mix of panko and dried parsley as a coating. The crunch does it for me, but I also enjoyed the novelty of fried potatoes and “corn” dogs in the same dish.

While I mostly followed the recipes, one concession I did make is that since I wanted to sneak this into my small skillet recipes and recommend Cho’s book (not just for its Korean food items), I didn’t make them on sticks but instead cut the hot dogs and cheese sticks (!!) in half so I could try more variations and have them fit.

Here’s what I did, with the link to the direct Aaron and Claire YouTube video provided because I loved the descriptions:

Ingredients

~6 hot dogs, halved
~4 mozzarella cheese sticks, halved (and preferably frozen for about 10 minutes before cooking)
~1 to 1 ½ c. frozen potato cubes, if assortment preferred
~1 ½ c. panko
2 to 3 T. dried parsley
1 ⅔ c. (400 g) bread flour
½ c. (60 g) sugar, plus more for coating
2 ½ t. (10 g) salt
2 ¼ t. (8 g) active dried yeast
1 ¼ c. (300 ml) warm water
Oil, for frying
Ketchup, for serving
Mustard, for serving

Directions

In a large bowl, mix together the bread flour, sugar, and salt. Stir to combine. In a small bowl, mix together the yeast and warm water, and let sit about 5 minutes, and then pour into the dry mixture until a sticky dough forms, adding more water if necessary.

Let the dough rise in a cool, dry place for about 2 hours.

After the 2 hours passes, mix together the panko and parsley on a plate. If using, place the frozen potatoes on a plate. If using (and recommended), place a little bit (~½ c. additional) of sugar on a small plate to coat the fried food.

Heat up oil in a 9 in. cast iron skillet (or whatever) until it reaches about 275 degrees.

Use your hands (or corn dog sticks, if you have them) to wrap the hot dog pieces and cheese stick halves, individually, in the dough. This is where it really helps to have seen the video to get a good idea of how to wrap the dogs and cheese sticks, but I also feel like after you do it a couple times, there’s not too many ways to catch the dough to wrap it around the meat and cheese.

Once dog/cheese is covered in dough, coat it in the panko or the potato or leave plain to your heart’s desire. Then, fry it for three to five minutes until nice and golden. Place on a paper towel to drain excess oil, and then coat in sugar before serving

Repeat with remaining items, and using the coatings as desired.

Drizzle with ketchup and mustard before serving, or use for dipping, and enjoy!

October 19, 2020

Hearty beefy pie for a fall night

Sometimes, you just need an easy homemade dinner. Especially when you already took a week off from blogging. So, when I saw this beef pie recipe used mostly frozen vegetables, saving on chopping, I couldn’t resist.

Plus, the dough — which the recipe says can be store-bought, but after a year of making pies, I just don’t trust any dough but my own — only goes on top so it’s less work and less baking time.

Oh, and did I mention there was beer?! And not just any beer but a Guinness!

The only problem with the recipe was its calling for mushrooms, but that was easily mended by replacing it with carrots, which was the only thing I ended up chopping. And frankly, since the meal nearly overflowed its container as is, even though it called for a 9-inch skillet, the carrot could be skipped.

Otherwise, it was everything that it advertised. Simple. Tasty. Hearty.

Sometimes, you can’t ask for more than that.

“X” marks the spot where there’s a very delicious meat pie filling underneath a yummy buttery crust.

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

1 T. olive oil
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 carrot, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
3 T. tomato paste
1 c. frozen pearl onions
2 t. thyme
3 T. all-purpose flour
8 oz. Guinness
1 c. frozen butternut squash pieces
1 c. frozen peas
1 pie crust, store-bought or homemade and chilled
1 large egg, beaten

Directions

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a 9-inch skillet on the stove top over medium heat. Add the beef, carrots, and salt and pepper, to taste, and cook, breaking up the beef with a spoon until browned, about 6 minutes. Add the tomato paste, and cook for another 2 minutes. Stir in the onions, and thyme, and then sprinkle with flour, stirring, for about 30 seconds.

Add the stout and simmer until the liquid has thickened, about 1 minute. Add ½ c. water and bring to a simmer. Add the squash and peas, return to a simmer, and then remove from heat. The dish will be fairly full, but it’ll make a nice hearty pie.

Roll out, or unroll if using store bought, the pastry dough into about a 10- to 12-inch round, and place on top of the still-hot filling, tucking in the remainder of the dough around the edges. Cut an “X” in the middle, and brush with egg.

Bake in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes until the crust is golden. Let rest for about 5 minutes, and then enjoy!

October 4, 2020

The trashiest, tastiest toastie

This week’s recipe partially feels like a cheat. After all, it’s just a grilled cheese sandwich with a few extras.

But it’s been a long year and I needed some comfort food. Besides, it *is* made with a few additions that make it at least a little unlike any grilled cheese I’ve made before, starting with coating the outside in mayonnaise.

Before I get to any additional weirdness, though, I want to explain how I came to make this recipe to begin with. It’s a fun story time, I promise.

I came across a click-baity article a couple months ago that was about the kind of conspiracy theory I can get behind, one that is quite harmless and mostly meaningless. That is, the theory that the Nando’s brand medium peri peri sauce is in fact spicier than its hot variety. I’ve long been a fan of peri peri sauce, as it’s a not-too-hot hot sauce for my tastes and its extremely flavorful beyond just spicy. And Nando’s is the brand I typically buy.

So, I went ahead and bought a bottle of both and conducted a taste test with some quite tasty chicken wings. My sweetie, who had not seen which was which when I placed it on the plate, was fooled into thinking the medium was the hot sauce. While I could not likewise do a blind taste test, I shared his opinion.

The wings, however, did not use up all the sauce and we had two bottles (actually four, because I also sampled some other varieties) in our fridge, looking for an excuse to be used. So, I perused the recipe booklet that came with the bottles and couldn’t resist the toastie (read: grilled cheese) recipe. It had chicken, peri peri, cheese, and then was supposed to be coated in peri peri-based mayonnaise; while I didn’t have the Nando’s brand mayonnaise, I did have some powdered peri peri lying around, so I mixed it together with mayonnaise.

The result was more or less what I expected: spicy grilled cheese with chicken. And a lot of filling for two sammies. Which means, it was a frickin’ delight!

The mayonnaise cooked the outside a little too well, but I should have turned the stove down when the first side came up a bit blackened. Otherwise, though, I loved every unhealthy bite.

Slightly burnt but the tastiest toastie I’ve ever made.

Here’s what I did, following the booklet recipe other than faking the “perinaise”:

Ingredients

1 ½ c. cooked chicken, cubed or shredded
1 ½ c. shredded sharp cheddar
½ c. peri peri sauce (whichever level of spice you prefer, but remember, the medium may be hotter!)
¼ mayonnaise
Peri peri powder, to taste (optional)
4 slices of bread
Vegetable oil

Directions

In a medium bowl, mix together the chicken, cheese, and peri peri sauce. In a small bowl, stir together the mayonnaise and peri peri powder, if using.

Spread the chicken and cheese mixture over two slices of bread. Top with the remaining two slices of bread.

Spread the ½ the mayonnaise mixture on one side of the top of both bread slices.

Heat a 9-inch skillet over medium to medium-low heat. Add a splash of vegetable oil.

Place one sandwich, mayonnaise side down, and spread half the remaining mayonnaise on the top of the bread in the skillet while it cooks. Cook for 2 ½ to 3 minutes until golden, and adjust temperature as needed. Once golden, flip the toastie and cook on the other side for another 2 ½ to 3 minutes until golden and the center is warmed and melty.

Repeat the process with the remaining sandwich, using up the rest of the mayonnaise to coat the last bare slice of bread, and enjoy with a healthy salad to counterbalance this delectable dinner!

September 26, 2020

Herby quinoa makes for quick, tasty dinner

This week’s recipe, I regret to say, sat unused for years in my binder full of recipes. I feel extra bad about that, though I have several unmade recipes ripped from magazines in the binder, because this one came hand-written from my mother.

Even in the era of the Internet where she has shared several recipes with me via email, this one came to me hand-written. I’m not even sure when I got it or why (other than that it’s tasty), or why I never made it.

However, my sweetie recently purchased quinoa for a vegetarian stuffed pepper recipe I mentioned recently, and so we had some extra sitting around, ready to be used. Enter my mom’s herby quinoa recipe.

Her recipe called to be made in a saucepan, but it was a small enough meal, enough for four servings, that it fit easily in my 9-inch Le Creuset.

It was incredibly simple, and incredibly tasty, and I feel incredibly stupid for waiting so long to make it.

While it does have bacon in it, it’s otherwise pretty healthy. Welcome after last week’s indulgence. The grain, herbs, some toasted almonds, with some bacon, and voila, a tasty weeknight meal is made.

Here’s what I did, following Mom’s recipe … though she forgot to specify the amount of broth so I had to wing that part and it took slightly longer to cook than her recipe said:

Ingredients

½ c. slivered almonds
1 t. vegetable oil
4 slices of bacon (her recipe called for two thick pieces, I had thin stuff so I doubled it), ¼ in. dice
1 small shallot, diced
1 c. quinoa, rinsed
2 c. vegetable or chicken broth
2 sage sprigs (hers called for 1, but I am a sucker for herbs)
1 T. minced chives
1 T. chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread almonds in pie plate and toast in the oven until golden brown. Let cool.

In a 9- to 10-inch skillet, heat oil, add bacon, and cook until fat has rendered, about 2 minutes. Add the shallot and cook stirring a few times, until the shallot has softened but not browned. Add the quinoa, stock, and sage, and bring to a boil.

Cover and cook over low heat until the stock has been absorbed, 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Discard the sage stems, fluff the quinoa with a fork. Stir in the chives, parsley, and toasted almonds. Season with salt and pepper, and enjoy!

September 12, 2020

Savoring creamy salmon piccata

The first time I tasted chicken piccata was pretty much life-altering. I can’t say definitively that it was *the* recipe that made me want to up my cooking game, but it was pretty close.

I was living in rural North Dakota — before the oil boom — and there weren’t a lot of restaurant options; plus, I didn’t have a lot of money to eat out all the time (still don’t, in fact!). At the same time, there are only so many times you can cycle through the same handful of items you know how to make before you start looking for something, anything new.

At some point along that journey, I discovered the magical combination of flavors that make up a piccata: tart lemons, salty bursts of capers, a slight creaminess from butter, and the savoriness from a simple sauce mostly made of broth and wine. The plain-ish chicken breasts are just the perfect vehicle to enjoy the rest of the tastes on your tongue.

I like this classic dish so much, I made it into a trashy casserole that I like enough to have made multiple times.

So, as soon as I saw a recipe for a salmon piccata, my interest was piqued.

Unfortunately, the first two, yes TWO, recipes I came across for it had no exact measurements. Now, I’m not a super stickler for precision when I’m making dinner and not, say, a bread, but it helps to know a rough amount to ensure you end up with a sauce and not a soup.

I started Googling and found what turned out to be quite a few salmon piccata recipes. I found one that mostly suited my needs from a blog felicitously named Grateful that seemed similar to a handful of others I found, if not exact, so I mixed and matched a couple other ideas from other blogs to come up with what worked for me.

And well, since it met my tastes, I loved it. I served it with a side of orzo but any grain or pasta would make a great bed for this delicious — and extra creamy — sauce.

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

2 T. olive oil
12 to 16 oz. skinless salmon filets
½ to 1 c. flour for dredging
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 T. garlic, minced
¾ c. plus 2 T. vegetable or chicken broth, divided
½ c. dry white wine
2 t. cornstarch
½ c. heavy cream
Juice from half a lemon, plus slices for serving
1 T. butter
2 T. minced fresh dill
2 ½ T. capers, rinsed
2 T. minced fresh parsley

Directions

Heat a 9- to 10-inch skillet nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 1 T. olive oil.

Dab the salmon dry with paper towels. Dredge through the flour, seasoned with salt and pepper, and then place in skillet. Sear until bottom is golden brown, about 4 minutes. Carefully flip the fillets and then continue to cook until cooked through, about 2 to 3 minutes longer.

Transfer the salmon to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.

Add the remaining olive oil and add garlic, sauteing until just brown, about 20 seconds. Pour in the broth, minus the 2 T., and wine and let simmer until broth is reduced by half, about 4 to 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix the cornstarch with the 2 T. remaining broth, and then pour mixture into the reduced broth mixture and cook until thickened, stirring often, about 1 minute.

Stir in the cream, lemon juice, butter, and dill. Remove from heat and return salmon to the skillet. Spoon the sauce over the salmon fillets, and then sprinkle with capers and parsley. Serve with a small pasta, such as orzo, maybe some white wine, and enjoy!

August 21, 2020August 21, 2020

Homemade beanie weenies, yes please-y

It was a close thing when our power was out after the derecho that I almost made this week’s recipe of homemade beanie weenies hobo-style on a campfire. My sweetie rightfully reasoned, however, that the canned food would keep; the hot dogs and other freezer meat wouldn’t.

We had the campfire (read: firepit) going and were T-minus about 20 minutes from having a meat feast when the branches were removed from our power lines and the refrigerator started running again. Many people haven’t been as lucky.

While I was slightly bummed I was spared from making this on open flame, especially since the recipe even called for a campfire dinner, I must admit that it was nice to have the power back, the ability to control the temperature on the stove, and use my fancy Le Creuset and not worry about ruining its beautiful lilac finish. So, I opted for an indoor dinner. Plus, fewer biting bugs were a bonus!

What I found is not only a delicious, if sorta trashy, meal but also my favorite baked beans recipe to date.

The meal, while it worked perfect for the little skillet, did not leave any room for leftovers, and was rather hot dog-y. However, I am considering doubling it up, so I can have a better beans to hot dogs ratio, and just more of these yummy beans.

The recipe was adapted from a Country Living recipe that just called for beans but had hot dogs with buns as part of the meal. Me, I saw hot dogs and beans and immediately knew I needed homemade beanie weenies. Frankly (pun most definitely intended), if we didn’t like it so much, there may have been leftovers.

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

1 T. olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
15 oz. can small white beans, drained and rinsed
15 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. molasses
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 t. red wine vinegar
2 t. Worcestershire sauce
6 hot dogs, cooked and sliced (I cooked them in oil in the Le Creuset before cooking the beans, but you can cook the hot dogs however you prefer)

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a 9- to 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until tender, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the beans, tomatoes, garlic, molasses, and salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Reduce heat to low and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes break down. (I covered the skillet for part of the time to reserve some sauce, but I don’t think it was as necessary as I assumed it might be.)

Add the hot dogs, and cook for another 5 minutes or so until the hot dogs are reheated and the flavors have slightly combined.

Remove from heat. Stir in the vinegar and Worcestershire sauce, and enjoy!

August 14, 2020

Shelf-stability a plus for three-ingredient dinner

Well, this was a trying week, after weeks of trying weeks. My 2020 Bingo card did not have my first derecho on it, and it was not a welcome addition.

However, at this point, with no loss of life nor limb, no property destroyed, few groceries lost, and power restored, it’s quite easy for me to feel grateful for this week. Plus, I had so much unexpected free time to binge through my favorite lesbian necromancer fantasy series.

For those still suffering through the fallout from the storm, my thoughts are with you.

This week has also given me a new appreciation for having shelf-stable items in our pantry. Before the pandemic, I wasn’t a survivalist, and I am still not there yet, but I have been thinking more about being adaptable and having on-hand items that will keep. That’s part of what made this week’s recipe of three-ingredient (plus salt, optional) mac & cheese from Serious Eats such a draw.

It’s quick, it’s easy, and two of the three ingredients will last a very, very long time, and one will merely last a long time and is pretty easily replaced. Just keep some macaroni, or other small pasta, and some evaporated milk on your shelf, and some cheese in your fridge, and you’ll almost always have a dinner that takes just 10 minutes to make.

It is great.

Since I wanted to make it in my 9-inch skillet, I could only use half of the evaporated milk — which is as the recipe called for — but if you really wanted to double it, I’m sure it’d work in a larger skillet or Dutch oven.

The proportions are pretty easy to remember (though it helps to have a scale) as it’s 6 oz. each of the evaporated milk, dry pasta, and cheese, and a pinch of salt, plus some water to cover the pasta. The evaporated milk, for us, came in a 12 oz. can, so doubling would I assume/hope come up with 12 oz. of each, but only the 6 oz. amounts will fit in a 9-inch skillet.

Plus, since I made it twice, I did learn that you can either buy a block of cheddar (or other cheese) or buy pre-shredded cheese, and both work just as well. Though I only played with sharp cheddar, it does say you can use any other cheese that would melt down well.

It’s nothing fancy, obviously, but these days, simple and shelf-stable are so welcome.

Here’s what I did, following the recipe:

Ingredients

6 oz. evaporated milk
6 oz. shredded cheddar
6 oz. dry macaroni pasta
Pinch of salt, for boiling, optional
Pepper, for serving, optional
Water, to cover the pasta

Directions

In a 9- to 10-inch skillet, pour in the dry pasta, and add water to just cover the pasta. Sprinkle in a pinch of salt, if using. Bring to a boil over high heat, and continue to cook on high to medium-high heat, stirring often to prevent sticking, until the water is mostly evaporated and the pasta is al dente, about 6 minutes (another easy to remember number!).

Add the milk and bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to a simmer. Add the cheese, and cook until melted, and the sauce has cooked down, another 2 to 3 minutes.

Season with more salt, if desired, and pepper, to taste, and serve immediately and enjoy!

July 24, 2020

No crust, no problem: Skillet pie lives up to its name

A few weeks ago, I rediscovered the joy of my vegetarian cookbooks, particularly one from Deborah Madison.

The first recipe I made of her vegetarian stuffed peppers fit a large casserole, so no blogging about it, but you can get the recipe here. However, it had an interesting way of incorporating onions that at first I scoffed at. As I looked closer, though, I didn’t see a way around doing it her way. I ended up very glad I actually followed the recipe. While the onions (first deglazed in wine) baked on the bottom of the casserole, since it was stuffed peppers, they ended up as a sweet and sour topping that complemented the rest of the ingredients incredibly well.

So, for my second recipe, I looked specifically for things that would work in my small skillet.

It didn’t take long to find the perfect meal. With the amount of cheese, it wasn’t light exactly but a simple eggy dish didn’t feel all that hefty in the summer heat.

Even better, it was incredibly easy. Mix up some ingredients in a large-ish bowl. Pour in a buttered small skillet. Bake, and voila, you’ve got dinner.

Pulling back the curtain, I will admit I made the focaccia to go with this meal, and a bread is the perfect addition so you have a more filling meal. Alternatively, it’d make a good breakfast item.

Here’s what I did, sticking to the recipe, though I used my 9-inch skillet rather than the called-for 10-inch (and it just fit!):

Ingredients

¾ lb. feta cheese
1 lb. ricotta cheese
6 eggs
¼ c. flour
¾ c. milk
1 T. dill, preferably fresh and chopped (I used more)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Butter, for coating

Directions

Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Mix ¾ of the feta with the ricotta in a medium bowl, without worrying about getting it perfectly smooth. Beat the eggs into the cheese. Then, add the flour and milk. Season with the dill and salt and pepper.

Butter a 9- to 10-inch cast iron skillet. Pour in the batter, and crumble the remaining feta cheese on top. Bake until golden, about 35 to 40 minutes.

Cut into wedges and serve with bread or another preferred side, and enjoy!

July 10, 2020

Two courses plus dip equals one skillet meal

This week’s recipe was something I was going to make as soon as I saw it in my most recent Food & Wine edition. It was just a bonus that it happened to be the perfect meal to get the most use out of my little Le Creuset.

The picture alone was enough to pique my interest in this summer heat: a simple grilled chicken breast atop a dip with a light salad. Then, I actually read the recipe and saw that the dip was not hummus as I presumed but a pepper feta dip. That sold it for me. I was all in.

I wrote down the recipe ingredients, and my sweetie masked up and did our weekly shopping.

Ingredients for grilled chicken with pepper feta dip and salad.

When it came time to make it, I looked closer at the directions and saw to my delight that every part that required cooking would work in my small skillet.

Like a lot of the recipes I’ve made this year — and I’ve learned since I started focusing on using a specific piece of kitchen equipment — there’s more than one way to make this dinner.

If you’re an outdoor griller, feel free to grill the chicken there (the recipe actually called for a grill pan, which is a lot like my small skillet but with ridges). If you would prefer to toast the pita in a toaster, fine. You could even broil the peppers to break them down instead of sauteing them in a small skillet, like the recipe called for.

However, for me, it was perfect to use just the one piece of cooking equipment. (Don’t get me wrong, this recipe dirties a fair number of dishes, just I only used the skillet for cooking.) I didn’t really even bother to do cleaning between uses.

Everything turned out perfectly, though my chicken needed to cook for longer as I admittedly used two chicken breasts instead of just the one the recipe called for since it was supposed to be a dinner for one. I likewise doubled up on everything else.

While I really enjoyed both courses and how they worked well together — the pepper dip complements the same raw peppers in the fattoush and the chicken is so simple to let the dip shine — the real standout was the three-ingredient dip.

If you’re feeling lazy, buy a salad, buy some rotisserie chicken, but place it upon this awesome dip. Or just make the dip. It’s amazing.

Here’s what I did, doubling the recipe (that still left leftover dip!):

Ingredients

6 T. olive oil, divided
4 medium banana peppers or other mild peppers (we used anaheim, which were a twitch spicier), seeded and sliced, divided
8 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
3 T. lemon juice, divided
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 pita
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
~12 grape tomatoes
1 small cucumber, halved and sliced
2 T. red onion, diced
~12 pitted kalamata olives, halved
Torn mint or parsley, to taste

Directions

Heat 2 T. oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add about half the sliced peppers and cook, stirring occasionally until softened and lightly browned. Transfer to a blender or a food processor and let cool completely.

Meanwhile, use another 2 T. to coat the chicken in oil and re-coat the small skillet. Season the chicken with salt and pepper to taste. Grill chicken breasts about 8 minutes per side until the thickest part reaches 155 degrees (it will continue to cook while it cools). Remove from heat and set aside to let rest for 10 minutes.

Then, grill the pita, turning often, until crisp and lightly charred, 4 to 6 minutes. Let cool slightly while bringing the salad together.

Combine the remaining raw peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, olives, mint or parsley. Add the remaining 2 T. olive oil, 1 T. lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper. Tear up the pita into about 1 inch pieces, and stir into the salad.

Finally, with the sauteed peppers cooled, add the feta and the remaining 2 T. lemon juice. Process until thick and creamy, about 1 to 2 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.

To serve, place about ¼ c. of the dip on each of two plates; slice the chicken, and place atop the dip; and divide the salad on the plates (or in a separate bowl); and enjoy!