Hi,
Welcome to this week’s meal planning experience. If you want to know what we’re doing here, please read the manifesto in the first edition. In short:
WORKDAYS DINNERS | 4 PORTIONS | SEASONAL | QUICK | LEFTOVERS
If you cook something and post it on Insta, tag me, I’d love to see it.
Now, let’s cook!
Meal Plan
Monday: Greek Style Grilled Shrimp Orzo Pasta Salad
Tuesday: Zucchini, Mint and Feta Tart with Pine Nuts
Wednesday: Blackened Miso Salmon with Creamy Coconut Cucumber Salad
Thursday: Mediterranean Steak Bowls
Friday: Piperchi țârgâsiti / Fried Peppers
Shopping List
Recipes
Monday: Greek Style Grilled Shrimp Orzo Pasta Salad
35 min
2 cups (340g) orzo pasta (rice-shaped pasta)
2-3 lemons zested and juiced for salad and for shrimp (approx ½ cup lemon juice)
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 scallions, white and green parts minced
30g dill, chopped
30g parsley, chopped
1 large cucumber
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved (Approx 350 grams)
½ cup small red onion peeled and diced
200g good feta cheese, large diced or crumbled (or more feta if desired)
For the Grilled Shrimp
1½ -2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon lemon zest
¼-½ teaspoon chili flakes
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
This is a cold dish and is very good the next day at lunch as is.
Tuesday: Zucchini, Mint and Feta Tart with Pine Nuts
45 minutes
2 medium zucchini
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 sheet from a 1 lb (450 gram) package ready-rolled puff pastry thawed in the fridge overnight
1 egg
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
5 1/2 to 6 oz (175 grams) farmer's cheese (labneh, ricotta, or cream cheese work fine as well) softened
3 scallions, trimmed and finely sliced
large handful of mint, chopped leaves
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
1 tsp lemon zest
fresh cracked black pepper
1/4-1/2 tsp of chilli flakes depending on how much you like heat!
3 oz (75 grams) feta cheese, roughly crumbled or chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp pine nuts
Serve this with a salad and the leftovers can be lunch the next day.
Wednesday: Blackened Miso Salmon with Creamy Coconut Cucumber Salad
35 minutes
1 lb (450g) skin-on salmon, cut into 4 filets
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp white miso paste
1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
Juice from 1 lime
Cooked black or brown rice for serving
For the coconut cucumber salad
1 large English cucumber or 4 mini cucumbers, sliced
4 scallions, sliced
2 tbsp cilantro/parsley, chopped
1/3 cup full fat, unsweetened coconut milk
1/2 tsp honey
Juice and zest from 1 lime
Kosher salt to taste
Prep the same veggies for next day at lunch and assemble them as a salad with a different protein, like rotisserie chicken.
Thursday: Mediterranean Steak Bowls
45 minutes
For the Bowls:
1 lb. (450g) flank steak (may substitute NY strip or sirloin steak)
300g grape or cherry tomatoes
½ medium red onion, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
1 large cucumber, chopped
⅓ cup pitted kalamata olives, sliced
1 cup garlic hummus (or store-bought hummus of choice)
½ cup crumbled feta cheese
Skewers for veggies
2 tsp. oil of choice (such as avocado oil or olive oil)
Lemon wedges and/or torn fresh mint leaves for garnish (optional)
For the Herbed-Yogurt Dressing:
1 cup plain yogurt
1 Tbsp. olive oil or avocado oil
Juice of ½ lemon
1 large clove garlic, finely minced
½ tsp. dried oregano
½ tsp dried dill
½ tsp. salt
2 tsp. chopped fresh mint (or ½ tsp dried mint)
This recipe is easy to multiply to have seconds next day at lunch.
Friday: Piperchi țârgâsiti / Fried Peppers
As promised, Romanian dishes too.
This a traditional Aromanian* dish from my native region, Dobrogea/Dobruja. Aromanians are a Latin people who speak a Romance language that is similar to Romanian in some ways. There is a large Aromanian community in my area and their food influenced how we all ate. They cook with the seasons and know how to spotlight veggies in their dishes.
*Not Armenian.
Don’t worry, Romanians can’t pronounce the name of this dish either.
40 minutes
1kg / 2.2 lbs peppers (bell pepper, long sweet peppers, what you can get your hands on; not hot peppers)
1kg / 2.2 lbs tomatoes
200g sheep or cow feta (if you can find aged feta, even better)
4 slices of good bread
Remove the stem and seeds from the peppers and cube them. Cube the tomatoes. Heat up 2 tablespoons of neutral oil in a large saucepan and sauté the peppers for about 20 minutes, until softened. Add the tomatoes and let them cook together for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, grate the cheese. Add it to the rest of the dish and leave it for a few more minutes to cook, then take it off the heat.
Eat with fresh bread.
Recipe collected from Stejaru, Tulcea, by Discover Dobrogea.