We’re still out here in Umbria. It’s been exactly a month that we’ve been living in this new world called ‘lockdown’. As you know one of our biggest discoveries in this new place has learning that we are excellent meal planners! Actually, it’s not a new talent at all, since I actually wrote a book about planning Italian meals last year. But using this skill set to get through this time has been one of our favorite projects.
The whole planning thing has been working well and Sophie and I have decided that our ‘meeting’ every Sunday to decide the next week’s meals is one of our favorite times of the week. It’s kind of like a staff meeting I guess. Except that we are both the staff and the customers.
One thing we have to figure out though, is if this goes on much longer (and we have a feeling that we’ll be here at least till the end of April) how are we going to fit all the menus on one wall?! (see that photo below)
As we head into this week, we’re planning on celebrating both Passover AND Easter because why not? I’ll report on that as I go along on Instagram and be sure to post the links next week. (But if you can’t wait I’m making a lot of dishes from this article for Passover)
But in the meantime here is last week’s plan:
Week 3 – Lockdown Menu + Recipes
March 30 – April 5, 2020
Monday
Lunch: Leftovers, Roasted Zucchini
Dinner: Meze :Greek Salad, Homemade Pita, Hummus (I just wing it when it comes to hummus, but here is a good recipe.
Tuesday
Lunch: Pasta alla Zucchini Napoletana
Here is the video Sophie followed but I’ll be writing up the recipe next week because it was FANTASTIC!!!
Dinner: Grilled Sausage, Black Eyed Beans, Flowering Broccoli
This is one of our favorite meals. We each only have one sausage, so the meal is mostly about the beans and greens. And it can be any beans or greens you’d like. We grill the sausage over our fire, but you can cook them up anyway that’s easy.
Wednesday
Lunch: Asparagus Bismarck – one of my favorite ways to eat asparagus, topped by a fried egg and parmigiano (recipe in my book)
Dinner: Grain Bowl (Red Rice, Steamed Shrimp, grated carrot, sliced radish, leftover beans, pickled onions, tahini sauce)
Thursday
Lunch: Farmer’s Lunch (Mozzarella, Pecorino, Fave Beans, Bread)
Dinner: Pasta al Pomodoro (Gnocchi failed); Salad, Strawberries with Balsamico
This meal was supposed to be a repeat of Sophie’s gnocchi from last week, but somehow she bought the wrong potatoes and they just didn’t work (too many hard lumps.) it was ok though, since the pasta with tomato sauce was delicious!
Friday
Lunch; Green Minestrone, here is the recipe for that, but this time around I added old bread to the soup itself (rather than croutons) to add body and use up the left over bread. I’ve saved the video of my making it on my Instagram highlights.
Dinner: Mixed Grilled meats, Cicoria Ripassata, Ricotta, Cherry and Balsamic Crostata
Saturday
Lunch: Greek Salad, Pita, hummus (The pita and hummus were actually leftover from Monday and I froze both. Turns out hummus freezes just fine!!)
Dinner: Boeuf Bourguignon , Mashed Potatoes, Green Salad
Sunday
Lunch: Pasta with Tomato and Mascarpone, Mixed Salad
Sunday: Thai Chicken Soup (more or less this recipe since I didn’t have all the ingredients. But it was great)
Baked Stuff:
Semolina Bread
Ricotta, Cherry and Balsamic Crostata
Banana Bread with Walnuts and Chocolate Chips
Drinks:
For more recipes and meal plans see my previous posts:
Week 1: Lockdown
Week 2: Lockdown
And for more recipes and meal plans see my books:
The Italian Table
Eating Rome
Eating My Way Through Italy
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