Chicken Mushroom Piccata

This is one of those times that I returned home to a wonderful smelling house. SO was cooking up a storm, and it smelled great. We have two ways of cooking these days. Either SO comes up with an idea and I execute it, riffing on the idea as see fit; or SO will start the cooking and I will complete the final steps, finishing up whatever needs to be done, including garnishes and serving.

Chicken Mushroom Piccata with Egg Noodles

This was the latter. It turns out to be a simple but tasty dish with chicken, lemon, and capers, with a mushroom sauce served over egg noodles.  Very yummy and good for leftovers. I harp on a bit about left overs, but they make great lunches for work. I don't like spending $10 or more every day on a fast food lunch. Anyway, this dinner was a hit, would definitely do this again. We always have lemons and capers in the house, usually mushrooms, and chicken we get in these large boxes from the butcher, 2 gigantic breasts per bag individually wrapped and frozen. Then some sort of pasta or rice, and voila.

Next Time: more sauce, more mushrooms

Me: 9/10
SO: 9/10
SSO: 7/10

Mustard and Dill Potato Salad

It's getting hot these days, finally, after a long cold winter. So what do we serve guests at a Sunday dinner? BBQ chicken and grilled asparagus, with potato salad and a strawberry cream dessert called Victoria Sponge (see post).

Mustard and Dill Potato Salad

I love this particular potato salad since it is vinaigrette based instead of mayo. I think the vinegar and mustard give it a bright and sharp flavour, and well, you can't have a decent potato salad without fresh dill. Some recipes use prepared mustard or a dijon, but the mustard seeds give it a fresh earthy tone. The trick is to soak the mustard seed for at least an hour in vinegar. I used part white vinegar and part sherry vinegar for a bit of extra oomph. SO thought I didn't soak long enough, I thought it was OK. Red onions give it colour and a bit of tang. Yum!

Next Time: I would eliminate or bump up the parsley. Also I was a bit stingy on the red onion.

Me: 9/10
SO: 7.5/10
SSO: 2/10