Spicy chicken with black beans and rice, with crispy topping

Two things off the top:  One - SO came up with the whole plan for this dish, and two - we couldn't figure out exactly what to call it, hence the awkward name.  In any case, it turned out great and was very easy. Was one of the first meals in one of our new pots. Learned the hard way about how to cook with them as well. It turns out you need a much lower temperature. The copper core distributes heat very efficiently and quickly, and the weight of them really holds the heat. Since we just donated our rice cooker to someone, we made rice in one pot and used our new saucier (aka chef's pan) for the chicken. Here's a link if you are curious.

Spicy chicken with black beans and rice, with crispy topping

A few changes would make this even better. I would put in some hot peppers, and sprinkle with some fresh cilantro at the end. Maybe try a different sort of rice. The crispy topping is just crunched-up dipping nacho chips. Don't underestimate the power of a little crunch!  It (almost) made the dish.

Next Time: chilis, and fresh cilantro, maybe even a bit of corn

Me: 8/10
SO: 10/10
SSO: 8/10  (really! he went from almost running away from the sight, to wow this is pretty yummy)

Lettuce-wrapped Adobo Chicken Thighs with Avocado

This was completely SO's idea. She spiced and cooked the chicken, obtained the fantastically huge and fresh   veggie stand lettuce, and told me how to assemble. All I did was plate it. This feels like a summer dish somehow, I think it is the large lettuce wrap. It is quick and delish in any case.

Lettuce-wrapped Adobo Chicken Thighs with Avocado

Kind of hard to take a photo of this one, it is essentially a giant piece of lettuce with chicken goodness stuffed inside.  We cooked up some boneless skinless thighs with some Epicure Adobo seasoning.  I've made my own before when I was first super excited about my spice grinder, but the Epicure stuff is pretty decent.  The avocado in this case is actually avocado salad dressing, but I would slice up some real stuff next time.  Bake the chicken, wrap it up, and voila.

Next Time: real avocado, home made Adobo

Me: 8/10
SO: 8/10
SSO: n/a

Smoked Salmon Pasta with Capers and Dill

It's amazing how certain combinations of ingredients just work so well together. Lemon, capers, and dill are one of those, I can think of a number of recipes that have at least two if not all three of those. And they are not all German.  The basis of this one was a Jamie Oliver recipe, modified slightly to fit the ingredients we had in the fridge. It's always like that, a little substitution here and there...which I actually really like to do, as you can discover new things. Of course it can always bomb too, but that is just bound to happen once in a while when cooking. Anyway.

This turned out to be really flavourful and super easy (actually I hate that expression, sorry). We had a shrink-wrapped pack of smoked salmon - probably 3/4" thick, not the thin slices, although that could work too - from B.C. from my parents' last trip out there. Not sure how much it was, the piece was 8" long and 1/2" wide, turned out to be enough for the two of us. Good thing SSO ate already.

Smoked Salmon pasta with capers and dill

I ended up not liking the pasta shells I used, I would go with something else next time. But that is what we happened to have. I think I needed to add more freshly ground pepper as well - a healthy dose would have provided a good counterpoint. I also used some cream Sherry instead of white wine, since we only had a little bit of white left in the fridge and it was SO's favourite. I was worried the Sherry would be too sweet, but it turns out that the lemon and capers were just tart enough to balance the sweetness.

Next time: different pasta, would thicken the sauce more, and use more pepper

Me: 9/10
SO: 9/10
SSO: n/a