August 28, 2021

WEEKLY MENU 08.29.21

We’re starting the Weekly Menu 08.29.21 with an explosion of Spanish flare~

The Weekly Menu 08.29.21 starts out with a nod to Spain – we’re having a whole meal based around Spanish dishes. We love theme nights around here, whether they’re Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Breakfast for Dinner, or a little different to us, like this one is.

We’re starting with Clara Con Limon, which is a really refreshing drink I found at The Travelling Chilli. Check out their post for 21 Best Spanish Drinks to Try in Spain. Of course, we’re not actually going to Spain (at least this week), but we are bringing it home to us. There are plenty of drinks on the list that sound delish and that would go with the tapas we’re planning, but the Clara Con Limon looks easy and it’s made with ingredients we have in the house. It’s a fifty-fifty combo of lemonade and beer.

What are tapas?

Tapas are a wide variety of appetizers, or snacks, in Spanish cuisine. They may be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or warm (such as chopitos, which are battered, fried baby squid). In select bars in Spain, tapas have evolved into an entire, and sometimes sophisticated, cuisine. In Spain, patrons of tapas can order many different tapas and combine them to make a full meal. (/) In some Central American countries, such snacks are known as bocas.
Wikipedia

Here’s a fun list of Tapas from Wikipedia.

I can really get behind a culture that serves potatoes as an appetizer. And croquettes, which is the way we’re headed on Sunday, with Croquetas de Queso. Yep. Cheese Croquettes. We’re serving those next to a little bowl of Spanish olives. Little, because olives are one of those treats that only I truly enjoy. Luckily our grocery store has an olive bar so I can pick up just a few. (Ha! As if.)

We’re making a classic Paella (on the grill, no less) then finishing up with a scrumptious cake that is filled with pastry cream and topped with almond-y marzipan. It’s even got an exotic name: Ponche Segoviano. How fabulous does that sound?

Of course the OG Baby Boy heard the plan for dinner and offered to take us out to eat.

Which is an offer that doesn’t come around all the time, so we might (probably) take him up on it. But I’m still making that cake. What is his problem with Paella? We tried it about a year ago and it didn’t work out all that well because the grocery store saffron was horrible. It smelled like plastic and didn’t taste much better. I have a bead on a better batch, but he’s a little reticent. (Affiliate links follow – see Disclaimer Page for details.) I already have the paella pan – that’s why we tried it last year. (It was surprisingly affordable. And I love kitchen stuff.) We made it on the stove top, which also was a little dicey, which is why the grill (may) be pressed into service. He’s not getting out of it forever.

What else is for eats?

That phrase is one of my favorites, and one that Baby Boy uses all the time. The complete phrase is actually, “What’s for eats, Mrs. K?” which makes me giggle every time. Our babies used to call me Mama, which I loved, but the older they got the more likely they were to call me “K”, which makes me smile every time. The morphing didn’t happen over night, of course, but it did happen organically.

Anywho, speaking of morphing, on Monday we’re taking the ever fabulous Pork Milanese and making it into a Pork Weiner Schnitzel sandwich. We’re making the crunchy cutlets and putting them on a Kaiser roll on top of some dressed baby lettuce. We’ll top the cutlets with a runny fried egg (for those that eat eggs) and some Honey Mustard. Yummy, No?

The idea behind the Clara con Limon is from The Travelling Chilli. The Croqetas de Queso are part of a full list of Tapas Croquettes at Amigo Foods. The (no seafood) Paella is via Girl With the Iron Cast. The beautiful Ponche Segoviano is from The Spruce Eats. And the always mouth watering Detroit Style Pizza was found at Jo Eats.