3 Weeknight Dinners for Your Favorite Pescatarian
PLUS dreamy Italian tablecloths and salt for the everyman
My favorite pescatarian happens to be my girlfriend, Katie. As a lifelong carnivore (nothing makes me happier than steak), I was nervous about our dietary differences when we first started dating. How would she fall in love with me if I couldn’t impress her with my famous roast chicken?? To my GREAT relief, she liked my personality enough to stick around, and I liked hers enough to expand my culinary horizons beyond beef + poultry.
3 Weeknight Dinners for Your Favorite Pescatarian
1. Warm + Spicy Hummus Bowl
I love this recipe because 1) making hummus is SO EASY AND SO DELICIOUS (which I’ve already discussed here) and 2) it’s a great canvas for all your lackluster veggies that need not go to waste.
Make the Hummus:
Empty a can of chickpeas WITH its liquid in a microwave safe container. Add 1-2 cloves of garlic. Microwave for 5 minutes.
Dump the hot beans, bean liquid, and garlic in a blender. Add 1/4-1/3 cup of tahini, squeeze of lemon, pinch of salt. Blend until smooth.
Taste to see if you need more salt, tahini, or lemon. Add an ice cube. Blend again. Let it cool and place in the fridge.
Make the Toppings:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Wash 2 heads of broccoli. Slice into large florets with long stems. Toss with olive oil, big pinch of kosher salt, freshly cracked pepper, and juice of half a lemon. Line a baking sheet with parchment and arrange broccoli with space in between each floret (if they’re too crowded, they won’t brown). Bake 15-20 minutes or until brown.
While the broccoli is roasting, slice open a package of Impossible or Beyond Meatless Ground Beef. Pat dry with a paper towel and season generously with Kosher salt.
Finely dice 1/2 an onion and microplane a large knob of ginger and 2 cloves of garlic. Heat pan to med/high and let it get hot. Sauté onion in 2 tbsp avocado oil. Once it’s translucent, add garlic and ginger. Sauté another minute.
Add ground meatless beef and sear on one side. After a couple minutes, flip it to the other side and start breaking it up into large chunks and incorporate with the onions, garlic, and ginger. Continue breaking it up as it cooks.
Once it’s broken into small pieces and you start to see caramelization, add your spices to the pan: equal parts cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, and red pepper flakes (according to your spice tolerance). Once everything is coated in spice mixture, add 1/4 cup of veggie stock. Mix, scraping up all the bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add a splash of apple cider vinegar. Taste for seasoning.
Assemble
“Swoosh” a few spoonfuls of hummus on a plate to make a circular shape. Add broccoli (or whatever veggie you’d like) and meatless ground beef.
Top with green onion, chili oil, and a dollop of Greek yogurt. Enjoy!
2. Gochujang Roasted Cabbage
This recipe is bound to convert any and all cabbage skeptics. I served this with sweet potato wedges and pan fried fish, but you could really serve it with anything!
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Slice head of cabbage into 6-8 wedges (depending on the size of your cabbage). Can be green or purple cabbage.
Massage each one with a generous portion of olive oil. Season all sides with kosher salt and pepper.
Place on parchment-lined baking sheet and cook for 15 minutes. Flip and cook for another 15-20 minutes (depending on how done you like it).
While baking, whisk equal parts melted butter and gochujang paste. Add a splash of rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar. Whisk until well incorporated.
Once cabbage is done roasting and still hot, brush generously on all sides with butter/gochujang mixture. Let it rest for a couple minutes before serving. Top with sesame seeds.
3. Vegetarian Curry
Please be warned that you’re gonna need a food processor or high performance blender for this one. I guess you could spend hours grinding lemongrass into a paste with a mortar and pestle, but at that point, it’s more worth it to order takeout. However, if you do happen to have a food processor or high performance blender on hand, you will not regret the effort.
Make the Curry Paste:
1 large bunch of cilantro
1 cup packed basil leaves
1 large lemongrass chopped
2 shallots diced
1 very large knob (or 2 smaller ones) of ginger peeled and roughly chopped
3 cloves of garlic peeled
2 serrano peppers de-seeded and roughly chopped
1 thai chili
2 tbsp turmeric powder (or grated fresh turmeric)
Juice of 2 limes
Big pinch of kosher salt
Blend all of the above ingredients in a food processor or high performance blender until very smooth.
Divide mixture in half. You’ll use one half for this meal, and save the other half in the freezer for the future.
Prepare the Curry:
Prep the veggies. Dice 1/2 onion, microplane some ginger and garlic. Slice yukon gold potatoes into quarter moon wedges. Drain and rinse 1 can of chickpeas.
Heat dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over med/high. When hot, add 2 tbsp coconut oil and sauté onion. Once translucent, add ginger and garlic with a big pinch of salt. Cook another minute or so until fragrant.
Add chickpeas. After a couple minutes, add curry paste, stirring to coat everything. Sauté until fragrant (1-2 minutes). De-glaze pan with 1 cup veggie stock, scraping up all the bits stuck to the bottom as you stir.
Once incorporated, add 1 can coconut milk, potatoes, and pinch of kosher salt. Bring to a simmer and let cook for 15 minutes.
Add 1 tbsp sugar and a splash of apple cider vinegar. Taste for any additional seasoning adjustments. Stir and continue simmering another 15 minutes or until potatoes are fork-tender. Add chopped kale and stir until wilted.
Serve with rice and top with Greek yogurt, fresh cilantro, and chili oil.
Some Odds and Ends
This is what *Italian tablecloth* dreeeeeeeams are made of:
Not sure how everyone had an Italian summer except me??? Fortunately, a dear friend of mine, Christiana, found these dreamy Lisa Courti tablecloths that could make any meal feel like you’re dining in an Italian countryside (almost). Here are my favorites:
Jacobsen Salt Co. is really thinking out of the box (of spaghetti)
When I first stumbled upon this product last week, I nearly scoffed. Jacobsen’s Disco Di Sale are compressed discs of salt that promise perfectly seasoned pasta water. But salting pasta water is arguably very easy!!!! Especially with a salt as forgiving as Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt.
But then I thought about friends of mine who may feel less comfortable in the kitchen. I imagined their delight if I gifted them these cutie little salt discs, and my heart softened. If this product gives someone a little more joy in cooking, then who am I to judge??? Plus, it’s likely that they are, in fact, chronically under-seasoning their pasta water anyway.
So in the name of accessibility and bringing delight to a task that might otherwise be stressful, I’m all in for Disco Di Sale.
Feel free to shoutout your favorite pescatarian in the comments. Although I’m certain none of them are as wonderful as mine.
Also, THANK YOU for all the responses and enthusiasm after I announced DINNERPARTY by Dilly Dally, coming October 7th!!! I’ll be sending out a link to buy tickets next Tuesday. So make sure you’re subscribed! Can’t wait to share a meal with you.
Happy Eating!
Mary