Lent, Week One

While generally I do consider Monday to be the first day of the week, for meal planning reasons I always start with Sunday, as it is the easiest day for us to routinely get our grocery delivery. So I will start with Sunday here as well. Since we began on Ash Wednesday this is really more of a half week. We had a show on Wednesday that was postponed by the pandemic, and so we ate out that evening. And on top of that we had a friend’s birthday celebration on Saturday. Absolutely incredible that having two events in a week is all it takes for me to feel like a buzzing socialite these days.

Menu:

Wednesday: Joseph Pearce’s

Thursday: Mushroom and Kale Lasagna from Six Seasons

Friday: Roasted Mackerel with fried potatoes and

Saturday: Cauliflower Buffalo Wings and Chips

We went to an old favourite of ours, Joseph Pearce’s. We first visited it on our ‘test’ trip to Edinburgh before moving here, it was right down the street from our hotel and it always brings back good memories. They have great vegetarian options, and I was excited to try out their vegan Swedish meatballs. However, I had been craving mussels and so when I saw them on the specials menu, I caved. So not off to a perfect start. Matt had their vegan burger and it was really tasty!

Thursday was a cosy wintry lasagna we’ve tried before, it’s a bit of prep but I like making it in advance particularly for days when we go to the gym in the evening, that way we can just pop it in the oven when we get home.

Friday was roasted sea bream. We were planning on mackerel, but the fishmonger was out so we went with her suggestion. I stuffed it with a few cloves of garlic and some thyme and we had sauteed spinach and roasted rosemary potatoes. I also made a quick butter and white wine sauce with a bit more thyme sprinkled in. It was delicious and cosy, and roasting a whole fish always feels special. I had hoped to get a picture for this post, but my baking dish broke in half in the oven during cooking. (To compound the sadness, it was a wedding gift!)

Saturday’s dinner plans ended up being pushed off to Sunday’s lunch. We had chili with them, and because they are on a low fodmap diet, didn’t wish to pile on with a vegetarian request! The cauliflower wings we pushed to Sunday were really good and I think perfect for lunch. We tried these buffalo cauliflower wings from Delish. While I think they’d be even better fried (obviously) they held up well for a baked battered situation, though I think if we did it again we would rebake with the sauce on as suggested. But really tasty and a bit junky feeling, which is exactly what I was in the mood for.

Overall a good start I think, despite some curveballs! Spring is definitely in the air, though it is still a bit chilly. I am getting into spring cleaning mode and preparing for a visit from my cousin and her husband next month.

Tulips!