Routines and Go-To's
Meditations on regularity in the form of weeknight dinners that come together in the time it takes to cook rice.
I spent the last weekend of January painting my kitchen cabinets, which left me in a space of caring little about food after eating from the corner store for an entire weekend.
Moving everything back into the kitchen left me considering functionality and the things I cook most often. Growing up, my dad had an arsenal of daily aphorisms, such as: “early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” He is committed to routine and prioritizes it on a daily basis.
Being raised with that mindset, I spent years fighting against regularity out of fear of monotony and stagnation. It’s taken incremental progress over the course of years to arrive at a place where I truly believe that routine creates both freedom and space for creativity.
Over the past five years I have come to embrace routine in the form of early mornings, running, meditation, daily sauna, and reading before bed. (I cannot recommend this planner enough, it even has a dedicated space for logging daily meals). Yet, it has taken until recently for that ethos to extend to food.
When it comes to cooking, I love exploration. I find nothing more enjoyable than buying, tasting, and transforming a new vegetable from the farmer’s market. Every meal is an opportunity to try something new or improve upon past versions.
Over the past several months though, I’ve found myself wanting to create a recipe repertoire of go-to meals. Most of the time, I do not want to cook an elaborate meal after working all day. I want something that feels healthy yet sophisticated, without a major time commitment. I want to save the experimentation and fun for the weekend.
This newsletter contains two such meals that have emerged: ground turkey rice bowls with Mediterranean sides, and roast chicken thighs with shallot and olives. Neither sexy (dimly lit evening photos do no favors), but both elevated enough to feel intentional. Most importantly — both have white rice as the base, and all other elements come together in the amount of time it takes the rice to cook.
Mediterranean Ground Turkey Rice Bowls
Ground turkey is truly the quickest meat to cook. While it definitely gives “taco night vibes” (directly quoted from my husband), paired with what is my easy take on tabbouleh, tzatziki, and roasted tomatoes, it tastes great.
Every time I make this I have to resist the Italian urge to roll the turkey into meatballs. While they would certainly look better, the primary metric for success of a go-to meal is time spent doing other things than cooking.
White rice (I used Jasmine)
1lb of ground turkey
Ground coriander
Ground cumin
Ground garlic
Carton of cherry tomatoes
1 medium sized tomato
Parsley
Mint
Dill
1 red onion
3 Persian cucumbers
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sumac
1/2 cup unsweetened Greek yogurt
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Cook rice according to package (typically 1 cup rice, 2 cups water).
In a small container, combine tomatoes (if you don’t have a medium-sized tomato, withhold a few cherry tomatoes for the tabbouleh) with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. Put them into the oven and let roast for the same length as the rice (about 15 mins), until soft and juicy. While the rice and tomatoes cook, prepare everything else.
Dice half of your red onion. Add a tbsp of olive oil to a large, hot pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until softened before adding the turkey. Let the turkey cook for a few minutes undisturbed to brown, then season with salt, pepper, coriander, cumin, and garlic. Stir to break it up and disperse the seasoning. Cook the turkey until no longer pink, stirring regularly.
To make the tabbouleh, dice the tomato, the cucumber, and the other half of the red onion, adding them to a medium-sized bowl. Finely chop a handful of parsley and mint, adding to the vegetables. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil and add the juice of half a lemon. Season the mixture with a pinch of salt, pepper, sumac, and coriander. Stir to combine.
For the tzatziki, add the Greek yogurt to a small bowl. Finely dice the remaining cucumber. Finely chop another handful of parsley, mint, and dill. Add all to the yogurt. Season with salt and the zest of the remaining half of the lemon. Add the juice of the lemon and a drizzle of olive oil. Stir to combine. (Often times I will make extra of this to use throughout the week.)
Once the turkey, rice, and tomatoes are done, assemble your bowl with rice at the base, all other elements on top.
Roast Chicken Thighs with Shallot and Olives
On an evening where I think I’ll likely be working late the following day, I’ll marinate chicken overnight. This makes it especially easy the next evening to get dinner together quickly. In a pinch, instead of preparing a vegetable, I opt for sautéed shallot and olives alongside leftover tzatziki.
~1.5lb Chicken Thighs (always tastier bone-in, skin-on, but on a weeknight I will often choose boneless, skinless)
Salt
Ground coriander
Medium-sized Shallot
~20 Castelvetrano Olives
Zest and juice of 1/2 orange
The night before, add the chicken to a bowl with olive oil, coriander, salt, and pepper. Cover and let marinate in fridge until ready to cook.
Cook rice according to package.
Place the marinated chicken in a heated cast iron pan over medium-high heat. Cook on each side until browned, ensuring it reaches 165°F.
Slice the shallot crosswise into thin rings. Place all olives in a bowl, and lightly press on them with a to slightly flatten (I use a surikogi pestle, but can use the back of a spoon).
In a small pan, heat a tbsp of olive oil and then add the shallots. Once the shallots start to go translucent, add the olives. After the olives are warm, add the orange zest and juice to the pan and stir. Once heated, set aside to serve.
When the rice and chicken is done, assemble your bowl. Place chicken thighs over the rice, adding the shallot/olive mixture directly on top. I served with leftover tzatziki!
Might I Suggest…
My friend Riley held a tasting at Discovery Wines a few weeks back featuring this wine. In his words, everyone wants a hint of summer in the winter. I bought a bottle and we enjoyed it after dinner.
I happened across this labneh in the grocery store and I can’t stop eating it. Serve with seeded crackers. The hot honey version is my favorite — spicy and sweet.