Sunday night dinner

Today was beautiful – hard to believe it is the middle of November.  It was warm and sunny and we spent the afternoon on the golf course.  Probably the last time until spring.  With cold weather coming, I’ll have plenty of Sunday afternoons to spend cooking.  Today I wanted to spend the day playing.  (That is why blog update is so late in the day.)  I had chipotle marinade in the fridge so I got some steaks and tossed the potatoes and garlic to roast.  Here is the chipotle marinade recipe:

Chipotle marinade 

• 2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 TB tomato juice
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 TB sherry vinegar
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp oregano
• salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients in a blender.  NOTE: Marinade keeps well in refrigerator and is delicious on beef, pork, chicken or shrimp.

Roasted garlic potatoes

• 6 small Yukon gold or  12 small fingerling potatoes
• 1 tsp thyme
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 cloves garlic, cut in slices
• 2 Tb olive oil

Scrub potatoes and toss in a bowl with remaining ingredients until all are well coated.  Preheat oven to 400.  Spread potatoes out in a ceramic baking dish and roast for 40 minutes, stirring once midway.  Serve with chicken or meat.

Late in the week

On Thursday nights my husband usually plays tennis.  That means we don’t eat dinner until later – usually about 8:00.  By Thursday, I’m tired and I want something that doesn’t take a lot of energy.  When I was doing the menu plan on Sunday, I remembered that I had some of that wonderful chipotle marinade still in the fridge.  (It’s a favorite since it is good on beef, chicken, pork and shrimp – probably on anything else you can think of.)  There were steaks in the downstairs freezer and a few red potatoes left from the last time I made the lemon chive potatoes.  And there were two half tomatoes left from the other night.  Quick to fix and delicious.

Chipotle Marinade

• 2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 TB tomato juice
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 TB sherry vinegar
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp oregano
• salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients in a blender.  This makes enough for several meals.  We had it tonight with boneless pork chops –  I marinated them for a few hours in about 1/4 of the marinade and my  husband grilled them about 2 – 3 minutes per side.  The marinade has some heat so a mild side dish is in order.  The lemon chive potatoes go with it nicely.

Grilled Chive potatoes

• red-skinned potatoes, scrubbed (3 per person)
• 2 TB butter
• 2 TB chopped fresh chives
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• juice of 1/2 lemon

Boil potatoes in salted water 25 –  30 minutes or until tender.  Cut potatoes in half.

Melt butter with chives and lemon zest.  Brush potatoes with chive butter.  Grill potatoes, cut side down until brown (3 – 4 minutes).  Drizzle with remaining chive butter.