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Leftovers twice in one week!

Sunday night I tried the Pork Pot Roast with Prunes, Armangac and Walnuts from Bistro Cooking at Home. It turned out way too sweet, which I guess had to do with the proportions of prunes to meat. The recipe only specifies "A boneless or bone-in pork shoulder roast" -- no size. Mine was 2.6 pounds and after my assiduous and perhaps overzealous trimming, I probably had a pound of lean meat left. We also had polenta and some roasted baby beets which tasted extremely bitter.

Monday night I finally made a decent Zuni Roast Chicken! I had all but given up on this recipe, and resolved not to waste anymore time or money on buying whole chickens only to be disappointed with the results. Then Sunday I stumbled across a small Perdue fryer for $1.77 ($4 off coupon attached) and I figured, what the heck. The Zuni recipe calls for salting the bird 1-2 days in advance. I only did it Monday morning, but it still turned out great -- moist meat, super-crispy skin. I also sat near the oven and adjusted the temperature constantly to try and keep things sizzling but not smoking. One other change was that I seasoned it liberally with smoked pimeton paprika. Served with roasted fingerling potatoes and baby zucchini.

Tuesday night I used the leftover chicken to make risotto with mushrooms. It was OK.

Wednesday night I ate out and the Wife got fast food on the way home from work at 10:00pm.

Thursday I made Soy Marinated Flank Steak, from a recipe that came on the back of the tasting notes from our most recent Alexander Valley Vineyards wine club shipment. It was pretty simple: soy sauce, olive oil, lots of garlic. I started the marinade in the morning, and that night seared it about 6 minutes a side in a cast iron skillet. Served with roasted cauliflower with gruyere and mashed potatoes. Not my most colorful dinner (sorry Mom). To drink we had Covela 2000 Minho, which I've had since we did our Portuguese Wine Dinner three years ago. I was afraid it might have turned, but we both still really liked it.

Friday, I used the leftover steak to make some sort of pseudo-Chinese beef with broccoli over noodles. The plan was to make pan fried noodles, but the noodles stuck fast to the bottom of the pan rather than browning. Upon further investigation, I may have used the wrong type of noodles -- I had egg noodles, and I think wheat-based noodles (like spaghetti) are what should be used for pan-fried. In addition to beef and broccoli: lots of ginger and garlic, napa cabbage, scallions, red pepper, fino sherry, rice vinegar, chicken broth, ponzu sauce, hoisin and cornstarch. Tuned out decent, but no PF Changs. To drink: Negroni for me, Bombay Sapphire for the wife.