Week of September 13th

Sunday:

Autumn has been calling my name recently, hence the hankering for the traditional Sunday dinner below:

• Roast chicken with plums and shallots
• Roasted potatoes with rosemary and garlic:  This is an easy one — scrub potatoes and toss in a pan with a few good glugs of olive oil. Add chopped fresh rosemary (or any other fresh herbs you like), whole garlic cloves and salt and pepper. Your house will smell divine.
• Crisp green salad with a simple mustard vinaigrette

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Monday:

• Grilled swordfish with candied lemon salad
• Grilled farmer’s market corn on the cob (I like mine plain, my husband prefers either olive oil or butter and Old Bay).

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Tuesday:

• Pan-roasted chicken with feta and figs:  I adore fresh figs. I like them plain, stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon, chopped into yogurt, made into jam … oh the pleasures! We had a tiny fig tree that produced 3 figs every season (has since died), but I relished those 3 bites of glory each year. That being said, it’s fig season. Go get some.
• Grilled broccolini with lemon and pine nuts 

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Wednesday:

• Crispy fish tacos with chili-roasted corn
• Tacos require a buffet o’ fun fixings. Fun for me includes freshly roasted hatch chiles, guacamole with lime, some kind of salsa and crisp shredded cabbage.

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Thursday:

• Grilled tuna burgers with lightly pickled fennel and mache slaw: I am going bun-less and plan to serve these bad-boys over a slaw of sorts. Gently pickle thinly sliced fennel (cucumbers would also be excellent here and more traditional) in white wine vinegar with a pinch or two of sugar. Toss this mixture with a bit of sesame oil,  mache, toasted sesame seeds, roasted peanuts and some heat — I am partial to Gochugaru, a Korean ground chile flake.
• Wasabi mayonnaise and pickled ginger,  for serving

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Friday:

• Crispy-skinned grilled Maryland rockfish: the trick to getting the skin crispy-crunchy is in the preparation. Pat the fish dry and set in the refrigerator, uncovered, sans salt and seasonings for an hour if you can. The skin will dry out and viola, crispy, potato-chippy fish skin. Season the fish once you get it on the grill, skin-side down to start.
• Grilled eggplant and peppers from the farmer’s market
• Grilled corn on the cob, also from the farmer’s market