 "Weekend special: the lazy lunch menu")
This weekend meal is all about slow-cooked comfort food: a potato gratin that gently cooks for hours in the oven with cream, a ratatouille and roast chicken that’s a crowd-pleaser. With an array of drinks to choose from to cool off this summer, here’s the perfect lazy Sunday meal for you.
The menu: Appetizer: Potato gratin Salad: Tossed green salad with herbs Main course: Ratatouille , Perfect roast chicken Dessert: Watermelon granita Drinks: Peachy keen , Sangria , Chilli and mint limeade
What you need:
| Vegetables: 1.5 kgs potatoes 500g eggplant 500g zucchini 200g carrots 2 sticks celery | Herbs: Dill Basil Marjoram Chives Thyme Sage Rosemary Mint |
|---|---|
| Fruits: 1 watermelon A mix of seasonal fruits (apples,oranges) | Salad greens: Endive Watercress Iceberg lettuce Romaine lettuce |
| Meat and seafood: 1 whole chicken Cans and jars: 1 can of peaches | Drinks: Bourbon Red Wine Grand Marnier Orange jouce Angostura bitters |
Start your weekend lunch with individual pots of golden potato gratin. Individual being the operative word here, because it’s likely that all you will want to eat for lunch will be more potato gratin if you make this in a large baking dish. Thin slices of potatoes are covered in cream and cooked slowly in an oven until tender, golden and bubbling over the edges.
Brief quote from original source:
“A good gratin is probably the only thing you can serve at any dinner table that everybody will love. Of all the versions, I prefer this tradition French-style gratin, made simply with potatoes, cream and butter.”
Find the recipe at Seven Spoons .
Salad greens, heady herbs, and a simple vinaigrette. I absolutely love the tip about rubbing a halved garlic clove on the inside of the bowl. Such a brilliant way to have the salad subtly attain a garlicky flavour. While the recipe suggests some greens that are quite easily available, go ahead and use the ones you find that are most fresh at your market: iceberg, chickory, watercress, endive, what have you.
Find the recipe on Epicurious.com
Ratatouille is a humble French vegetable dish that’s made of vegetables like eggplants, zucchini, tomatoes, onions and garlic. The rustic way to cook it would be to dice them up and cook them together in a large pot, reducing them to a saucy mixture. A fancier approach would be to layer sautéed vegetables in a dish and then bake them in the oven.
Ratatouille is versatile; you can serve it with rice, pasta or bread and it still works equally well.
View the legendary chef Julia Child’s recipe at Knopf Double Day .
A whole chicken stuffed with a lemon and surrounded with vegetables, popped into the oven for an hour and a half transforms into a gorgeous golden hued piece of meat that’s ready to be carved. While the recipe on JamieOliver.com is restricted to vegetables like celery and carrots, you can add beets, sweet potatoes, and even Brussels spouts to the pan while roasting.
Serve the roast chicken and vegetables with crusty bread or a crisp focaccia that will mop up the gravy.
Read Jamie Oliver’s beautiful recipe here .
And for dessert we have watermelon granita. A granita is a semi-frozen dessert, similar to what our very own gola would be if it weren’t formed into a ball, and works really well for summer lunches! Most of the work’s being done by the freezer here. A small note about the recipe — make sure to add the sugar a small bit at a time. Depending on how sweet your watermelon is, and your personal preference, you might want to alter the quantity of sugar.
View the recipe on Food Network .
Cocktails
The Peachy Keen cocktail is a cinch to make. Puréed peaches, fragrant basil and bourbon makes for the perfect taste of summer in a glass. If you can’t find basil at your store, then rosemary and thyme pair well with the peach too.
Brief quote from original source:
This one, the peachy keen, has a base of peach purée and bourbon. It tastes a little like heaven.
View the recipe on Eat Make Read .
Jeffrey Morgenthaler is extremely proud of his Sangria recipe, as you can see from his statement below.
Brief quote from original source:
Sangria recipes are like old pairs of sneakers: everybody’s got one, and most of them stink. While sangria is nothing more than a lightly sweetened wine-based punch typically consumed during the summer in Portugal and Spain, the garbage you’re going to be served in the average Mexican-American restaurant is syrupy and spiced beyond belief in an attempt to cover up the rank of cheap red wine.
View the recipe on Jeffrey Morgenthaler.
The everyday nimbu pani is kicked up a notch in this recipe with some fiery chilli and refreshing mint. After you’ve muddled up the mint, pour in the water without delay. This will keep the mint from oxidizing and turning black.
Find the recipe on AllRecipes.com .
Shaheen writes about her quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie and baking escapades on The Purple Foodie .
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