This week is homecoming week in West Plains. Many of you already have plans for Friday night. We decided to bring Jennifer Strickland, our planned musician, next week so as not to compete with local events. While there will not be music, we will be geared up to get you fed and out the door for the game if you arrive in a reasonable time frame. If you are not part of the homecoming festivities, we'll be open until 8 pm, as usual. It might make for a nice quiet evening.
As we move into the more moderate weather we look forward to being able to, once again, leave the main door open and the screen door slapping. I felt we got cheated out of that season last spring. Summer started way too fast. With the moderation of temps comes time for soups. We've been digging deep to find some more scrumptious ones you'll love. You'll see your old favorites—white chicken chili, tom ka kai, lentil soup, wild mushroom bisque, French onion, chicken noodle, roasted root vegetable, kapusta, black bean, potato and leek, butternut squash, chicken corn chowder, chicken and sausage gumbo—as well as some new ones like fish chowder. I love collecting soup recipes so you are likely to experience some new flavors this season. This week we'll begin with a new one "Chicken and summer squash chowder with basil and wild rice."
Jon and I roasted and blistered over 300 Hatch chili peppers last weekend. Now packaged and frozen they'll be readily available all year to season our soups and chilis. Oh yea!
With the humidity finally dropping it might be time to make some meringue. Individual meringues topped with fruit and whipping cream are called Pavlovas in Australia and New Zealand. We've had such a rash of egg-yolk heavy desserts lately that the whites have been building up. I have these lovely new pan liners that prevent the whipped egg whites from sticking... Something is bound to come of it by midweek.
We're going to keep the lunches pretty simple this week.
Tuesday~ Chicken Bahn Mi Sandwich (now with 3 chicken patties) plus side item 50 cents off.
Wednesday~Soup(see above) plus grilled cheese and onion quesadilla. $7.50
Thursday~Grilled Peach salad with fresh mozzarella and arugula $7.50
Friday~ California (sushi maki) Roll, miso soup and cucumber/ seaweed salad. $8.00
The Flavor Journey this week (Tuesday through Friday at night) comes from India. It isn't a curry. It is chicken tikka masala. It is another dish that utilizes many of the healing herbs and spices. In fact, this dish has 20+ ingredients including cinnamon, garam masala (a combination of many Eastern spices), cardamon, cumin, ginger, garlic, and yogurt. All these wonderful flavors are mixed into a sauce, and the chicken is slow cooked in it. The result is a rich stew served over jasmine rice. Served with a salad. $10.99
The seafood (available Wednesday through Friday for dinner) is Tilapia baked in a pistacio crust accompanied by late summer grilled vegetables (squash, onion, eggplant, sweet peppers, Hatch peppers) and a cheddar-onion polenta croquette. Served with a salad. $13.99 If you are a person who knows you need to eat more fish but don't like "fishy" fish, then tilapia should be on your radar. It is very delicate and mild and the pistacio crust should be flavorful.
We look forward to seeing you this week. You might even enjoy dining al fresco. In the evening, if it isn't too windy, we'll have the torches out. While you are here, tell me about your favorite soup.
See you soon~~
Susan
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