A Tale of Two Verdes

I was given Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food for Christmas and have eagerly made my way past the first 50 some pages ...landing on the ever important basics of a few staple sauces.
The one that really caught my eye was the salsa verde because all of its components are things I love. .and love to amplify!  (I say amplify because upon looking at one of her other sauces, the vinaigrette, her ratio of oil to vinegar is something like 1:4  .....and honestly I do it the opposite.  And I use way too much garlic.  I understand this probably specifically makes me an unsavory cook in many eyes but what can I say besides we really like that Oh Fuck Bang! Bite in my house)
...I also may have stated previously that I will, on occasion, just drink the leftover vinegar dressing from the empty salad bowl.
...and even with my verde I did not measure it out the way Alice suggests, but I did keep it in mind.  (Sidenote: Alice, I really think you are amazing. And I've originally heard of you because my father in law used to be in your circle of friends you did group dinner cookings with well before your restaurant days. )

Last night I did roasted chicken thighs on garlic mash with roasted asparagus. ..served with the verde.
Tonight I did steak stir fry strips that were tossed in the verde right before serving with a side of red wine vinegar dressing mixed green salad with red onion, tomato, goat cheese over avocado.
Both yummy.   ...couldn't tell you which I preferred! But my one year old just couldn't get enough of the chicken, mash, and verde altogether.

The verde:
As close to mince as you can parsley (flat leaf preferably) and capers.  ...about a 2:1 ratio.
A clove  (or 2 if you are feeling crazy) minced garlic.
Some olive oil. I only like to put enough in to get everything juicy mixed because I know I'll be adding lemon juice. 
Before you add lemon juice. .let it stand for at least 30min to get the flavors meshed.  Salt pepper to taste.

...I know there is a thing to following recipes, but I think sauces are better felt up as supposed to just blindly executed. 
...then again,  I'm eating it...I might be more frugal if I was being judged outside my inside circle that is my family.

Dressing Up Italian Dressing

I had an image in my mind this afternoon. ..it involved using the last avocado in the fridge and Italian dressing (when on a lazy day I will just cut the avo in half and fill the little crater with dressing and eat with a spoon!) ...but I envisioned the avo sprinkled over a nice dish..something with color. 
I pan seared some boneless skinless chicken thighs in butter. .added carrots a few minutes after flipping the chicken pieces. .to be caramelized essentially.  I added a few drizzles of Italian dressing.
Meanwhile roasting some small white boiling onions in the oven.
A mixed greens salad with a touch of red onion and a tomato I cut in half so we can allocate our own bites with the salad.  And of course an avocado. ..
It came out delicious. ..maybe I was just hungry.  But we ate it all up. .and baby girl had a bit of it all.

Man Made

The hubbub took last week off.  I too got a little off time since he was home.  He spent loads of time with the kiddo and even cooked a couple meals (and cleaned up after!  Amazing)
One day it was awesome burritos with all the fixings.
Another dinner was this fantastic crumbed parmessian chicken with a side of gratin potatoes and a salad that just blew my mind. ..the salad was a mix green,  with avocado and tomato but the dressing was lemon, balsamic vinegar,olive oil, salt pepper.  It had that bite that I love about vinegar dressings but without that heartburn aftermath when you drink the leftover dressing. .. am I alone in drinking balsamic dressing leftovers?

....this week, budgeting. ..did a hearty stew that will take us Monday through to Thursday dinners. Added mushroom this time. .pretty good.