This week went pretty well to plan – only a couple of meals changed around. I wanted to empty the freezer a bit and I managed to do that. I'm sure I'll fill it back up in no time. But I need to pay attention, we just booked our holiday to Finland end of July and I want to bring back all kinds of local things that I can't get here, so will need all the freezer space I can have.

Monday Husband foraged for some leftovers as I was away.
Tuesday I made crispy oven baked panko shrimp with a Greek salad.  (Shrimp from freezer)
Wednesday was Turkey, vegetables and chickpea stew. (Turkey breast from freezer)
Thursday Smoked salmon, asparagus, feta and fillo tartlets (from freezer)
Friday was supposed to be fish. I had 3 lemon sole fillets in the freezer which I defrosted. As I opened the pack a horrible rancid smell filled the kitchen. First I thought that it’s just the smell you sometimes get when you open a vacuum pack and then it goes away. It soon became clear that the smell was from some kind of evil dimension and was not going away. I wrapped the poor sole (!) in several plastic bags to isolate the smell and chucked it in the bin. I always feel bad throwing away food, especially if it has been a living being, or a being and a half in this case :( But it wasn't really my fault, it had only been in the freezer a couple of weeks and was within the dates when I froze it.

The smell lingered even after opening the back door and when shortly after husband came home he asked if there was a dead rat somewhere. "No darling, not to worry", I reassured, "it’s your dinner."


Husband has a very sensitive nose, so he went around the house with his trusted little lavender spray bottle while I defrosted some ground moose in the microwave. I made my Mighty Moose Stroganoff, but slightly altered. Instead of boring chestnut mushrooms I had some lovely Finnish funnel chanterelles which I also defrosted. These are a regarded a delicacy in Finland, there are loads of them in the forests in the fall months, but you need to know the right places to go. They taste stronger and smokier than their pretty famous blond cousin the girolle or golden chanterelle. I love them both.




Also in the stroganoff I used this really interesting looking black balsamic garlic - jury's out on the interestingness (yes, it is a word) of the taste - and added some sprouting broccoli that I had in the fridge. I served it with a spelt spaghetti.

Saturday was BBQ central – yoghurt marinated lamb cutlets and a really quite large side of salmon in a smoker bag with baghali polo - rice with dill and broad beans.
Sunday I was going to roast duck legs, but we ended up having Saturday's left overs.

This week there's nothing specific going on, no travelling or evenings out, so lots of cooking opportunity!

This weeks dinner plan

Monday - Duck legs, bumped from Sunday
Tuesday - Some lovely fresh fish or seafood, depending on what catches my eye at the fish counter
Wednesday - Chicken marsala
Thursday - Sweet potato soup
Friday - Grid-iron salmon and grilled vegetables
Saturday – Moose salami and grilled vegetable pizza
Sunday – I have a friend coming over for lunch and I want to barbecue us something, not sure yet what, maybe seafood skewers and I might smoke some fish, and I'll definitely do a nice selection of little starters, dips and salads

As usual I'm sharing the meal planning fun with Mrs M, where I always get inspiration from other bloggers and meal planners.