Over the years I’ve come to realize that I don’t like to eat heavy evening meals or much later than 7:30pm, as it makes me feel uncomfortable and sluggish and really hungry the next morning.
I also don’t particularly feel like cooking complex or complicated meals after a long day at work! Recipes that require long, slow cooking to tenderize won’t be ready until 9pm or later, and by then I am usually no longer inclined to eat. Ideally, weeknight dinner ideas should be quick to prepare and cook, but result in delicious and easy to digest meals.
Many a planned weeknight dinner has been put on hold after being stuck in the infamous peak hour traffic, for any length of time, on Sheikh Zayed road on the way home. It occurred to me last week after one such delay, that a husband whose wife works a full time job outside the home and comes home to cook an evening meal for him and the kids is a very lucky man indeed!
Soups, eggs, grilled fish, chicken or meat prepared as stir fries or curries that can be ready within an hour or less are perfect for a quick and easy weeknight meal. It helps to have all the ingredients laid out; chopped, sliced and diced; and ready to be cooked or assembled.
I have decided to test a few recipes in the next week to determine exactly how long it takes to prepare a soup, main course or dessert. In my experience the preparation and cooking times on recipes published in books and online tend to underestimate the actual preparation and/or cooking time required…. add to that the hustle and bustle of family life, and a working wife or mother could find herself in a bit of a tangle.
I have a loose idea of a schedule for this week:
- Sunday, 19th April 2015: Mushroom soup
- Monday, 20th April 2015: Fig and almond tart
- Tuesday, 21st April 2015: Traffic snarl delayed cooking 🙁
Wednesday, 22nd April 2015: Caramelised garlic tart
