Ending Pandemic Isolation

On May 13th the CDC announced that fully vaccinated people need no longer wear masks outdoors or indoors. But I do not think I can just return to normal, because I am still worried about all those who have not received their vaccination. Meanwhile, life continues and my family celebrated not only a birthday, but of taking baby steps towards getting together again, in person, indoors, and sans masks.

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Birthday Wishes

My spouse’s birthday was yesterday, and a week ago two special requests were made. First, was for my special strawberries (that marinate in sugar and Triple Sec) and Market Hall’s chocolate cake, with whip cream. Second, was that the day‘s celebration occur with friends.

I had no qualms about our very dear friends, Eva and Rochelle, coming over to help us celebrate. I knew they had been very careful during this pandemic, and importantly, all four of us had the vaccine over 4 weeks ago. I figured we should be as protected as one can be these days. But even so, we planned to welcome them with masks on, and were going to eat outdoors (luckily the weather report indicated a sunny and warm day).

The Menu

I planned out the sequence and timing for cooking the day prior to the get together, so that I could participate and not be stuck in the kitchen. Other decisions were based on food allergies and sensitivities. Final decision was how to present the food, and I decided to lay out the food buffet style on my kitchen island, and eat outdoors.

I spent the pre-birthday day making all the food while my spouse worked, so that, as I said, when our friends came by I would have to spend only minimal time cooking. Here were the constraints:

• One gluten free person
• One vegetarian
• One with corn allergy
• One person with diabetes

So I decided to go Mediterranean. The menu took some time to figure out, and I did have to go shopping, but also had a lot on hand. So the final menu was set.

• Garbanzo Bean Salad
• Briam (a traditional Greek roasted veggie dish)
• Spanakopita in puff pastry (not phyllo dough)
• A casserole made from Spanakopita filling
• Lemon herbed chicken
• Lemon herbed rice
• Berries over chocolate cake topped with whip cream

I am sharing the ingredients and the ways I made some of these dishes to help give you an idea of how easy these are to make, just time consuming. I am not giving measurements as these recipes are really flexible and forgiving. Just have plenty of herbs and lemons on hand.

Menu + Cooking Directions

Greek Garbanzo Salad

This is a fairly easy dish to make, and combines a healthy amount of pre-cooked garbanzo beans with halved cherry tomatoes (or grape tomatoes), deseeded sliced cucumbers, sliced artichoke hearts, capers, some diced olives, crumbled feta cheese, sliced sweet peppers (red, orange and yellow), salt + pepper, parsley, dill, and mint.

The dressing is vinegar, oil, salt + pepper, and a small amount of Dijon mustard. Later I would add the juice and zest of 1 lemon. Important is to let this marinate for a day, stirring it up every 4 hours or so, to get all of it soaking.

I wanted to serve this dish at room temperature, for if it is too cold (like when just removed from the fridge) the aroma and flavors are not easily discernible. I added more dill and lemon juice just before serving.

Briam (Greek Roasted Veggies)

This dish is very colorful and involves slicing veggies and placing them on end (not flat) in an intermingled spiral around the pan. I made this in an enamel baking dish, used crushed Italian tomatoes to line the bottom of the pan (instead of oil), then added the veggies. The veggies I used were thinly sliced and placed in this order: zucchini, potatoes, fennel bulb, and red onion.

This colorful dish was topped with thickly sliced heirloom tomatoes in the middle. For flavor, I sprinkled chopped parsley, 2 minced garlic, salt and pepper, and also used the crushed tomatoes to provide some liquid to the dish. Finally, I drizzled some very fresh and bold Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

This was covered and placed in the fridge overnight so the next day I would just toss in the oven for 1 hour at 375F. Then, once out of the oven, I topped with chopped fennel fronds and parsley.

There are several keys to this dish: 1) Use thinner (not fat) slices of potatoes so the food all cooks evenly. 2) Mix the potatoes and zucchini in a bowl with oil before placing them in the pot to help prevent oxidation, or wait and do the potatoes the day you cook the dish. 3) Use enamel pots since these are easier to clean when the pot is not oiled.

Puff Pastry Spanakopita

This is just a simple substitution. I make the vegetarian spanakopita filling, but instead of cooking it in phyllo dough, I used puff pastry and made a British Pasty of sorts.

If wanting meat, I could have also added a mixture of lamb + beef ground meat to the filling, but did not do so this time around. This was prepped beforehand, and cooked on the day at 375F for ~45min.

Spanakopita Filling Casserole

I wilted a lot of fresh spinach and added 2 sliced scallions and 1 sliced leek to a bowl. Then chopped one bundle of parsley and dill, and a couple pinches of salt and pepper to the mixture. The next part was to add 16 oz ricotta cheese, 16 oz crumbled feta cheese, and 1/3C finely grated Parmesan. The final addition was 1 well beaten, large egg to the bowl, and mixed everything well. This was placed in a enamel cooking dish, covered, and placed in the fridge for cooking the next day.

The day of the get-together this was put in the oven to cook at 375F for ~30-45 minutes, or until the mixture was tight and the cheese melted. Before serving I added dill, parsley, and some mint.

Lemon Herbed Chicken

I always spatchcock chicken (or turkey) and cook at 400F for 30 minutes, then at 350F for ~30-45 minutes; 95% of the time when using this technique it usually comes out perfect.

• Spatchcock technique video
• My variations from the Youtube video I referenced above
  • I will bake anything I cut away with the bird, so nothing is wasted.
    • My intent is to put all bones, skin, and fat in a plastic bag in the freezer in order to make chicken broth later. I do remove any herbs, veggies or herbs.
  • I cut out the backbone, tips of the wings, the butt tail, and any extra fat globs and place them around or under the bird.
  • To break the breastbone I just flip the bird over and using my hands and weight, press down and it pops open.
  • Then season both sides, place herbed butter under the breast skin, and place the chicken on a bed of lemons, garlic, herbs, or whatever you like.

This time I prepared the chicken the day before so I just had to pop it into the oven. Prepping meant placing the flattened chicken on a baking sheet, over a bed of sliced lemons, layered with sprigs of rosemary, oregano and thyme. I salted and peppered the meat well, then added an herbed butter (with these same herbs, minced), under the skin and a sprinkle of olive oil on top.

Once cooked, I tented the chicken to rest for ~10-15 minutes. Then cut it into parts, leaving it all in the pan. Because one person was a vegetarian, I did not place the chicken out, as I did not want to offend; but kept it covered and explained people could add it to their plates if they wanted.

Lemon Herbed Rice

This dish cannot be done ahead of time so was made the day of our gathering.

Normally I would sauté diced yellow onion, one minced garlic, with some Italian Orzo (pasta that is shaped like rice) in olive oil. Then, once browned, would make the rice as described below. But since I needed this to be gluten free I skipped the orzo part completely.

So instead, I started by washing white Basmati rice well, for I did not want kernals to stick together. Then cooked the rice in a flavorful broth (chicken or veggie, in this case a veggie broth). Added the juice and zest of one lemon to that broth, covered the pot, and set on high. Once at a rolling boil, I lowered the heat to a simmer, and cooked for ~15 minutes. Then, turned off the heat but kept the lid on tight, and did not take the pot off the burner. Thus, the rice steamed for ~10 minutes more, then I opened the lid and mixed in the juice and zest of another lemon, along with chopped dill and parsley. Mixed well and put the lid back on so it kept warm.

The Visiting of Friends

As planned, we wore our masks to welcome them into our home. Had our first big hugs in nearly 18 months and since they had never visited our home, we did the tour that ended up in the back yard, where we would eat.

When the food was ready, everyone came indoors to fill their plates, as I had decided to set up dinner buffet-style on the kitchen counter. Sitting at the outdoor table, we removed our masks, in order to eat, and started catching up. From that point on we forgot about masks completely.

As the sun started to set, it became chilly, so we moved indoors, sitting at a distance from one another in our living room, I did have the air purifier on, but again no masks. Oh my goodness the stories we shared…so much has happened in our lives since we had last spent time together.

Nearly 5 hours later, and it could have gone on further, we called it a day, and our friends left with a sack full of food. As usual, I made way too much, so had to send them home with leftovers.

The next day, and several days later, we are still eating leftovers. But more critically, my spouse remains happy from the visit. Seeing long-time friends is so critical to maintaining a healthy mental attitude, that I believe we are both excited about who we will invite over next month.

Following the guidelines, we are relaxing our pandemic isolation by planning on inviting friends over once a month for a small dinner party. Those friends will all have had their vaccines, like we have, so that we can all relax our “pandemic alert systems” a bit, and just enjoy company with hugs, food, laughter, perhaps some wine, and lots of catching up.

—Patty