YURA’S MEALS-TO-GO

Here are some highlights from this week’s Meals-to-Go:

This meal’s a festival of light that feels perfect for Chanukah. Turmeric and saffron give a glow to this Roasted Salmon–its complexion revealing its Persian Style. Marinated briefly (a little sweet, tang, and salty), the fish is then roasted quickly and basted in pan-juices. Sheveed Polo (Iranian Dilled Rice), with its verdant appearance, brings even more brightness and color to the plate. Honey-Saffron Glazed Carrots bring the elements full circle, the radiant orange amplifying the salmon’s blush. 

Soup can drop the pretense of being exclusively a first course, and fully embrace its entree bona fides. Buddy’s Big Italian Wedding Soup is a bowl to belly up to—his full-size Beef-Pork Meatballs guarantee it’s course secondo, not merely primo. With its super rich chicken broth and signature ditalini pasta, the leafy greens and lemon evoke another classic, stracciatella. Overall, this meal feels as substantial as any bowl of pasta. Serve it sprinkled with the Parm and virgin olive oil included in the box.

December dinners are all about sitting down to special meals that don’t compete with cocktail parties, Christmas, or remind you of what you’d overeaten at Thanksgiving. When you’re fowled-out, or leaving room for the rib roast and baked ham fast approaching, Pot Pies of Mushrooms and Winter Vegetables are homey, festive and not at all redundant. The pastry is filled with skillet-browned leeks, cremini and shiitake, plus the velouté from deglazing all that with white wine and cream. Add to it, frost-sweetened carrots, parsnips, roasted cauliflower, and rutabaga, then we bake them, with thyme and peas, double-crusted, until brown and bubbling.

Say Parmesan Polenta and you needn’t say more, that’s how much we’ve come to love this rich, creamy side dish. We use it as a smooth, comfy bed for Chicken Cacciatore, a savory braise that these chilly days make even more inviting. So, shake off the cold and sit down to this rustic chicken dinner, with its crushed tomatoes, bell peppers, earthy mushrooms, root veggies, and soothing polenta.

If you’re looking for a romantic pasta to curl up by the fire with, this vegetarian lasagna evokes some of the season’s most atmospheric. We’re thinking, stuffed ravioli, cannelloni…a nest of tagliatelle…, when we layer Cider-Roasted Butternut with Spinach, Leeks and Sage into a Bechamel-Sauced Lasagna. A perfect supper for settling into the winter solstice.