So the spouse is away for a few days...

[Jenise]

...and suddenly you can cook anything you want. Whatcha gonna have?

[Robin Garr]

Same stuff we have when she's here, but maybe a little more hot'n'spicy.

(My former answer, "all things shrimp," is no longer operative.)

Actually that is the case tonight and tomorrow night. Tonight is going to be a traditional pasta sauce with the inclusion of a fair amount of hot chili flakes and I'll simmer some chicken thighs and mushrooms in it to serve over beans and rice with a salad.

But tomorrow, ah... tomorrow. Using a Christmas gift card for a great butcher shop to get some incredible lamb shanks for a slow braise served with the traditional white beans all garlicky and rosemaryed up topped with gremolata.

Something that involves a runny egg yolk.

Well, I'd take a night off cooking!

Either get a takeaway Indian or Fish'n'Chips, open a bottle of decent wine and afterwards settle down in front of the TV to watch programmes on catch-up that she doesn't like, such as Call the Midwife, or Ripper Street on Amazon, or maybe Fargo TV series (again) on Netflix.

(When I'm away she cooks all the things I don't like

Funny you should ask....

LAMB!

My ambrosia, Wifey's kryptonite.

After that, anything spicy, lemony, and chickeny. All three are usually off the menu when I cook for both of us. But lamb first

After that, anything spicy, lemony, and chickeny. :

Have you tried Madhur Jaffreys Lemony Coriander Chicken?

I regualrly make this at home. There's many versions based on the original out on the web, such as http://www.networkoffood.com/poultry/ma ... coriander/

Its a one pan dish, takes no me more than 40 mins to cook from start to finish as I use dices of chicken ratherthan on the bone.

Clams.

Even if she's in town but not coming home for lunch on a day I stop at the seafood shop, I often buy clams because she won't eat them and they're no fun to eat alone while having cooked something else for her.

Have you tried Madhur Jaffreys Lemony Coriander Chicken?

Thank you very much for that, Peter. As my wife is currently away until next Tuesday, I shall have to give this one a whirl. Much appreciated.

[Jenise]

Clams.

Even if she's in town but not coming home for lunch on a day I stop at the seafood shop, I often buy clams because she won't eat them and they're no fun to eat alone while having cooked something else for her.

Right there at the top of my list, too; maybe a big pot of clam chowder. My favorite soup that I no longer make because Bob's allergic. And Linguine ala vongole would not be out of the question.

I might tuck into a jar of pickled pigs feet, too.

I wouldn't know where to begin. Wait, yes, I do. Something spicy, up to and including my favorite hot sauce over fried chicken.

Thick cut pork chops. We don't eat much meat (haven't had red meat in four years), but when my wife is away--I'm ok with cheating! And I'd take a thick pork chop over steak any day.

Had to laugh about the pickled pigs feet. Love pigs feet anyway I get them and just finishing a pot of bean soup made with a smoked ham bone, prosciutto skin trimmings and a split pigs foot. That rich flavor and unctuous texture is right up there with chicken feet but better because of size. Husband calls it "eating cooties" I said, "You wouldn't say that at NOMA".
I do sneak ingredients that he "thinks" he won't eat yet raves about after the fact.
Fun topic

[Jenise]

I said, "You wouldn't say that at NOMA".

Great rejoinder! Not sure how I'd feel about pickled pigs feet if I didn't grow up with them, but since I did, can't really question it. And it's about the only thing I can actually think of that remains on the list of about 40 things Bob wouldn't eat when I met him 20-something years ago. He now eats virtually everything I do (his one allergy nonwithstanding). He's even suffered through a bowl of creamed peas for breakfast!

He's even suffered through a bowl of creamed peas for breakfast!

Good grief! That's love.

I remember in the 70s in Paris overdosing on Pied de cochon (trotters). My friend refused to consider them.

[Jenise]

He's even suffered through a bowl of creamed peas for breakfast!

Good grief! That's love.

Starvation, really; he doesn't cook for himself. Eats what I eat or makes a PBJ. Very comforting food though, and another way to get a few more servings of vegetable into one's day (not my personal motive but how I 'sell' it).

[Jenise]

I remember in the 70s in Paris overdosing on Pied de cochon (trotters). My friend refused to consider them.

My grandmother made them when I was a kid. She wasn't Mexican, but she worked as an upholstery seamstress and a majority of her coworkers were, and it was through them that she fell in love with and learned to make them. They were the best--more garlic, more bay leaf, more dried chiles than any other version I've had.

Something glutenous! Haley is a celiac, so I very rarely get to indulge in gluten, unless we eat out. I'd make myself fresh pasta with duck eggs and a creamy or olive oil sauce of some sort.

Grr...now I'm hungry for pasta!

Maybe liver (I'm much more a fan of offal than Bets).
Sausage too.