Weekly menu from August 31st to September 6th, from the last bite of summer to the first week of September

There's real variety: legumes, pasta, fish, meat, eggs, vegetables, a raw Peruvian recipe, a Bulgarian filo pastry pie, and two recently published additions that simply had to be included. On Thursday, we had baked Camembert with figs and honey for dinner, and on Friday, we had a Murcian-style La Catalana sandwich. To keep things from getting too heavy, the days with more substantial meals are paired with lighter or quicker dinners, and the weekend features dishes that benefit from a bit more preparation.

Monday

Lunch. We started with cannelloni stuffed with tuna, filled with tuna, tomato, and hard-boiled egg, topped with béchamel sauce and finished with a gratin topping. It's a great recipe to prepare ahead of time: you can assemble the dish beforehand and leave the final touch in the oven until lunchtime. A simple side salad is enough to complete the meal without adding any other heavy ingredients.

Dinner. Matbuja completely changes the game. Tomatoes and peppers are cooked until thick, syrupy, and concentrated, and can be served warm, at room temperature, or cold with pita bread. Since it requires a long reduction, it's worth preparing it in the afternoon or even in advance; resting does it good, and by Monday night, half of dinner is already sorted.

Mars

Food. A lentil and rice dish is a great way to incorporate legumes into your week without resorting to the classic stew with sausage. It includes vegetables, potatoes, and rice, and it sits very well, so it's one of those recipes you can cook in the morning or prepare the day before. Keep an eye on the liquid level when reheating because the rice will continue to absorb broth.

Dinner. We move on to something completely different with the avocado tiradito: thinly sliced ​​sea bass, avocado, tiger's milk, corn, sweet potato, and capers. There's no room to assemble this hours in advance. We can prepare the sweet potato, corn, and mise en place ahead of time, but the fish, avocado, and dressing are sliced ​​and assembled at the end. The sea bass must arrive properly frozen if it's going to be eaten raw.

Wednesday

Food. Gramajo scrambled eggs combine shoestring potatoes, creamy eggs, and cooked ham. It sounds simple, but its charm lies in the contrast: truly crispy potatoes and juicy eggs, not a reheated mess. We can fry the potatoes an hour or two in advance and keep them spread out, but the scrambled eggs are made just before sitting down to eat.

Dinner. After that meal, a cream of leek and zucchini soup makes for a much more peaceful evening. Leek, zucchini, and potato are cooked and then blended with a little cream. It can be prepared in advance and gently reheated; if it's still warm, it's perfectly fine to serve it lukewarm rather than piping hot.

Thursday

Lunch. The rigatoni with mushrooms and cheese sauce features a sauce made with fresh mushrooms, cream, mustard, white wine, lemon, and aged Italian cheese. It's a creamier pasta dish than the ones we've had in previous weeks, so we're serving it at lunchtime and leaving some for dinner to share. The sauce can be prepared in advance; the pasta should be cooked fresh to ensure it has a good texture.

Dinner. This new recipe for baked Camembert with figs and honey requires little ceremony but a fair amount of punctuality. The cheese is baked whole with figs and thyme for about 12-15 minutes, the honey is added at the end, and the bread should be toasted when the dish comes out of the oven. This isn't a dinner to leave waiting: the Camembert thickens again as it cools, so the key here is to have everything ready before turning on the oven.

Friday

Food. For Friday, we'll try our other new addition: the Murcian version of La Catalana sandwich. Lightly toasted bread, grated tomato, a touch of garlic, olive oil, and Serrano ham. It doesn't need anything else to work. You can prepare the tomato sauce a while beforehand and take the ham out of the fridge in advance, but the sandwich is assembled at the last minute so the bread doesn't get too soggy.

Dinner. We're wrapping up Friday with a potato and spinach omelet. It has potatoes, onions, and sautéed spinach, so it has more vegetables than a classic omelet without losing that comforting, home-cooked feel. You can eat it freshly made or warm; if it's hot, don't leave it at room temperature for hours and refrigerate any leftovers.

Saturday

Food. The weekend is a great time to turn on the oven and prepare a leisurely roast rabbit with potatoes, white wine, rosemary, and thyme. The meat is marinated for about 30 minutes and then baked for around 40, turning it halfway through. It's a complete tray meal that doesn't require much attention and leaves the kitchen much freer than a long stew.

Dinner. After the roast, quinoa with vegetables is a great way to lighten the load. The quinoa is cooked separately and mixed with a sauté of onion, garlic, peppers, carrot, and tomato. It can be made in advance and is delicious served warm; plus, if there are leftovers, it's one of the easiest dishes to pack in a container for the next day.

Sunday

Food. Bulgarian banitsa offers a unique Sunday meal without requiring a lengthy recipe. Phyllo dough is rolled with a filling of cheese, egg, and yogurt, placed in a spiral, and baked until crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. It's especially good warm and pairs well with a simple side salad to lighten the meal.

Dinner. We finished with homemade pickled mussels. Here, the work is done beforehand: the mussels are cooked, covered with a pickling liquid of garlic, bay leaf, paprika, vinegar, and some of the cooking liquid, and they benefit from at least 24 hours of resting. With bread, tomato, or a simple salad, we have a Sunday dinner that practically only requires opening the container and serving.

Breakfasts and snacks for this week

For weekdays, oatmeal porridge is the quickest option: five minutes in the saucepan, and you can top it with seasonal fruit, nuts, or yogurt. If mornings are hectic, the overnight oatmeal version allows you to prepare breakfast the day before.

For a baked afternoon treat, the Rioja-style sobada keeps well for several days if kept away from air. It has a tender crumb and a thin sugar crust, so it's worth making it once and cutting portions throughout the week instead of turning on the oven every afternoon.

And to truly bid farewell to the hot days, the Granada-style frothy milk is somewhere between a granita and ice cream. The base of milk, cinnamon, and lemon can be frozen in advance; the blending is done just before serving to maintain that very fine and creamy icy texture.

Useful articles for organizing your week

If you're buying fruit for Thursday's recipe, the guide "Figs: How to Choose, Store, and Use Them in Cooking" is especially helpful. Ripe figs are delicate, and the practical advice is simple: buy a few at a time, refrigerate them without piling them up, and decide soon which ones you'll eat and which ones you should cook.

Your pantry will be much more versatile when you learn how to cook with canned goods. This article explains what's worth keeping on hand, when to drain or use the liquids, and, most importantly, why canned goods are already in an advanced stage of cooking and often only need a short heat, not another long, slow cooking process.

And today's article, "How to Reduce Your Consumption of Processed Foods Without Complicating Your Life," fits perfectly with a week of reorganization. It doesn't propose eliminating all packaged foods at once: it distinguishes between processed and ultra-processed foods and suggests small changes, a useful pantry, and preparing meals in advance so that the quick option isn't always the worst.

How to organize this weekly menu

On Sunday or Monday, we can get a head start on dishes that really improve with resting. Lentils with rice can be cooked in advance, as can matbuja; in both cases, the flavors will develop. If we want to be free of work on Sunday, homemade pickled mussels can be prepared on Saturday so they have their 24 hours of resting time.

It's also worth taking advantage of the oven in batches. Rioja-style sobada keeps well for several days, and the roast rabbit can be seasoned while you prepare the potatoes. Bulgarian banitsa allows you to store pre-baked portions and reheat them in the oven or air fryer to regain some of their crispness.

There are four recipes that shouldn't be prepared too far in advance. The avocado tiradito is dressed just before eating; the Gramajo scrambled eggs need freshly set eggs and crispy potatoes; the baked Camembert with figs and honey comes straight from the oven to the table; and the Murcian La Catalana sandwich is assembled at the end so the tomato doesn't turn the bread into a sponge.

To spread out the shopping, we can group together basic vegetables—onions, garlic, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, and zucchini—and then separate the more delicate items: sea bass for Tuesday, figs for Thursday, Serrano ham for Friday, and mussels for pickling. Buying perishables in two batches prevents filling the fridge on Monday with food we won't use until the weekend.

Breakfasts also allow you to take some time out of the way. Oatmeal porridge takes five minutes, but you can make overnight oats if you prefer to prepare them in advance; the base of the pomegranate curly milk can remain frozen until you're ready to blend it. With this little planning, your menu doesn't depend on cooking from scratch twice a day, and you still have dishes that arrive at the table at their best.