Pumpkin stuffed w/ everything in the refrigerator - French Fridays w/ Dorie

From last Thanksgiving

This was the first recipe I made from the book. In fact, this recipe was the reason I bought the book, after hearing an interview with dorie on npr. I took license with this recipe since I've made it 2x before. For last year's Thanksgiving, I made in two Kabocha squashes with leftover baguette from Iggy's, 1/2 and 1/2, scallions, Gruyere, very good bacon, onions, and pretty much according to the recipe. It's like a quiche Lorraine in a pumpkin.

This time I thought I'd experiment and put in 2 stalks of kale (obviously just the leaf part), leftover onions, olives & anchovies from last week's pissiladaire, stale, wheat baguette from Iggy's, bacon, Parmesan, and chicken broth. Had it been cooked an extra hour, it would have been great. But I did it for the 2 hours recommended and it wasn't near enough. I think because the kale needed a lot more time to cook, but my pumpkin wasn't nice and creamy yet either. It was a sugar pumpkin, but very yellow inside. The flavor was good, but again, about an hour more cooking and it would have been where it should be. I'll finish off the baking tonight and update with the results.

What I didn't mention is that I was almost in tears because I was really hungry, tired and wanted a good dinner. Had also not picked up ice cream for myself because I was being strong and knew a nice meal would be waiting for me. Once I had a little food in me, and a little wine, my spirits picked up and I realized it wasn't the most horrible thing I've eaten and was actually ok, just not how yummy I know it can be.

Stuffing - how's this all going to fit?

But it did!

Not wrinkly enough and too soupy - not done yet.

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pissaladiere - French Fridays w/ Dorie

When I first saw this recipe in the book, I didn't fully read it because I remembered seeing pissaladiere from one of my mother's Bon Appetites, long ago, and it just didn't appeal to me. Or maybe it wasn't worth the bother? I don't know but something didn't work for me. Maybe if someone had given me a taste, or made it a FFWD assignment, I would have changed my mind. Oh, guess I did!

This morning I made the dough and became skeptical. It wasn't the right texture and certainly not firm enough, but I put in the recommended flour and double-checked the rest of the measurements. I know dough changes as it "matures" so didn't want, or have time, to make any adjustments. I put it in the refrigerator because I had to go to work. When I got home, I took out the dough and put it in a warm place to come to temperature and rise. As instructed, while that was happening I made the onion topping.

The recipe is super easy, but it does take a lot of time. I loved the topping and as soon as I put in the mashed anchovies, the smell was heavenly. So back to the dough. I don't know if I just needed to put in more flour or because I used 1/2 cup whole wheat, but this was very, super-soft. I did end up using more flour to knead it a little and it improved a bit but the thought of rolling it out was making me rather nervous. I decided to put down parchment, poured out the dough, and cover it with plastic wrap. I then used a rolling pin to roll it out thin. It did get thin, but then I panicked as I started to peel off the plastic wrap. But no fear. After I got the sticky edge off, the rest pulled off easily.

Then I put on the onion mixture and then my daughter took a video, I think, while I decorated it with the anchovies and olives. Then as I put it in the oven, I remembered I wasn't supposed to put on the anchovies and olives until after it baked. Oh well, it was already close to 7 PM and this needed to get cooked! So in it went and and wow, what a great smell.

I still don't think the dough was as it should be, but it did taste very good. It was a little salty, maybe too salty with the extra anchovies. I will leave them off next time and just use the onions and probably the olives, but fewer. I wonder if anyone else used Parmesan cheese? I feel like it was asking for it but maybe that would add too much salt as well. I hadn't put in any extra, though the recipe called for it, but I was liberal with the black pepper.

More food photos from Monterey

Crêpes of Brittany! - spinach & caramelized onions

JuJuBee - sort of like an apple but not juicy and sweet, but has a pit like a date - apparently good for the digestion

ornamental eggplant - very neat. Looked like tomatoes.

One of a plethora of fresh figs - about 5 varieties in the container. This kind was the best. Can anyone identify?

Dine Around

Before I got to the conference, I registered for a dine around. This is organized by the conference and there are several restaurants and topics to choose from. I selected the topic about serving your community and the restaurant was Montrio Bistro. As the rest of the people who were there, we selected for the restaurant, more than the topic. Good choice for all of us. The company and the food were well worth pulling me out of my mood to be anti-social. I happened to talk quite a lot to very interesting people, mostly 2 smart and fun women from Wisconsin (who didn't even work together, but knew each other) and one former school media specialist, now turned asst. director for a public library in CT. There were other people at the table, but we were on one end and our conversations didn't mix too much.

For dinner, I started with an interesting cocktail - Corazon Valiente; mezcal (a smoky liquor made from the agave plant), blackberry-plum shrub, lemon and agave nectar. It was pretty strong, but once I had a few sips, really nice and refreshing.

I didn't want a full entree, plus I wasn't in the mood for meat, so I selected an absolutely wonderful salad of poached pear, warm nut? crusted goat cheese, and mixed field greens with candied pecans.

I also tried another appetizer - the baby artichoke - smoked bacon risotto with spinach and parmesan. It was very good, but I seriously enjoyed the salad the most. Of course I couldn't skip dessert, so had the Chocolate Ganache cake. This would have been a fairly standard dessert, though perfectly creamy/fudgy and not very sweet, had they not served it with a small scoop of coffee ice cream and drizzle of caramel mousse and stout caramel. Looks alone probably made this taste fabulous.

Abalonetti Seafood Trattoria - grilled eggplant, roasted fennel, roasted peppers, marinated artichoke hearts, olives, a whole roasted bulb of garlic!, marinated calamari, mushrooms, garlic spinach, feta cheese, on lettuce. I was in heaven. Ate it outside, looking at the water, (flocks of birds flying overhead were a bit much), but it was the perfect lunch/dinner for me!

Pics for french friday

Blini and pumpkin totam from langwater farms.

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buckwheat blini with smoked salmon and crème fraîche - French Fridays w/ Dorie

My daughter has been asking me for quite a while when we can have the lox again. She's talking about the salmon in a jar we made last month. I thought the blini would be just the excuse to make the salmon again and it was. As usual, I took shortcuts, not out of laziness exactly, but more because of limited time. The salmon still turned out wonderfully. I coated it Tuesday night in the salt & sugar. It rested for the night and then in the morning I rinsed it and covered it with olive oil, peppercorns & coriander seed. I didn't have any onions (no onions in the house??!!) so didn't add any vegetables. In the morning is also when I mixed up the batter for the blini. I did cut the recipe in half because it seemed like an awful lot for just the three of us. I left it covered on the counter all day since it was a fairly cool day.

Wednesday after work I pick up the CSA order and this week we got daikon. Knowing we needed vegetables, I thought the daikon would lend the spiciness missing from the onions. I made daikon and carrot ribbons, mixed them with black pepper & lemon juice, and put them on top of mesclun. On the plate I added the sliced salmon and blini. I had my doubts that this would have enough taste and be satisfying, but it was really the salmon that brought it all together. I didn't have any creamy topping. It probably could have used it to round out the flavor, but we truly enjoyed the flavors and textures.

So the blini, which is the main focus of this meal, was very good. Again I didn't really do these properly because I didn't have the buckwheat flour and substituted whole wheat instead. These had great flavor and I will get the proper flour for the next time I make these. I may also make them as traditional pancakes because they were very flavorful, light and fluffy on the inside, and a bit crispy on the outside.

olive-olive cornish hens - French Fridays w/ Dorie

We were out of town last week, but on Monday I caught up and made the hens. The prep was easy enough, though not something truly enjoyed, since I'm not a fan of playing with poultry of any kind. I also made the homemade tapenade, but, as Dorie suggested, used 1/2 of the oven-dried tomatoes from this summer, along with the olives. It gave the hens a very nice, fruity/salty taste. The cooking method is excellent. Dorie is right, these were done in about 1/2 an hour and I let them rest about 15 minutes and they were juicy and perfectly cooked. I probably will not make Cornish hens again, but will use this recipe with normal chicken breasts. We had them with potatoes mashed w/ cauliflower, olive oil and parmesan cheese, roasted vegetables, and leftover red cabbage from my MILs.

Last night I broiled the tapenade on Italian bread.

Great salad idea

Autumn harvest salad: fennel-roasted apples, grapes, blue cheese and toasted hazelnuts — food & style

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Cake

Update, the cake turned out great! Chocolate cake, caramel, caramel butter cream, candied bacon.

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Weekly CSA Share

• 1 head lettuce or one bag mesculn mix - salad
• 1 bunch radishes - ?? still have from last week!
• 1 bunch beets or carrots - maple glazed
• 1 bag spinach - sauteed w/ garlic & white beans
• 1 acorn or delicata squash - the farm's favorite is the delicata, but we found the acorn to be tastier w/ the best texture. Last week I cubed them, put a little apple juice in the pan and roasted at 400 for 40 min. Loved it!
• 1 head kohlrabi - ??
• 1 head cauliflower - au gratin (Dorie recipe that my mom adores and I haven't tried yet)
• 1 1/2 lbs potatoes - mashed
• 1 bunch kale or collard greens - sauteed w/ garlic & white beans

The real question is what I have left over from last week and when we're going to eat it. We only have 2 meals left at home until Sunday! We still have peppers, radishes, cabbage, romanesco, and fennel. Tonight I'm making chicken with double fennel and a stir-fry with romanesco. We'll skip this week's FFWD, which is cornish game hens, and maybe I'll make the spicy peanut noodles w/ cabbage from last week's Langwater newsletter.

Cake Experiments

Tonight Shara and I baked our favorite chocolate layer cake. This was her first time cracking an egg and most of it got in the bowl. At the last minute I grabbed a bowl and said, "Wait! put it in this!" and the yolk and about 1/2 the white made it in. I was surprised the yolk remained intact since the shell was pretty much shmushed. But that was fine since the only reason we were adding another egg was because the first one looked too small and pale. During all the commotion with trying to find tasks to keep Shara busy and cleaning up the trail, I forgot the pinch of salt and adding some coffee in place of water. I still think it will taste fine because we're going to make this cake fit for Alan.

What would that entail? Bacon, lots of bacon. So, chocolate cake layered with salted buttermilk caramel & topped with candied bacon. The caramel is an adaptation from Bon Appetit. I'm going to replace the heavy cream and crème fraîche with buttermilk. I'll also make some caramel to mix with the bacon and lay out to harden. I think it would be neat to pulverize the caramelized bacon, but probably won't have time for that. I'll see.

Cabbage Potage

Yes, purple cabbages do make purple soup!

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deconstructed BLT and eggs - French Fridays w/Dorie

Bacon makes everything better. This seems to be the motto at our house and with good reason. We were lucky to have beautiful lettuce this week from the CSA and still had grape tomatoes from our garden. Arugula is available, but we prefer the milder lettuce. Maybe a combo of the two, but I only got the lettuce and opted for spinach over arugula this week. How much can we eat?! About a month ago, I slow-roasted/sun-dried a bunch of cherry tomatoes and used those for the first time with this salad. I chopped the tomatoes and fresh basil to add to the dressing. This was a nice, light dinner and also loved that it was quick to make. Alan opted out of the mayonnaise (and it wasn't homemade), but I put the dabs on the eggs and I thought it added a nice, rich flavor to the whole salad. Another recipe that will be made often and I wouldn't bother looking at the actual recipe. It's really just the idea that is needed.

croutons fried in bacon fat 

weekly CSA share

1 bag spinach - sauteed w/ garlic

1 head cabbage - maybe Spiced Indian Cabbage or Curry of Cabbage & Potatoes

1 bunch cilantro - w/ cabbage? freeze some

4 hot peppers - w/ cabbage?

1 bunch radishes - sauteed

1 bunch kale or collards - sauteed w/ garlic, kalamata olives, onion & pepperoni

1 pint potatoes - mashed

1 bulb fennel or 1 bunch turnips - chicken w/ double fennel

1 head lettuce or 1 bag arugula - Dorie's deconstructed BLT salad

1 head broccoli or cauliflower - baked w/ cheese

1 bunch beets - roasted, greens sauteed with kale

1 delicata squash - roasted w/ maple

1 acorn squash - roasted w/ maple

honey-spiced madeleines - French Fridays w/ Dorie

I have to confess to never having had a real madeleine before and if the assignment wasn't for the spiced version, I would have started with the traditional to get an idea of what would be typical, then go to a good bakery and get an authentic one to compare to my attempt. However, not knowing what this should have been like, I can't imagine it wasn't exactly perfect - the taste that is. We'll get to the looks of them a little later.

So last night I prepped the batter, as suggested, and left it to chill until morning. I had to give everyone a smell of the orange zest mixed with the sugar and think that's the most brilliant way to flavor a batter. I also measured the spices, rather than eyeball them as I sometimes do, but I used all the clove because we really enjoy this flavor. When I put in the butter, I realized when the melted butter solidifies, so would the batter, to a large extent. In the morning this made for a harder time "pouring" the batter into the mold.

The mold. I had thought of calling a woman I work with to ask her to bring in a mold for me to use, since she has the most well stocked kitchen I know of, but wanted to make these before work and of course didn't plan far enough in advance. Knowing that other FFWD bloggers would be showing off some gorgeous treats, I didn't want to use a plain muffin tin. My first thought was to take cookie stamps, grease them up well and put them in the bottom of greased muffin cups. As I was getting these out I spied a cast iron cookie mold tray I had gotten for my daughter's Word World party a few years back. I had made cornbread in these and they were really cute, but I failed to remember the imprints with the cute designs faded with the puffiness of the bread. Well this experience was somewhat similar. The whole tray filled in with the batter and a very little bit leaked over the side. Not a big deal since I had it on a cookie sheet. That crispy spillover was so good I gobbled it right up as soon as I could handle it. I had to get my daughter to the bus stop and the cakes were so hot I just left them in the turned off oven for the day until I could deal with them. Not very French of me, but I wanted to meet my deadline. I can't imagine the taste could have been better, but I know it would be nice to heat the cakes up for a couple of minutes to crisp up the edges again.

I now have to try the original recipe, with a real madeleine pan! I'm hooked, which is dangerous. These are far too simple to whip up on a whim. I'm going to make the honey-spiced ones to bring to my mother's for Yom Kippur. They'd be best for Rosh Hashana, and I'll suggest these to my mom, who also loves this cookbook!

cinnamon crunch chicken - french fridays w/ dorie

Rarely do I use heavy cream anymore. Did last night and it was very worth it. I didn't think it would be too difficult to make my own crème fraîche, so I did, but not using Dorie's recipe. Instead I conferred with a couple of cookbooks I have and decided to go with the method that says to heat the cream and buttermilk. I had bought buttermilk but Dorie's recipe called for either buttermilk or plain yogurt and my yogurt was already open and the buttermilk wasn't so I used plain Greek yogurt.

2 cups heavy cream (I couldn't find organic, unfortunately) and 2 Tbsp. plain yogurt. Heat to body temp, move to container, cover and leave on counter in warm place. That's pretty much it.

For the chicken I saw the artificial colors and flavors in the ingredients list for the suggested LU Cinnamon Sugar Spice Biscuits and, though I've never tasted the LU cookies, thought Biscoff cookies would be a good substitute. These are all natural and the main flavoring is cinnamon. I have a feeling the texture wasn't correct. These didn't stay crunchy.

So the recipe is extremely simple. Just mix the cookies with the crème. Saute chicken strips in butter or oil and then mix the crème with the chicken. It smelled amazing and tasted wonderful too. I served with sauteed kale & garlic and a short brown rice that was extremely sticky and when mixed with the sauce, was almost like rice pudding. So basically dinner and dessert all in one!

Cottage Cheese Substitute

While trying to find the ingredients for the cheesy rice from ffwd (I wasn't home with the recipe and wondered if I needed to go to the market), I stumbled upon a thread from Chow.com where JoanN talked about a cottage cheese substitute for heavy cream. You just take cottage cheese and puree it. Cottage cheese happens to be one of the few foods I really will not eat plain. It's find in noodle kugel, but that's about it for me. Well I gave it a shot and what do you know, it turned into a great replacement for ricotta cheese. I haven't tried it in place of cottage cheese, but certainly will.


For the test case, I had grilled eggplant and steamed broccoli. I pureed the cottage cheese with basil, garlic and parmesan cheese. Not a lot of parm, maybe a 1/3 cup to 1 1/2 cups of cottage.


I then layered it with the vegetables and topped with some mozzarella cheese. It was watery, but I hadn't added any eggs as I would normally do with ricotta. Calorie breakdown:
Part-skim ricotta - 1/2 cup = 140 calories, 9 grams fat
Fat-free cottage cheese - 1/2 cup = 70 calories, 0 grams fat


If the taste and texture are the same, which would you choose?

weekly csa share

1 lb broccoli - baked with cottage cheese cream sauce (puree cottage cheese and use in place of heavy cream)

2 green peppers - roast

1 slicing cucumber - add to salad

3 pickling cucumbers - pickle (along w/ last weeks)

1 delicata winter squash - roast

1 bunch beets - roast, saute greens

1 bunch kale or collard - saute w/ beet greens & garlic

1 bunch edamame plants - steam, salt, eat

1 pint potatoes - home fries

1 head cabbage - soup

1 bunch black spanish or watermelon radish - thinly slice & make into a salad w/ lime juice

1 bag arugula  - salad

Weekly Menu

Wednesday - Fried cabbage, potatoes, onions, & garlic, fried egg on tossed salad, pancetta, french bread

Friday - FFw/D dinner - cinnamon-crunch chicken, sauteed kale & beet greens, rice

Sunday - baked broccoli, macaroni & cheese, cucumber slices

Monday - poblano, peach & cheese quesadillas, roasted beets & squash

Tuesday - edamame, firecracker salmon, rice

Wednesday - soup

creamy, cheesy, garlicky rice with spinach - french fridays w/ dorie

Talk about straying, but it was great anyway! Honestly I knew this was going to be so far from the printed recipe I almost didn't consider it a french friday dish, but it was so good, I couldn't not share it!

I didn't have time to stop at the market so these are the ingredient alterations:
I didn't use spinach, I used some collard greens and turnip greens.
I left out the cream all together
I didn't have chicken stock so used all water
I only had white rice and brown basmati, so used the white
I didn't have swiss, just cheddar and parmesan, so opted for the cheddar. It was a special Cabot aged cheddar that was only available at their Vermont stores. We got it on vacation and it is wonderful!

The method I also streamlined because I had a meeting last night and had no time for anything really. That being said, what a great, quick dish for a weeknight meal! I cooked the onions and garlic in butter. Then added the greens and sauteed, covered, until wilted.

In another pot I cooked the rice, as normally directed on the package - 1 cup rice / 2 cups water, salt.

When the rice was cooked, I dumped in the greens & onions, then added about 1/3 cup chopped cheddar. It was nice, dry and crumbly. I added some more salt, mixed together and served. Everyone went crazy over it and it was done in about 1/2 hour.





I served it with the burgers I had froze from a couple weeks ago and we steamed up some edamame from our CSA share. The burgers were served on Pepperidge Farms Goldfish sandwich buns! Talk about sophisticated.

weekly csa share

• 1 pint potatoes - these are so good, I don't have trouble finding something to make. 
• 1 cabbage - nice cole slaw recipe in the Langwater Farm newsletter and roasted cabbage w/ turnips & garlic
• 1 bunch kale or collards - cheesy, garlicy, spinach rice (french fridays)
• 4 pickling cucumbers - still have some left from last week but still good (pickles?)
• 2 slicing cucumbers - slice and eat
• 1 head garlic - use it in everything!
• 1 bunch edamame plants - isn't this cool? We love these steamed & salted.
• 1 green pepper - on pizza
• 1 bunch cilantro - salsa
• 3 hot peppers - salsa
• 1 eggplant - grill and freeze, some on pizza
• 1/2 pound heirloom tomatoes - salsa
• 1 onion
• 1 pound broccoli - steamed & topped w/ garlic, parmesan bread crumbs
• 1 bunch Hakurei turnips - roasted cabbage w/ turnips & garlic

Salsa

Salsa: Yesterday we made salsa. CSA share again - lots of tomatoes (looks like it's nearing the end), cilantro, peppers, and garlic. I grilled the tomatoes and peppers and think it was worth it. I'd never made salsa before, but have eaten gallons over my life, so feel I have a good idea of what would work. I used Rick Bayless' recipe. How could I go wrong? Well the peppers that were "mildly spiced" were way hotter so Shara, who was such a big helper, couldn't eat it. But that's not the kind of thing that bothers her anyway. If it were chocolate cake, that would be a different story!

Shara's Happenings: Sister's chicken

Shara's Happenings: Sister's chicken: My sister Jill raised several meat chickens and I was lucky enough to get a couple. I roasted this using Dorie's method from Around my Fren...

Weekly CSA Share

Thought I posted this, but forgot...

• 1 green pepper - grilled in quesadillas
• 1 bunch cilantro - salsa
• 1 bunch kale or collards (choice) - corn/potato/kale hash
• 3 pounds heirloom tomatoes - salsa
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes - eat in salad
• 2 slicing cucumbers - eat in salad
• 4 pickling cucumbers - eat
• 1 onion
• 1 pint potatoes - corn/potato/kale hash
• 3 hot peppers - salsa (Fire-Roasted Tomato Salsa) 
• 4 ears corn - corn/potato/kale hash
• 1 eggplant - steamed w/ asian dressing
• 1 bunch baby leeks - roasted baby leeks w/ thyme
• 1 bunch turnips - roasted w/ chicken

French Fridays w/ Dorie - corn soup

As I read the recipe for this soup I wondered if Dorie was the person who made these flavor combinations so popular or if they've always been so popular. I've been making corn chowder with bacon for several years, often adding potatoes. I sometimes put in chicken or clams. I've never tried scallops (raw or cooked!).

I had shucked corn in the freezer from earlier this summer and thought this would be a great use. I also read the recipe a few times, but apparently skimmed it because I never noticed her saying to use the cobs to flavor the milk. Oh well, as you can see by the first picture, I got very clever, not wanting to create more dishes to wash, and put the milk in the bag of semi-frozen corn and then proceeded to microwave it up to temperature. She wanted boiling and then steep the cobs. I was lucky not to have a microwave full of corn scented milk, so I quit while I was ahead and settled for warm.

I actually sauteed the onion in the butter and watched it so it wouldn't color. I tend to brown because I'm off doing other tasks. But this time the onions were still white and then I added the other vegetables, though I didn't have celery. I made up for the celery by having a couple of small, and even one teenie, carrots from the garden. I can't believe the carrots grew and aren't bitter! I don't have to gush over nice brown and crispy bacon because we all know it's a most amazing addition to several of Dorie's recipes. In fact, until FFWD, I never cooked so much bacon. Now I'm quick to add it to a salad and was happy to have leftovers, for a salad. Was going to move ahead and to the deconstructed BLT, but then read the ingredients and have to wait. Anyway...

The scallops really took this from being a standard, but good, corn soup to a special meal, which, as most good meals do, required a glass of wine. I have a very good seafood truck that is on my way home from work and I think the woman's husband catches the fish in the morning. It's always super-fresh so I had no problem serving these raw. They certainly were like buttah!

Weekly CSA Share

• 1 broccoli or 1 kohlrabi  - steamed (awesome)
• 3 early girl tomatoes  - seeded and froze
• 6 pounds heirloom tomatoes - seeded and froze most
• 1 orange tomato - sliced and eaten
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes - eaten plain, tossed w/ steamed green beans, olives & balsamic
• 1 pickling cucumber - ?
• 1 slicing cucumber - ?
• 1 pound green beans - steamed (see cherry tomatoes above)
• 3 patty pan squash - grilled to make into parmesan
• 2 squash/zucchini of your choice - grilled to make into parmesan
• 1 eggplant  - eggplant caviar (again)
• 1 green pepper - pizza topping
• 1 head garlic

eggplant caviar - French Fridays w/ Dorie

I had the best of intentions to try and make last weeks assignment, but alas, I failed! Oh well, I didn't completely skip it, just delayed but it was worth it. Very simple and tasty and healthy. I sped up the process by microwaving the eggplant for about 8 minutes on high, then put it in the oven to roast. It turns out I didn't get a chance to take it out of the oven much earlier than the hour anyway, so it was nice and soft. I used a fork to mush up the pulp and mixed in pureed garlic and cilantro. I chopped fresh basil and also put in some baked tomatoes (the reason why the oven remained on for an hour). We ate the eggplant with Stacy's pita chips, the tomatoes, Cabot's Vintage Choice Cheddar cheese we got on vacation, and a few olives. It was a nice light, yet very flavorful, dinner.

Cafe salle pleyel hamburger - French Fridays w/ Dorie

This was awesome! Oh my, the tarragon and pickle flavors were amazing. So for those of you who are wondering just what's so special about a hamburger, this isn't just a hamburger. It's ground beef mixed with chopped tarragon, parsley, cornichons, capers, and tomatoes. Julia Child said to read the whole recipe before starting. I thought I had read it all the way through, but good thing I looked more carefully because I had it in my head that the tomato/pickle/herb mixture was a topping, not something that got mixed in! This did make for wet burgers and broke up a bit during the grilling, so maybe next time I'll do them in a frying pan, but not having to add extra oil or clean up the mess was well worth grilling.

The recipe called for oil packed sun-dried tomatoes. I didn't have those but I have a glut of fresh tomatoes and tossed a few in olive oil and roasted them. The burger is topped with an onion marmalade - chopped onions, butter, ground coriander, and water, cooked down until very soft, and shaved Parmesan.

I made the tomatoes and onion marmalade the day before, so the actual making of the meal wasn't long. It was fine for a weeknight. I also had our CSA pickup tonight and got a beautiful head of broccoli that Alan steamed along with new little potatoes from last week's share. The only downside was that our daughter wasn't home to enjoy it with us. She's spending the week at my sister's, so we will have to eat this Sunday too!

Shed Restaurant, Stowe VT

Laurcl - Aug 14, 2011 *** The menu was very limited, but the spinach salad I had was very good and the beer ski we split was also nice, since we got to try all of their selections. We sat on the patio and the weather was perfect for it. The reason I wouldn't go back had more to do with the prices and selection. The salad, with 1/2 a grilled chicken breast was $12.95, a side salad was $7. The only side items they had were fries, slaw, side salad. I was trying to go healthier and didn't was to sub fries for salad for $4. I'm cheap, but didn't think it was worth it.

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Caffe Bella

Caffe Bella in Randolph rated 4.0 stars.
Went early on a monday, so no wait. It was still 1/2 full when we left at about 6:40.
I had the pasta bolognaise on homemade paparadelle and Alan had the pork tenderloin with vinegar roasted red peppers and mashed potatoes. My pasta was a little on the salty side, but I still managed to eat the whole thing. Alan took 1/2 of his dinner home. I think they gave hima a whole tenderloin! The red pepper foccacia-like bread was so good it didn't need any of the white bean & olive oil dip. Service was also good and found it rather relaxing and not at all rushed. I'm not sure how it is during a very busy time. Years ago we ate here and had a two hour wait on a Saturday night. I can't remember it being rushed, but that was a long time ago.

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Weekly CSA - getting it late this week

• 5 zucchini/squash
• 1 slicing cucumber or 2 pickling cukes
• 1 head garlic
• 1 bag basil
• 1 melon
• 1 eggplant or 1 pound green beans
• 6 early girl tomatoes
• 2 pounds heirloom tomatoes
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• 1 pint potatoes
• 1 bag arugula 

Salmon in a jar - French Fridays w/ Dorie

Rave reviews from everyone, finally! In fact, I was told that I have to make this again and often. This comes from my daughter, the sushi & lox lover. My husband, also a sushi lover, but not much of a lox fan, also thought this was wonderful.

So, I did happen to make alterations, but not many. The salmon itself I didn't feel comfortable with changing too much, not that I would know how to alter such a simple preparation - coat in salt & sugar, let cure overnight, then marinate in olive oil with aromatics and oil. Where I did stray was with the potatoes, and for two reasons, 1. I didn't have the time to cook them in order to ... 2. soak them in cups of oil. What I did instead was make a lovely potato salad with new potatoes from Langwater farm, green beans from our garden and the farm, beautiful mixed cherry tomatoes and spring onions, also from the farm. Rather than using vinegar, I added lemon juice, as mentioned in the serving suggestion, and a couple tablespoons of the salmon oil.

I can't think of anything I'd change, other than making more!

Marinating salmon

salmon, potato salad, rye bread

May skip out on next week's eggplant - we'll be on vacation, but I'll bring the recipe just in case. Could be fun to cook in a foreign kitchen.

Weekly CSA Share

3 green zucchini - 2 - shred & freeze for brownies?, 1 - zucchini ribbons alfredo

3 zucchini/squash of choice - sauteed beans w/ zucchini & corn

1 pint or pound new potatoes - 1/2 salmon in a jar (FFWD), 1/2 steamed w/ salt & butter

1 full pint cherry tomatoes - eat & flatbread pizza w/ cheese, tomatoes & onions

1 melon - just eat

1 slicing cucumber - just eat

3 pickling cucumbers - more pickles?

6 ears our own organic sweet corn - it was so sweet! steam and eat on the cob / off the cob, sauteed beans w/ zucchini & corn

3 early girl or 2 heirloom tomatoes - sandwich w/ over medium egg, lettuce & mayo on toast

1 eggplant or 1 lb green or wax beans - sauteed beans w/ zucchini & corn

1 bunch onions - grill, salmon in a jar (FFWD)

simple slow-roasted tomatoes - French Fridays w/ Dorie

I've made similar tomatoes before from Vegetables by James Peterson. His recipe called for removing the seeds. This may be simple, but very time consuming. I'm glad Dorie's recipe didn't have that step and I don't feel that it should. One thing his did have was filling each little tomato half with a mix of garlic, herbs and olive oil. I think this may have worked out better for me because they were a little dried out. Closer to the sun-dried tomato than the confit. However, they were like candy and we finished them all. I put garlic cloves in and also halved some small potatoes to roast along with the tomatoes. I put these together in the morning, put them in the oven and set it to start at 3:30 PM so it would be finished for dinner at 6 PM. We sprinkled with rosemary and sel gris and lots of black pepper. I tossed some greens with balsamic and served with fresh mozzarella, bread and homemade pesto. It was a feast!

Mixed tomatoes from Langwater Farm

before roasting

after roasting

lovely Friday evening dinner

Bread and Butter Pickles

These were so easy to make and taste great! I found the recipe on AllRecipes.com, but also discovered almost the same one in a cookbook I recently brought back from my mother's house - The Art of Preserving
I cut back the celery seed to 1/2 tsp. and added about a 1/2 cup more vinegar because the last time I made these, there was just barely enough liquid. Turns out I didn't have to add more. There was enough water from the cucumbers. They sealed up well and smelled very good. Another bonus was they took almost no time. Most was spent slicing the cucumbers and onions. Used the cucumbers from Langwater Farm but most came from our garden. I got 4 jars to add to the 3 done earlier this week. There's something I love about having a well stocked pantry of homemade goodies to enjoy through the winter. Very comforting.

More yummy dinners this week

Shrimp kabobs, grilled peppers & squash

This dinner was actually made last month, but I forgot to post it. The seasonings were typical Greek - lemon, garlic, oregano. Very good, but if I remember correctly, the shrimp could have been cooked a tad longer.


Wheat and white angel hair pasta with grilled squash from Langwater Farm and our garden. Green beans & garlic from Langwater. Also put in the leftover bacon, lemon juice & zest, vegetable stock, and parmigiana cheese. Very delicious and made enough to enjoy leftovers.

Weekly CSA Share

3 pickling cucumbers - more bread & butter pickles

2 slicing cucumbers - slice, salt & eat

4 zucchini/summer squash - grill

1 half-pint cherry tomatoes - Dorie's slow roasted tomatoes, for French Friday's w/ Dorie

1 pint or pound new potatoes - roasted with Dorie's slow roasted tomatoes

2 heads garlic - pesto! & roasted

1 bag basil or 1 green pepper - basil (assuming I can get my act together and make the pesto

1 bunch onions - grilled (assuming we have gas) - 1/2 gone (pizza, pickles)

6 ears sweet corn - steamed in the microwave (6 minutes on high)

1 melon - eaten, of course - it was super sweet! just finished for breakfast today (8/9)

Updated 8/9

Last Night's Dinner

Last night's dinner - enjoyed by all, even the smallest one. Eat those veggies, we only have these this good 1x a year! First big tomato from the garden. Spring greens (from the market), cucumbers & tomatoes (from our garden), beets, green beans & tomatoes (from Langwater Farm), bacon, eggs and lemon, mustard vinaigrette.

The eggs were supposed to be soft boiled, ala Dorie's lovely salads, but first the egg was very under-cooked  then ended up over-cooked. They still tasted good!

The Chocolate Bar in Cleveland, OH

I was wandering around Cleveland and had to go into The Chocolate Bar. I hadn't gotten as far as the street with Lola, but think I made a good choice. The ultimate choice wasn't completely mine - I had to ask the waitress/bartender for her recommendation and she felt the Ninja Turtle would be the best choice. I couldn't make up my mind between the Turtle and the Mocha Loco. These are the changes I would make, if I were to try this at home: I'd serve the glazed pecans on the side, put on about 1/3 of the whipped cream and add more fudge. I'd also serve it with a straw to make it easier to drink the Baileys optional add-on.

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