Thanksgiving

Background: It's nice to have lots and lots of folks around for a large Thanksgiving feast. But sometimes, when there's a fractured toe involved that makes grocery procurement difficult, it's nice to do a more intimate and small scale dinner.    The items that finally made the cut this year:

Apps:

Shrimp cocktail with cilantro chutney aioli

Cranberry pecan sourdough bread with rosemary butter 

Cornbread with chipotle apricot preserves

(Had tried making an artichoke soup but was a failure so I didn't serve it...)

Sides:

Garlic and scallion roasted asparagus

Modern Esquites--chili lime corn with queso fresco (which of course, I forgot to put out...)

Chestnut and leek cornbread stuffing (used Trader Joe's cornbread stuffing mix for this part...would use it again, but not use the season packet...and/or would cut it down)

Mashed potatoes (http://theoceanwaves.blogspot.com/2011/11/new-method-of-mashed-potatoesintrigued.html)

Truffled mashed potatoes

Main:

Slow roasted salmon with tarragon, thyme, and cumin grapefruit sauce

Dessert:

Pumpkin flan (would make again)  http://theoceanwaves.blogspot.com/2011/11/next-up-pumpkin-caramel-flan.html

French apple tart (would not make filling again) http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/French-Apple-Tart-363307

Pie crust from Moosewood (would make again)

Organic box...in summer...

So far, it's been a great food box week!  Now that it's summer, I'm so glad I switched from the $24 small box to the $29 dogma box (locally sourced vegetables)...on the every other week schedule... http://www.bostonorganics.com/fresh/thisweekbox.php

Here's what came:
bok choy
asparagus
mushrooms
lettuce
1 huge delicious tomato
2 onions
collard greens
beets
lettuce

The meals!  The meals!  Some shining moments so far:

Prep items:
1. Bok choy...stems cut off,  blanched the rest... (washed stems were great for veggie stock)
2. Stir fried collard green leaves (stalks great for veggie stock)
3. Roasted asparagus--olive oil, salt, pepper
4. caramelized onions
5. veggie stalk (bok choy stems, collard green stems, asparagus stems, onion skins)
6. steamed rice

The mix and matched results:
1. Snacking beets!!!  I finally conquered my poor track record of roasting beets successfully!  They've always come out too dry, and nothing like what one gets at restaurants.  This time around, I ladeled in two spoonfuls of veggie broth into the foil...it totally did the trick.

2. Roasted asparagus, pan fried walnuts, golden raisins, and shaved parmesan salad.

3. Coriander mushroom curry....  one sauteed onion, several spoonfuls of coriander chutney (from the Indian grocery store), half of above said tomato--chopped, sour cream or plain yogurt, and garam masala

4. Wilted bok choy salad with coriander mushroom curry dressing (above, but chilled)

5. Carrot miso dressing (the ocean waves: Carrot ginger miso dressing).  Unlike previous dressings, I only used a teaspoon or two of olive oil this week...  threw into the food processor a ton of baby carrots...and then used veggie stock as my main liquid... processed with miso paste and sesame oil...  had with lettuce in rice wrappers for summer rolls

6. Carrot miso topping with rice and bok choy

7. Curry with rice

8. Asparagus and peas in mint ricotta custard

9. Roasted asparagus, tomato, mushroom, onion, and mozz scramble

...was reminded by the savory ricotta that I'm overdue for making one of my favorite pasta dishes--Zucchini with ricotta sauce over pasta...inspired by Fratelli la Bufalla http://www.fratellilabufala.eu/ in Miami Beach...the one restaurant where my friend's Italian husband and his family is willing to go for real Naples Style Italian food...  where I was first introduce to the taste of fresh ricotta as it should be...and vowed never to cook with the nonfat stuff again...

...am also wondering how a spring pea soup would taste with mint added in...

Roasted asparagus and peas in mint ricotta custard

Background.  I love spring vegetables!  I'm heading to a work dinner tomorrow eve and volunteered to bring a vegetable side or dessert.  The veggie dish was preferred and so here's to a savory baking adventure.  Of course, I realized AFTER returning from the store that my freezer no longer has my endless backup supply of frozen herbs...which I suppose means it's not actually endless...  While taking out my roasted asparagus from the refrigerator, I came across the fresh spearmint that I forgot had come in my organic box... perfect!  We'll see how it all turns out in lieu of basil, thyme, or sage...

Methods

Veggies:

roasted asparagus (since they came in my organic veggie box, I already had these ready to go)

few cups of peas depending on desired density (I also heated these in a pan first)

1 large onion, sliced and caramelized (probably optional)

Custard:

3 cups whole milk ricotta
1/2 cup sour cream
6 eggs
1/2 cup mozzarella
salt
freshly ground pepper
approximately four tablespoons of mint leaves, chopped
orange zest

Mix ricotta, eggs, sour cream...  I am sure it would be fluffier if I had access to a whisk...but seeing as I had just baked banana bread yesterday and the whisks were still in that dishwasher land of never ever, I went with the ever trustworthy cooking utensil...  chopsticks.

Add in roasted asparagus stalks, peas, caramelized onion, and mozzarella.
Grease 13x9 baking dish with olive oil.  Pour mixture in.  Bake at 350 for approx an hour...but switch positions in the oven around the 30 minute point...start checking for doneness around 40 minutes.

....I started getting bored (a.k.a. could not face writing another report) and started playing with dough... I roll out thawed pie curst (I tend to fold the storebought one into quarters, and then roll...start from center and roll out)...cut them into strips...I didn't have the patience after work on a Monday night to do real lattice but good enough...

Plus...if it really gets ugly, one can always lather on extra roasted asparagus after...slather on some extra mozz and parm... and stick it back in the oven for a few...

I had extra batter so I poured it into another pie crust shell and baked it so I would also have lunch... (and could taste test along the way)...

I tried to reheat it before the dinner in the oven...and then at the very end, shaved extra pepper cursted parmesan on top, and stuck it under the broiler.

Voila!

Future Directions:  Alright...so I think it would have been good had one eaten it right away...the first time...  it has promise for a dinner party.  But it's not something I would make the night before and then reheat.  The peas that were once since beautiful green, turned into the less pleasant kind of pea color.  I also think it could lose the dough.  I would also try baking it in a water bath (and use a whisk) the next time around for a lighter texture...