Slaw and pesto zucchini

We were on our way to western PA to visit friends and always bring something to make in their cat-patrolled kitchen.  On our drive we picked out two dishes from the cookbook.  Our first choice was the slaw.  The ingredients were readily available in a small town grocery store.  I've never made slaw before and don't like the soupy creamy ones so this one sounded worth a try.   It was easy to make - I hand-chopped everything, mixed it up in this cat-approved bowl and it was ready to go!   It was a big hit.  I would definitely make it again.

The second item we decided to try was the zucchini ribbons.

This one was also good but maybe could be described as better than expected.  We originally thought the recipe called for cooked zucchini so we were apprehensive about the uncooked version.  It ended up being a great hit also but I did modify the recipe a bit (I think similar to an earlier post).  I thought the pesto was the best part (although I always think that pesto is the besto!).  I did add pepper to the pesto and probably doubled the amount of Parmesan.  Peeling the zucchini was relatively easy with a Y-peeler that our friends had, although I'd say to be extra careful with cutting the zucchini this way (Bruce).  The leaf-shaped spoons were perfect for scooping.

Overall I'd say we were 2 for 2 on our smitten kitchen cookbook choices!

Dan

potato fritatta with feta and scallions p.39

Bruce made this delicious fritatta the other night for dinner. He started with a mise en place of the key ingredients. This is not a vegetarian dish, as we had to first fry up the bacon. As the cookbook suggests, we used a really good, thick cut bacon cut into match sticks. It was tasty.

This was all done first on the stove in the cast iron skillet. After the potatoes were done, the whole recipe was assembled in the skillet and then finished in the oven. We both thought the potatoes being started in the oven, rather than slowing the cooking process of the fritatta, was a good one. They were moist and delicious in the dish, particularly since they had crispy tops from the oven baking even if they were not on the top of the dish. Bruce did modify the recipe, using none of the added oil and half the bacon grease. Probably it would benefitted from some of the olive oil. From a flavor perspective, while the bacon was good, Kathy thought that adding olives would provide some additional dimension to the dish. Also, the scallions did not at all overpower the dish and were quite delicious. Probably just the right amount.

Turkey Meatballs (p. 167) and Salted Brown Butter Crispy Treats (p. 201)

Ladies' night dinner at Jody's.  The menu was salad, spaghetti with turkey meatballs, and Rice Krispie squares for dessert.
I altered the meatball recipe a little since I wanted them to go with spaghetti. 

I mainly changed the spices, and didn't add the sesame seeds.  Instead I use some fresh basil, a bit of celery seed, and some cayenne.  It felt weird to add water to the mix, but I did it.  You then fry them in a skillet to get some texture on the outside, then bake them to finish.  When I pulled them out of the oven I cut one in half to be sure they were done.  It smelled so good I had to taste it.  And then I ate the whole thing!  They were a big hit with the ladies, too.  I will definitely be making these again.  I suppose I should try the more Moroccan version as well.

Dessert was a hit too.  The recipe is described as the classic recipe, just with a bit more (double) the butter, and browned.  You use unsalted butter but add just 1/4 tsp. of salt.  I really liked them - nice texture, great slightly caramel flavor, and just a little hit of salt at the end that makes them totally craveable.  They also seem to be holding up well - not get all dry and crunchy like regular RK treats.  Super quick and easy to make, and very tasty.
Okay, that's three in a row from Jody.  The ball is in your courts!

Wild Rice Gratin with Kale, Caramelized Onions, and Baby Swiss

I was looking for something to make, and I had some wild rice on hand, so I went with this dish. 
There's some low maintenance but time consuming steps in this recipe, namely cooking the wild rice and caramelizing the onions.  Cooking real wild rice takes about an hour.  Then there's the onions, and chopping the kale.  But kale is pretty, right? 

 Confession: this is the first time I've ever bought kale. It's cheap!  94 cents for a giant bundle.  So you combine the cooked rice with the cooked down onions and kale.  Toss in some shredded swiss cheese. Then top with more shredded cheese and bread crumbs and bake.   
Ooh, pretty browning.  Yes, of course, you put some butter in with the bread crumbs. 
So, how was it?  Interesting.  Good.  I'd say it's not really a main course, even though it's in the vegetarian main course section.  But it's a really nice side.  If this was a Minnesota recipe there'd be a can of cream of mushroom soup and a cup of sour cream or something in there and it would be heavy and gloppy.  This way it's actually really nice and light.  An adjustment for me, but I prefer it.  It would be good with chicken. 

roasted eggplant with yogurt-tahini sauce and cumin-crisped chickpeas, p.146

"This is an interesting dish,"  says Kathy as she came home late from a church meeting to eat our newest venture into the cookbook. 

A week ago, Ginger bought the ingredients for this dish and we never got around to making it while she was here. She has returned to Ohio for a few weeks. This morning before she left, she roasted a pork roast for us to eat. So, we sliced that up and ate it with our eggplant. It was delicious!

Back to the eggplant. The recipe was pretty straightforward. I made the chickpeas as suggested. They are yummy and I would eat them as a snack (and have been all night!).

We had two regular eggplant (too large for the recipe, so I sliced them in thirds) and three skinny Japanese eggplant. I thought the bigger eggplant would take longer, so I baked them alone for 15 minutes first, then added the smaller eggplant. At the end of the baking time (45 minutes for the large and 30 minutes for the small), I thought they still lacked color, so I broiled them for a couple of minutes on the top side. 

I made the sauce as suggested, but wasn't careful with the lemon and it has been suggested by the diners (not me!) that it was too lemony and covered up the eggplant taste. Vaden would like to taste the eggplant more and the sauce was potent. Maybe less sauce or less lemon would help that. 

You can see it was a pretty dish to serve. I don't think I would want it as my only main dish, but as a side dish it was great. If I served it as a main, I would likely include rice and a salad or two (eggplants call for tomatoes, so a fresh tomato salad would be great with this dish).

Peach and Sour Cream Pancakes (p. 5)

A friend of mine from work gave us some very nice peaches and so I decided to make these pancakes.  Putting the batter together was straightforward.

Cutting the peaches very thinly was not. Mine ended up about 1/4 of an inch thick rather than the suggested 1/8 of an inch (I got 8 slices out of one peach).  Cooking them was also a bit tricky.  Mine took about 10 minutes on the peach side (rather than the suggested 5).  M said that while she really liked the final taste, the texture left much to be desired.  She suggested that I cook them on one side, flip them and then add the peach to the top and then finally flip them again to caramelize the peach - guaranteeing that the pancake is done on both sides.  As it was, the peach did not really "melt into the pancake" as promised, so perhaps this would not be much of a compromise. 

M's other comment was that as the pancakes have a bit of sweetness to them, you should go light on the maple syrup.  Overall, I liked them quite a bit and I'll definitely make them again!

tomato scallion shortcakes with whipped goat cheese (take 2)

made by Bruce and Ginger

Inspired by Elyn's post, we decided to try the scallion biscuits too. We served the biscuits as a side dish to salmon patties and white beans with rosemary and olive oli. Ginger whipped up a remoulade for good measure for the salmon. 

What did we change? Following Elyn's advice, we tried to make more topping. So, we doubled the cream but did not have double the cheese. Kathy, unaware of this, commented that she wished the topping was cheesier. So, that was not exactly a complete success.

Other than that we followed the recipe as is. All week long Bruce thought the recipe was "chive" biscuits, and we might try this next time. The drizzled tomatoes were good, and made the bottom of the biscuit a bit soft; three of four diners thought that was good. Finally, the dressing on the tomatoes could be amped up with a little dijon mustard and garlic.

mmmmm. Lovely!  One last thing. A little milk brushed on the tops of the biscuits would aid in browning.