TWENTY-NINE : ROASTED PARSNIPS & SWEET POTATOES W/ CAPER VINAIGRETTE

PLENTY

DECEMBER 13 2012

TWENTY-NINE : ROASTED PARSNIPS & SWEET POTATOES W/ CAPER VINAIGRETTE

Hello dear reader! I find I have been suffering a lack of enthusiasm for this blog the last few months and you may have noticed a looooonnnngg stretch without a post. During this downtime, I have made a few dishes from Plenty but simply failed to write up my experiences. I am determined to get back on track! So in the next few days I will try to catch up. Don't worry... there are only a few recipes to discuss so I won't be filling up your inbox or flooding your facebook feed. But bear with me as I drag us back to 2012 for a few days.

TWENTY-SEVEN : QUINOA SALAD W/ DRIED PERSIAN LIME

PLENTY

NOVEMBER 20 2012

TWENTY-SEVEN : QUINOA SALAD W/ DRIED PERSIAN LIME

It is extremely dangerous for me to shop at Barbur World Foods. I go in to buy bread and come out with za'atar or preserved lemon or aleppo pepper. And I usually have no plan or even idea of how to use these items. In fact, these dried Persian limes have been sitting in my cupboard for years, completely untouched. Until now!

I was thrilled to find that one of Mr. O's recipes features dried Persian limes and I can't wait to use them. He is right in saying that turning these suckers into powder is "difficult to achieve because the limes are rock hard". As I'm breaking them into pieces to stuff into the coffee/spice grinder, I actually give myself a "dried-lime cut"... which is worse than a paper cut because the edges are all jagged and tangy. But it will all be worth it!

Now comes some sweet potato vs yam confusion. I bought said sweet potatoes which, once peeled, reveal themselves to be basically white. But Mr O's photos show a dark orange vegetable tossed in the salad. I think he used yams! Or different, orange-colored sweet potatoes? Aaaah... I'm so confused! The orange ones would look prettier... but I think they basically taste the same so oh well.

It's a pretty good salad. The dried lime powder ads a nice floral note and complements the earthy quinoa. Not sure why it has rice and quinoa... but still tasty! I'll have to research some more ways to use those dried limes cause I've still got most of the bag left.

SIXTY-NINE : SWEET POTATO RAVIOLI IN CHEESE BROTH

DECEMBER 8 2011

I was never really that excited about this recipe. But it looked easy and I had all the ingredients, so it was dinner tonight. It turned out to be THE worst recipe in the whole book so far. I was so grossed out after only a few bites I had to push my plate away. What the hell is this slimy bowl of flavorless gunk? After sooooo many amazing meals, I was a little shocked by the complete crap of this one.

I can't even blame any one part... they were all so bad. My previous opinion of cheese broth holds true; greasy & watery with a weird cheese funk. Not something I want to slurp down in cupfuls. The ravioli filling did have good flavor, but needed a binder cause as soon as I cut into one, all of the sweet potato burst out and dissolved into the crappy broth (which actually improved it marginally).

But, lets back up a little.

SIXTY-SIX : ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

NOVEMBER 20 2011

If it seems like my posts are coming fast and furious these days, it's because they are. Last week I thought I would make a fun little list of the recipes I have left to complete before The Sunday Sauce Event at the end of the year - and when I was done, I got pretty darn worried. Even taking out the ones I am saving for TSSE, I realized I need to step up my game.

I also discovered that my math skills apparently suck during the lazy days of summer because, per my current count, there are 94 recipes total, not 89 as previously stated (how did I miss 5 whole recipes!). So I kicked my butt into gear and since then have crossed 4 recipes off that list, including the butternut squash soup we had tonight.

 

Here we have another super simple recipe.

ELEVEN ~ THIRTEEN : SWEET POTATO CROSTINI

JUNE 25 2011

ELEVEN : TOASTS FOR CROSTINI
TWELVE : PARSLEY PESTO
THIRTEEN : SWEET POTATO CROSTINI

There are 7 kinds of crostini in the antipasto section of Frankies and they all start with the toasts-for-crostini recipe that also requires the parsley pesto recipe. So when I decided to finish off the leftover sweet potato from Monday's dinner by trying the strange-sounding Sweet Potato Crostini, I had to start by making the other two.

Basically the crostini recipe requires brushing sliced baguette with parsley pesto and broiling for 2 minutes. No sweat! The parsley pesto is a blend of 1 cup parsley and 1 cup olive oil (yikes!) with garlic and seasoning. I would call it more of a parsley oil, myself. It is nice on the bread, although I feel it could use a little acid.



Crostini finished, I whipped the remaining sweet potato with olive oil, salt and white pepper until creamy and dolloped it on the toasts. My suspicions were confirmed; it was weird. There was something slightly appealing about the fluffy potato against the crunch of the crostini, but overall it was just weird.



For my second one, I brushed off all but a thin slick of potato and it was a little bit better. The parsley pesto could be tasted with just a hint of the potato. But, I will not be making this again. Just plain weird.

SEVEN ~ TEN : FAMILY DINNER PARTY

JUNE 20 2011

SEVEN : CARROTS
EIGHT : SWEET POTATOES
NINE : PATE BRISEE TART SHELL
TEN : CHOCOLATE TART

That's right, FOUR recipes conquered today! We hosted a little dinner party for some family this evening and picked up an enormous salmon from the farmer's market for the main course. There aren't any salmon recipes in Frankies, so I chose a couple simple sides to accompany the fish.

Since there were going to be eight people and I'm not a huge fan of dessert, I jumped at this chance to get one of the desserts out of the way. After consulting with hubby, who will end up having to eat any leftovers (poor guy), I picked the chocolate tart for tonight. Mostly because it's the most decadent dessert and we will need all the help we can get eating it.

Luckily, I was able to make the tart shell and the roasted carrots last night. The pate brisee came together quite easily, thanks to my handy KitchenAid mixer. Half of the recipe goes into the freezer to be used for the cheesecake recipe. The rest is pressed into a tart pan with removable bottom, baked, cooled and popped into the fridge to wait overnight. Thankfully I was able to borrow said tart shell with removable bottom because I really don't want to buy something I will only use once. Speaking of... where am I going to find a springform pan for the upcoming cheesecake? That is a question for another day.