40 Clove Garlic Chicken

We saw this recipe on Ina's show, but when I googled it there were several variations online. For a creepy and cozy Halloween dinner, what could be more perfect? The garlic gets sweet and deep, the longer it cooks. The cous-cous was tossed with lemon zest, currants, and cashews and was a great sauce-soaker to the chicken. Lovely table decorations by Beth!

Seitan Scramble

Quick weekend breakfast scramble with seitan, onion, garlic, tomato, spinach, and egg.

Sweet Potato and Ricotta Soup

This sweet potato soup is spicy, herby, sweet, and creamy. It starts with a combination of white onion and shallots sauteed in olive oil until soft, to which I added the cubed (and peeled) sweet potatoes (about 2 large ones). When the potatoes were a little seared, I added the spices and herbs: nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, pepper, cayenne, thyme and sage. Then I poured in 5 cans of low-sodium chicken stock and brought it up to a simmer. When the potatoes were very soft, I then pureed it with the emersion blender. When it was nice and evenly smooth, I added a pint container of low-fat ricotta cheese and 1/3 cup of grated parmesan. Then I blended to soup again to break up the cheese solids. Here it's served with a little arugula salad and a chunk of french walnut bread from out favorite farmers market vendor. Very autumnumnumnal!

Soup, Salad, Apple Crisp

Salad: Pear, Red Onion and Parmesan with a Maple-shallot Vinaigrette

Soup: Butternut Squash Minestrone

Dessert: Apple Crisp (thanks Sarah!)

Pappardelle alla romanesco

T and I have been eyeing these weird little green fractal things at the farmers market for the past few weeks and discovered they are called romanesco, ancient relatives to cauliflower. After a little online research, we decided to just steam them and drizzle with olive oil, parmesan, salt and pepper. They have a nutty flavor, much deeper and sweeter than I expected. They were a perfect 'meaty' accompaniment with this dish of spelt flour pappardelle (Trader Joe's) with chopped salami, garlic and olive oil.

Great description of romanesco here at Almost a Chef:
http://www.almostachef.com/2008/04/romanesco-cauliflower/

Family-Style Nummy Italiano

Last night we had dinner for twelve at the N3 kitchen. It was a tight squeeze, but we love an excuse to put the leaf in the dining room table and break out the extra long linen. In the hustle and bustle of service, it was hard to get images of all the menu items. Everything was served in big bowls and platters, family-style. Here is the full menu along with the cannoli filling recipe.

Antipasto: Prosciutto, salami, sopressa, olives, roasted peppers and pepperoncini, figs, radish, provolone, and mozzarella.

Green Salad with cucumber, red onion, and tomato and a fig balsamic vinaigrette

Polenta

Lamb and Beef Meatballs with Marinara

Italian Sausage with Onions and Peppers

Baked Butternut Squash Parmesan

Roasted Golden Beets

Sauteed Kale, Spinach and Swiss Chard with Garlic and Olive Oil

Cannoli

Filling: Two small containers of skim ricotta; 1 pint heavy cream, whipped; 1/2c. powdered sugar; 1 tbsp. Cointreau; 1/2c. chocolate chips; 3/4c. dried apricots and rind of 2 lemons pulsed in Cuisinart until minced;1tbsp. lemon juice; 1tsp. cinnamon

Fold all ingredients together with a spatula and chill. Fill cannoli shells just before serving and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

5 Spice Baked Tofu and Acorn Squash

The secret to deeply flavored tofu is in the pressing, prior to the marinating. We always get the extra firm style for baking or broiling cutlets like these. After you open the package, rinse the tofu block and then layer between paper towels and two plates. Weight the top plate with a heavy cookbook and let it press for about 20 minutes. After most of the water is expelled, then slice and marinate. Here we used sesame oil, mirin, soy sauce, black pepper, chili oil, and Chinese 5 spice. I marinated in the refrigerator for 2 hours, then baked them off at 450° for 25 minutes or so.

We served the tofu along with slices of steamed and braised acorn squash, rice, and arugula with a sesame, garlic, and rice vinegar dressing.