Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Fooood!

My subconscious must be trying to sabotage any whim I might get about eating better in the new year. Most of my dreams last night revolved around food.

The highlight? Dreaming of Queso de Cabra al Horno (Goat Cheese baked in Tomato Sauce). We had this dish spread on garlic bread at a new Spanish tapas bar in town over the weekend. Pat promises to try his hand at making it sometime in the near future.

After a week of eating other people's generous cooking, yesterday we were eager to feed ourselves from our own kitchen. We'd both been salivating over a dish of roasted vegetables and garlic we'd read about in a magazine, so we scrounged through the produce aisle and our own fridge to come up with a cornucopia of mostly root vegetables for roasting. This recipe called for Brussels sprouts (saute before roasting), cauliflower, parsnips, fingerling potatoes, butternut squash, as many cloves of garlic peeled and cut and half as you can stand (we used 14), leeks, sage, rosemary, and after roasting all of this in olive oil, salt, and pepper for 25 minutes at 450, add bell peppers and minced garlic for 15 more minutes (or until everything is browned and fork tender). The magazine suggested that you serve this over their recipe for apple chestnut stuffing, but we just used Pat's favorite -- Cornbread Stovetop Stuffing.

We give this recipe 2 thumbs up. We did not add the Brussels sprouts, nor did we use fresh herbs. Next time I'd probably skip the leeks in lieu of red onion, and I think I would add sweet potato.

Today I pulsed the leftover veggies in the food processor, spread it on some french bread, topped it with some cheese, and broiled it until melty and hot. With a dash of hot sauce and a beer leftover from last night...Mmmm!

Tonight's food agenda is supposed to bring us a year of prosperity -- Pat's cooking Hoppin' John (Black Eyed Peas and Brown Rice) and I think I'm making spinach with basil and pine nuts in lieu of cabbage or collards. This certainly beats the spoonful of sauerkraut my grandma used to make us choke down on January 1 every year. (My cousin taught me to hide it in the mashed potatoes) Anyone else have New Year's Day food traditions?

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