a quiet week

The only night this past week I was home to prepare dinner was for Shabbat last night. I think it turned out splendidly, thanks to the very yummy cookbook I borrowed from the library, The Flexitarian Table by Peter Berley. I made Menu 5 for Fall, Chestnut Apple Soup and Penne with Beets, Beet Greens, Goat Cheese, and Walnuts. What makes me even more pleased about the meal is that the majority of the ingredients were purchased at the Green Market on Friday. E enjoyed it, but next time I will either need to reduce the ginger (in retrospect I know I chopped it too coarsely and may have put in a little more than two teaspoons to the soup) or otherwise make it so it’s less strong. I enjoyed it and found that it made the bites of soup without it even more sweet. I do not suggest that you look through this book while hungry, or without the ability to find food easily and quickly. It is one I wish to add to my shelf. While I doubt I will make the fleshic (meat) dishes, I did not find many that I could not easily make that would be gluten free and delicious. Oh and E did not even realize that the “penne” was GF (I had to substitute elbows because the local store didn’t have GF penne). I think my success in cooking this pasta is to ignore the directions and cook the pasta for, on average, about 5 minutes less than called for. Otherwise it turns to mush.

I also succeeded in finding more of the little purple Peruvian fingerling potatoes. I might cook them tonight or enjoy leftovers. We shall see.

My inlaws gave me the most wonderful book for my becoming older (I have odd thoughts on that day, I’m older today and even older tomorrow, but I digress). It is Flavors of Korea: Delicious Vegetarian Cuisine by Deborah Coultrip-Davis and Young Sook Ramsay. This was a very pleasant surprise and I look forward to trying the dishes. Even more exciting for me was finding at the back of the book a recipe for “Ginger Drink”. Shortly I will find myself in the kitchen peeling some ginger and slicing it finely.

• Category: food