By mlb, on November 29th, 2006%
This month’s Weekend Cookbook Challenge, (which I almost forgot about — oops!), is all about party food. So, to accomplish this, I turned to a book all about parties, entertaining and proper hostessing — I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence, by Amy Sedaris. It’s very funny, kitschy, deadpan in tone and is sprinkled with hilarious photos of Amy and (quite honestly) some very unappetizing food photos. Ah, so what? I love this book. There’s also some handy and practical advice for entertaining:
A good trick is to fill your medicine cabinet with marbles. Nothing announces a nosy guest better than an avalanche of marbles hitting a porcelain sink.
or
Have toilet paper.
Genius!
While looking through the book I was tempted to make a cheese ball (one of . . . → Read More: Weekend Cookbook Challenge #11: Zucchini-Feta Fritters
By mlb, on November 27th, 2006%
There’s something about the Fall and early Winter that makes me want to chop fresh herbs — specifically sage, rosemary and thyme. Oh hell, parsley too. And this raisin compote has them all.
We had this very recently with a roast chicken (sort of like a pre-mini-Thanksgiving) and it was quite good. The original recipe called for all raisins, but I used half golden raisins and half currants. I’m thinking of making this to go with our traditional Christmas Cornish Game Hens next month.
The recipe that I use for those is out of the same book that the raisin compote is in — The Cook’s Illustrated Complete Book of Poultry. This book is worth it’s weight in gold, if you ask me, even with the new name.
Raisin Compote . . . → Read More: A Tasty Little Garnish: Herbed and Slightly Spicy Raisin Compote
By mlb, on November 26th, 2006%
Wondering what to do with the leftover turkey and other side dishes from Thursday, I came across this recipe from Giada of Everyday Italian. Although this recipe was originally intended as a Thanksgiving meal for two, I figured it would work well enough with leftover, cooked turkey (as opposed to the raw, ground turkey she uses). It did. I made one other alteration to the original recipe — I added some ricotta cheese to make it a bit creamier. I was quite pleased with the way these ravioli turned out.
Oh and speaking of Everyday Italian, whenever I watch that show and she talks about her husband, Todd, I visualize him as The Todd from Scrubs. And then I laugh and laugh.
Turkey and Cranberry Ravioli
1 cup diced leftover turkey, . . . → Read More: Leftover Madness: Turkey-Cranberry Ravioli
By mlb, on November 24th, 2006%
Leftovers, as taken by jwa to work on Friday morning.
Mostly pictures today, as I am mostly tired. I stupidly tried to go shopping with a bunch of other people and although the check-out line at Cost Plus was not bad, actually getting on the ramp to come home sucked.
The final basting. It went back in the oven for about a half hour more after this.
Oh well. I’m home now and making turkey stock. Tonight, we are taking jwa’s parents to Wildwood. As far as last night’s dinner went, I thought it went well. I will say that the brussels sprouts are better when I can give them more attention. I steamed them ahead of time and although that saved a bit of time, I think they suffered a bit . . . → Read More: Thanksgiving: Is It Really Over?
