I have been wanting to make this recipe for the longest time — Ina Garten’s Asian Marinated Salmon. I made it as written, except I added 1 tablespoon of honey to the marinade. And okay, I used a grill pan.

Fine, I also only used 1 pound of salmon instead of a whole side of salmon. But c’mon, that would have been super-duper expensive and a lot of fish for two people.

You might notice that there aren’t any prep pictures here. Well…jwa brought the camera to work and I didn’t have it to take pictures while making dinner. So sad.

Asian Marinated Salmon
1 lb wild salmon (the marinade below will accommodate up to 3 pounds)
For the marinade:
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
3 tbsp soy sauce
6 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp minced garlic
Garnishes: chopped green onions and lemon or lime wedges

Whisk together the mustard, soy sauce, olive oil, honey and garlic in a small bowl. Drizzle half of the marinade onto the salmon and allow it to sit for 10 minutes.

Heat up a grill pan and brush lightly with oil. Alternately, you can light charcoal briquettes in a grill and brush the grilling rack with oil to keep the salmon from sticking.

Place the salmon skin side down on the hot grill surface; discard the marinade the fish was sitting in. Grill for 4 to 5 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. Turn carefully with a wide spatula and grill for another 4 to 5 minutes. The salmon will be slightly raw in the center, but don’t worry; it will keep cooking as it sits.

Transfer the fish to a flat plate, skin side down, and spoon the reserved marinade on top. Allow the fish to rest for 10 minutes. Remove the skin and serve with the extra unused marinade.

So, I was watching TV a couple of weekends ago and saw some of this show on the Food Network that I don’t like that much — Simply Delicioso. Simply Annnoying-o, imho. But she made these potato balls with cheese in the middle which sort of intrigued me. So I built on that concept and created — wasabi potato balls! Woo! What? Cream cheese isn’t uh, Asianesque?

Yeah, I know. I know. But I will not let authenticity stand in the way of my love of all things cheese. Besides, Dijon mustard isn’t an authentic pan-Asian ingredient either. See, the meal all fits together perfectly!

Wasabi Potato Balls
2 medium russet potatoes, peeled
1 tbsp salt
2 cloves garlic (or 1 huge clove)
1 tbsp prepared wasabi
1 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
Optional: 1/2 tsp Asian seasoning (I have this Oxo grind it Asian blend with lemongrass and ginger and other stuff that I couldn’t resist adding to the breadcrumbs)
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put potatoes in a large pot and fill with water until potatoes are just covered. Add the 1 tablespoon salt. Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are very soft, about 30 minutes. Test with a fork after 20.

Press potatoes through a potato ricer and blend until mashed. Add the garlic, wasabi and salt and pepper to taste. Get the potatoes to where you like them seasoning-wise. Then, let them sit for a few minutes until just cool enough to handle.

Slice up 8 small little cubes of your cream cheese. Add the extra seasoning to the bread crumbs if you are using it and set aside in a small bowl. Prepare a baking sheet with foil wrap and coat with vegetable spray or rub with oil.

Okay. While mashed potatoes are still warm, form them into 2-inch balls. You should have eight. Make an indentation with you finger and insert 1 cheese cube in the center of a ball, then roll it into bread crumbs and place on cookie sheet. Repeat with the 7 remaining balls, rinsing your hands as needed so the potatoes form evenly and don’t stick to the bread crumbs in your hand.

Give the tops a spray with canola or olive oil and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Halfway through the baking time, flip them over. Serve immediately. They are mighty tasty.

Kinda lazy tonight. Will just post pictures of today’s walk around Mt. Tabor.

Okay.

Colorful foliage!

Park bench, trees, and me!

Reservoir and downtown in the background

jwa walking…

Upper reservoir and Fallness

Nice!

Leaves and sky. Duh

Goodnight.

::snore::

This was a really good, quick weeknight dinner. It’s from Gourmet magazine and I really just tweaked it a little by adding some lemon zest. We had this with some herbed polenta and uh, I think some broccoli. It was a week or so ago. It’s kind of a blur.

I think the thing I liked best about it was the stuffing kind of vibe. But it was on the outside. It was topping! Crispy topping rocks.

Chicken Breasts with Horseradish-Scallion Crust
This will serve two
1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp chopped scallion
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup fine fresh bread crumbs
Zest of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp drained bottled horseradish
1/2 tsp chopped fresh tarragon or a pinch dried, crumbled
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl whisk together mustard and mayonnaise until combined well. Now, I found it easy to make my own bread crumbs in the food processor and when I did, I just tossed in the lemon zest, tarragon, green onion and horseradish and pulsed it all together.

Pat chicken dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a 10-inch non-stick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and brown chicken, about 2-3 minutes on each side.

Transfer chicken to a shallow baking dish and pour off all but about 2 teaspoons oil from skillet. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. Remove skillet from heat and add the breadcrumb mixture.

Remove skillet from heat and stir in bread crumbs, horseradish, tarragon, and salt and pepper to taste. Spread mayonnaise mixture on skin side of each chicken breast and top evenly with bread crumb mixture. Now, this is funny — I made the mayo/mustard mixture and put it in the fridge while I made the breadcrumbs and browned the chicken. Then, I totally forgot about it.

::slaps self on forehead::

I just kind of pushed the horseradish moistened breadcrumbs into the chicken and it seemed to work fine. So, you could probably skip the mayonnaise and mustard — your call.

Bake chicken in middle of oven 8-10 minutes, or until cooked through, and then let stand 5 minutes. If you want extra browning, give the top of the chicken a quick spray with olive oil before putting it in the oven.

Delicious! Okay, seriously, next week there will be talk of shoes.

First of all, thanks so much to Sara of Weekend Cookbook Challenge for letting me guest-host this month! I had a great time picking a theme and I hope everyone had fun participating. And here are some nifty new seasonal recipes to try this month.

So, what kind of food does Halloween evoke? Soups, root vegetables, apples, huge fancy meals, snacks and sweets. Plus scary meat products! There’s a little bit of everything — something for everyone!

Okay, first up is the above mentioned Sara of WCC and I Like to Cook fame with this wonderful looking Pam’s Ham and Apple Breakfast Pie adapted from Bruce Aidells’s Complete Book of Pork: A Guide to Buying, Storing, and Cooking the World’s Favorite Meat. I bet her house smelled amazing while this was baking in the oven.

Gretchen, over at Canela y Comino in Peru turned to Cooking Light for inspiration and came up with a batch of Chocolate Gingersnap Cookies. Mmmmmm…ginger. Now these would sure be a great post snack after a Halloween meal!

My friend Vanessa sent me an awesome sounding recipe from one of her favorite cookbooks, Zuppa! by Annie Bianchi. Here’s a recipe for Ceci, Mele, Salisoccia E Patate Alla Garfagnana (Chickpeas, Apples, Sausage and Potatoes Garfangnana Style). Although she forgot to take a picture, I think we can imagine how tasty it looked!

Next up is Colleen, from Naperville, IL. Hey — that’s kind of by where I grew up! Neat. Colleen also picked a soup, Gelbe Erbsen Suppe, auf Berliner Art (Berlin Style Split Pea Soup. Like all good Fall meals, she says it’s “a wonderful tummy-warming dinner when you add warm bread and a nice side salad of baby greens & sauteed pears.”

My friend Christy at Beehive, who besides being like seven months pregnant, made an amazing Fall Feast for her Denver friends including Martha Stewart’s Pumpkin Cake with Brown Butter Icing. Damn! That all looks so good!

Okay. Who’s next? It’s LizG from Bits ‘n Bites who made a highly snackable Toasted Pepita Dip from the Whole Foods Market Cookbook. I’m not sure it gets any more Halloween-y than pumpkin seeds.

Molly at Batter-Splattered (great blog name!) created some delicious looking Quick and Easy Pumpkin Pie Bars from Heartland Baking from the Midwest’s Best Cooks. She says, “The crust and the topping gets plump and crispy and chewy while still maintaining its crustyness on the bottom layer.” Mmmmm!

Deborah of What’s in my Kitchen? asks, “Polenta = Halloween?” Uh, yes, I say! Yes! The answer to every question is polenta! Here she decides on Crispy Polenta with Mushrooms, from Cooking for Two by Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough. This was her first time joining in WCC and I’m really glad she did. Oh and I love the Halloween bowl.

Cady at $40 a Week went all out and prepared Poulet a la Normande from Chez Panisse Fruit, while taking advantage of a yard full of apples ready to be harvested. Also, what’s more festive than lighting your Fall foods on fire? Exactly. A meal that’s both entertaining and delicious!

Into the homestretch here, people! Now Mike at Mel’s Diner took one for the whole WCC21 team and made the scariest recipe of the bunch — Zungenwurst. Not sure what that is? Well, it’s tongue pieces with pork fat in blood. Boo! Of his special WCC Halloween experiment he says, “I didn’t like it. I didn’t hate it, but it left a odd, disgusting aftertaste in my mouth.” Aw, poor Mike will need lots of Halloween candy to make the taste go away.

Finally, I made Honey Roasted Parsnip Bisque from Talk with Your Mouth Full. Both jwa and I liked it quite a bit and it was suitably Halloween-ish as we typically use parsnips for the noses on our jack o’lanterns!

Okay, whew! We made it through. If I missed your entry please send me an email and let me know. I’ll get it up asap.

Thanks again to Sara for letting me guest-host. I certainly have gained a newfound appreciation for how much work she must put into WCC each month!

Monday night, the WCC round-up* will be up but for now…it’s cookies. I altered a recipe I found at the Whole Foods web site to include matcha (powdered green tea). Where can you get matcha? Try here!

I rolled them out and used my new, cool Halloween cookie cutters for some great shapes — a bat, a ghost, cat, jack o’lantern and a witch boot. But, you could also just roll the dough into two logs, chill and slice into rounds. That would work just fine too.

I really liked the fact that this recipe calls for brown sugar. I think that it held up to the green tea taste really well.

Green Tea Halloween Sugar Cookies
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp matcha
1/2 tsp non-aluminum baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
2-3 tbsp milk
3 tbsp granulated sugar

In large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed, beat butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in egg until well blended.

In a separate bowl combine flour, matcha, baking powder and salt; then, with mixer at low speed, beat into butter mixture to blend well. If mixture is a little dry, add 2-3 tablespoons milk until it comes together. Form dough into two balls. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm, at least an hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface and cut into shapes using cookie cutters. Sprinkle unbaked cookies with a little granulated sugar.

Place about 1–1/2 inches apart on ungreased, parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake 10–12 minutes. Cool on wire rack and store in an airtight container. Or use shot glasses and stand the up on your dining room table for a photo…

* If there are any stragglers, you have until 4PM PST, to get me your entry.

Economical fish be damned, I made this recently much to jwa’s (and my) delight. Oh. So good. Who knew Dick Clark made killer pizza at home and then gave the recipe to Bon Appétit?

I did however, use a different pizza dough recipe — the one from my Farmer’s Market Pizza Experiment of last Spring. I also changed the wasabi sauce recipe a bit and added the shitakes, carrot, avocado and sesame seeds. But still, I’ll give him the credit.

(Kind of) Dick Clark’s Seared Tuna Pizza
Your favorite Pizza Dough recipe — here is mine (you can also use prepared dough, of course. There is also one listed with this recipe at epicurious.com)
1/4 cup shredded carrots
10-12 shitake mushrooms, cleaned, destemmed, sliced quickly sauteed in a little oil until soft
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp purchased prepared wasabi
2 tbsp minced peeled fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 lb ahi tuna
olive oil

Garnishes:
Chopped green onions
1 avocado, peeled and diced, tossed with the juice of 1 lime and some chopped cilantro

Combine soy sauce, oil, honey and wasabi in medium bowl; whisk until blended. Whisk in ginger and garlic. Season sauce to taste with pepper.

Preheat your oven to the desired temperature for your dough. Mine was about 490 degrees. Prepare one large pizza or individual pizzas. Brush your pizza dough generously with the wasabi sauce and sprinkle with the carrots, sauteed shitakes and sesame seeds. Bake until crust is completely done and top is a bit golden — for me this was about 9-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a pan until almost smoking. Brush a little of the wasabi sauce on the tuna along with just a little salt and sear on the first side for about 2 minutes. Brush sauce on the facing-up side and flip over, for about 1-2 minutes more.

Transfer tuna to a work surface. Slice thinly or moderately thinly. Hmmm, really, thinly is pretty subjective. Anyway, arrange 1/2 of the tuna slices on each pizza crust (if you are making individual pizzas). If you are making one big pizza? Well, I trust you can figure that one out.

Drizzle each pizza with some wasabi sauce and sprinkle with chopped green onions and the avocado-lime-cilantro mixture. Serve with the remaining wasabi sauce for further drizzling at your leisure.

Completely unrelated — oh, oh, oh do I love Pushing Daisies. And now I totally want to make an apple pie with grated gruyere on top — perhaps even with the mood-enhancing drugs inside. I guess it would depend on how I felt.

Next week: WCC round-up, Halloween green tea sugar cookies, some tasty-quick chicken and probably a shoe update.

I recently got the cookbook, Talk with your Mouth Full by Dan Smith and Steve McDonagh and I absolutely love it. So many pages turned down of recipes that I want to make. This first one I thought would be perfect for the Halloween theme I chose for this month’s Weekend Cookbook Challenge, which I am super excited to be guest-hosting.

Now, the recipe itself isn’t particularly “Halloweeny” but it is when you add bat and black cat shaped Parmesan croutons and serve it in a big pumpkin soup tureen! Although, every year when jwa and I carve pumpkins, we do use parsnips for the noses, so there you go.

Roasted Honey Parsnip Bisque
2 pounds parsnips, peeled and quartered lengthwise
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I subbed olive oil)
3 tsp salt, divided
6 tbsp honey, divided
6 cups water
1 bunch parsley
1 carrot, cut in 1/2
1 small onion
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
2 tsp white pepper (I used regular, freshly ground black pepper)
3 cups heavy cream (here, I used about 1.5 cups half and half)
Garnish: chopped fresh parsley

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Toss the parsnips with the oil and 1 teaspoon of salt and drizzle with 3 tablespoons honey. Place on a baking sheet and put into the top half of the oven. Roast 30 minutes, or until the parsnips are a deep golden brown; they tend to burn easily so make sure to toss often while roasting.

Meanwhile, put the water into a large pot and place over high heat. Lay a double layer of cheesecloth on a flat surface and place the carrot, onion, parsley, bay leaves and peppercorns in the center. When I did this, I couldn’t find my kitchen twine, so I just tied the cheesecloth up around everything. Then I realized I forgot my carrots. So, I just added those to the pot, figuring I would fish them out later. Oh and I threw in a garlic clove too.

Tie the cheesecloth up and around the vegetable and herb mix and drop it into the water. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Remove the parsnips from the oven and place them immediately into the stock. Add the remaining honey and salt and white pepper; simmer for about 20 minutes. Puree with an immersion blender, or in batches in a blender.

Return to the saucepan and add the cream (or half and half) and pepper. I found when I did this that a cup and a half made it super creamy so I just stopped there. Feel free to add the whole 3 cups. Stir well to combine and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.

For a holiday garnish, cut shapes from sourdough bread using cookie cutters, brush on some olive oil and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Toast in the oven and serve with the bisque. Speaking of the bisque, it was so good and creamy — even subbing the half and half for the cream.

So, everyone get your cookbooks out (or even a food magazine) and find a recipe that could fit a Halloween theme, make it, post about it, and send me the link to your post by Monday Sunday, October 21st — you still have 6 days! I’ll round them all up here shortly after the due date.

Recently, it has come to my attention that October 18th is National Meatloaf Appreciation Day. A big thank you to Serious Eats for bringing the enlightenment and for also hosting an event just for all the meat loaves and their special day.

I have been trying to recreate and perfect a meatloaf that I had about nine years ago, while living in California. jwa and I had gone shopping for something and ended up at the California Cafe by the Stanford Mall for an early dinner. They had a chicken, apple and dijon meatloaf for a special which I ordered and loved — it was the greatest meatloaf I had ever had.

Much to jwa’s dismay I have tried to recapture this awesomeness on a plate all these years since but now….I think I’ve finally gotten it (or something I like just as much).

My version has turkey instead of chicken but it’s close enough. And jwa liked it too — a lot! Which is amazing as, although he did like the Montana meatloaf, generally, he’s not a huge fan of big meaty loaves. In all honesty, I am not either — at least not the beef or beef/pork/veal varieties, hence my collection of previous turkey meat loaves.

So, anyway, there you go. A mostly-meatloaf-disliker likes this meatloaf a lot and a turkey-meatloaf-liker loves this meatloaf. How’s that for a recommendation?

Turkey Meatloaf with Apple, Dijon and Carrot or (This is not the greatest meatloaf in the world — no, it’s just a tribute)
1 medium white onion, diced
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 green apple, grated (do not squeeze the juice out)
2 big cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1.5 lb ground turkey
.25 lb sweet pork sausage (you can also use pork sausage in a casing, just remove the casing — that’s what I did)
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
2 eggs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
3 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
salt and pepper

glaze + topping:
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp dijon mustard
pinch of dried thyme
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
canola oil spray

Okay — here we go. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat the oil in a skillet and saute the onion until soft — about 3-4 minutes. Add the fennel seeds and the apple and carrot. Continue to saute until any apple liquid evaporates and everything gets just a little color, about 3-4 minutes more. Remove the pan from the heat and let the veggies cool off in a big bowl.

Add the turkey, pork, breadcrumbs, eggs, cheese, mustard and thyme to the big bowl with the veggies. Add about one teaspoon salt and a half of a teaspoon freshly ground pepper. Mix it all up with your hands. It’ll be cold. That’s okay, it builds character.

Put your meatloaf mixture into a loaf pan. I like to go around the edges with my fingers and push down a little so there’s an indentation so that any juices can run off to the side.

Once the meat is safely in the pan, make a little something-something for the top. Mix the mustard with the honey and the pinch of dried thyme. Spread over the top of the meatloaf and sprinkle with some Parmesan. Give it just a quick, little spray with canola oil to encourage browning.

Okay, fine, so I used a bit more cheese…

Bake in the oven about 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Then, turn the oven up to 375 for 15 more minutes of cooking. This extra blast of heat at the end should ensure you have a nice, toasty crust. After the one hour total baking time, take it out and check the temperature. If it’s at least 165 degrees (it’ll probably be a bit over that temperature), you’re good to go. Cover loosely with some foil and let it rest for 10-20 minutes.

Now, when you turn the heat up (about 15 minutes before it’s done) you can start a quick pan gravy.

Quick Pan Gravy
1 tbsp butter
1/2 white onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 tsp thyme leaves
Salt and pepper

Saute the onion in the butter over medium-low heat until softened and a bit golden — about 15 minutes. Add the garlic and and give it about 4-5 more minutes. Now add the flour and cook a minute or two. Add the stock, wine and mustard. Whisk and bring to a boil. Turn down and simmer until the meatloaf is done resting.

Oh, here’s what else you can do if you are in a daring sort of mood — grab the meatloaf pan with some oven mits. Bring it over to the pan of gravy and tip it slightly so that some of the meatloaf juices pour into your pan gravy. See, this is where the indentations around the meatloaf in the pan help out. And, I think this goes without saying, but don’t drop the whole meatloaf into the gravy pan! Next, your meatloaf safely back on the counter, add the thyme and salt and pepper the gravy to taste.

Slice the meatloaf (ours was so moist it was a little hard to get it out in perfect slices that were all in one piece) and serve with the gravy drizzled over it. Simple steamed broccoli and buttermilk mashed potatoes make great sides!

And, wow, this was soooo good. This was the first time I added pork to the combo and I think that was what took it over the edge. I knew I had experienced a major turkey meatloaf breakthrough when jwa was all, “oh, can I take the leftovers for lunch tomorrow?” Ha! Victory is mine!

Thanks again to Serious Eats for hosting this event and giving meatloaf some love.

This is really, really easy and super good. Who doesn’t have a bag or half bag of frozen peas in the house? With that and a few more items you could have an excellent dinner and even a lunch or two for later in the week. What a deal!

Aside from that, we had a great time in Ashland. The leaves were changing — it was very pretty and scenic. We ate at Dragonfly, Morning Glory and the Winchester Inn. More on that later in the week. For now — let’s get to the pasta!

Rustic Green Pea Pesto with Whole Wheat Spaghetti
Adapted from a recipe on the Whole Foods Market Web site
1 pound whole wheat linguine
1 cup frozen green peas, thawed
1/4 cup packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
1/2 cup packed basil leaves (you could also use mint — that sounds great for a Spring version of this dish)
1 tbsp capers, drained
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until it is al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta-cooking water. Drain the pasta, then transfer it to a large bowl.

Meanwhile, combine the peas, parsley, basil, Parmesan, capers, garlic and lemon juice in a food processor. Pulse to combine. Add the oil in a steady stream while pulsing. Add salt and pepper, taste and adjust seasoning.

Toss the hot pasta with the reserved pasta-cooking water and pesto. Top with toasted walnuts and serve immediately. Oh fine. Add some more Parmesan cheese to the top as well.

Winchester Inn
35 South Second St.
Ashland, OR 97520
541.488.1113

We typically go to Ashland every Fall — see some plays, eat some food, go on some walks, that sort of thing. We’re heading off there this weekend and I thought it would be a good time to post last-Spring’s-mini-trip-there pictures. We just stayed for one night with a deal through the Winchester Inn — tickets to a play, dinner discounts, a suite and breakfast the next morning.

Our night started with dinner and a complimentary appetizer. In this case clams and mussels in a spicy, garlicky, winey broth. I have to say, neither jwa or I would have ordered this on our own but since it was brought to us for free, we dove right in, With some crusty bread it was really, really good. So good that at some point, I am going to try Tyler Florence’s recipe for spaghetti and spicy, tomatoey clam sauce.

A big bowl full of mollusks

Next, I think I had some asparagus soup. I remember it being delicious. It had a rich, smokey flavor.

Here’s a picture of a salad. I bet jwa had the salad. That’s just the type of thing he would do…

Although, upon further inspection, that might be something else. Oh, but I know it was tasty!

For my main course, I got this amazing braised lamb over polenta with rosemary and vegetables.

I think they still currently have it on the menu. Yep — they do: Braised lamb shank, basil polenta, with a braising sauce and Tangerine Rosemary gremolata. Wow, that was so good.

Surf & turf

jwa got the surf and turf special — a beef fillet, it looks like something crispy on top, something round and crusty (I’m going to guess this was a risotto ball) and crabmeat. Oh and sauces! A couple of different sauces. It was so good. I know because I tried some and he was raving about it as well.

Dessert was a fried banana, caramel sauce and a pot of dark chocolate gelatto. So excellent. I hope that is still on the menu when we are there this weekend! Okay, I should probably go pack or something…

Oh, yeah — just a reminder about this month’s weekend cookbook challenge! Make something Fallish and/or Halloween-y and send your post to me by by October 21!