Tonight was a quickie - TJ’s Bolognese ravioli with jarred vodka sauce, and green salad. Forgot a pic.
Tonight after baby bedtime we’re having a fellow foodie couple over for snacks, drinks, and games. I’ve made homemade herbed foccacia and rosemary white bean dip, and will also be putting out sopressata, Syrah-soaked Tosacano and Port Salut cheeses, pistachios in their shells, Italian tuna in olive oil with lemon zest, crispy ravioli with marinara sauce, dates sauteed in olive oil, and dried Washington cherries and almonds. I’ll bake off some chocolate chip-pecan cookies if anyone has room left, and there’ll be plenty of Prosecco and brut sparkling rosé, plus beer. They hosted us for Christmas Eve, and I’m excited to have them over.
Mrs. P recreated the delicious pureed kabocha squash and roasted apple appetizer, on top of endives and radicchio, and topped with candied pecans, inspired by Bloom in Verona, NJ. We also had melt in your mouth country ribs from Sam’s Butcher Shop with a Cajun dry rub. For those of you that live in NYC, Sam provides the country ribs for the number one sandwich (The Smoking Fox) at Foxface, the tiny exotic sandwich shop which received one star from Pete Wells at the NY Times. We had sides of roasted mini peppers and Trader Joe’s sweet potato fries. It all went great with an excellent 2012 Valdez red zinfandel.
Made a baked rice and veggie thingy. Started with sautéed onion, squash, and broccoli. Mixed the veggies with a cheddar cheese sauce and baked. Side was salad with watermelon radish and persimmon.
I’m pretty pleased with this for a few reasons. First, the noodles were homemade, with my little apprentice. This was one of the cooking projects I wanted to do during winter break. Second, I had bought a 1/2 price turkey just after Thanksgiving, and my husband had butchered and frozen it. This dish successfully used the 2 wings, which were roasted to produce drippings for the gravy and enough meat to make it feel like not just noodles in sauce. Finally, I repurposed all the carrots and snap peas from my Jan 1 party crudites. I made a gorgeous crudite platter and although everyone should have been resolving to eat healthy, the platter was 80% there when the guests left, unlike the fried mac & cheese balls that vanished in the first hour. Go figure.
Below is the original dish from Bloom that inspired Mrs. P. I think hers is even more photogenic 
I will convey your message to Mrs. P.
