liamsaunt

Christmas is going to be just immediate family this year. I'm just not sure of the dinner location just yet. My Dad really wants the dinner to be at my house so he can see all the decorations. I hope it works out because it's much easier to cook and eat here, but he hasn't actually managed to get over here for a meal for a few years. If weather or how he is feeling prevents him leaving the house, I'll be packing everything up and bringing it all to his house (cooking at his house is not an option). He has multiple serious health and mobility issues, so it's going to be a game day decision. My husband ordered a three bone rib eye roast from Snake River Farms for the main. That's already here and stored in my garage freezer. I don't mind cooking that, but my sister and I don't eat red meat, so we have to consult on an alternate main course. Sides are still TBD. It will all work out. It always does.

Spaghetti with pesto, grape tomatoes and spinach Farro with roasted shredded brussels sprouts, arugula, cranberries, and pistachios, topped with roasted delicata squash and spicy chicken

I had way too many carrots from my weekly CSA delivery piling up, so I decided to make something that would use as many of them as possible. I chose a dish from Food and Wine magazine for savory carrot mochi. Recipe here: savory carrot mochi with pistachio dukkah I made carrot juice in the Vitamix for the recipe, which used up even more carrots. I did make the pickled carrots that the recipe called for too, but decided to save them for something else, and instead served the mochi on a carrot puree flavored with cardamom, with additional roasted carrots on top. My meat-loving nephew was rather unimpressed with dinner, but the rest of us thought it was pretty terrific. I did not manage to use up all of the carrots in the crisper drawer, but I have it down to a reasonable amount now (until the next delivery)

Cavatelli with roasted beet sauce, ricotta and pistachios. I used this recipe from the NY Times as a guide cavatelli with brown butter beets, ricotta, and pistachios I roasted my beets whole and then blended them in my vitamix with the browned butter and balsamic vinegar to try and cut down on beet mess everywhere. Everyone really liked this pasta, except my beet hating nephew, who dined on a sausage and tomato pasta instead.

Beautiful pasta. Is that basil leaf painted on your dinner plate, or is it a trick of the light? It's a clever idea for a plate design. Last night, continuing the clean out the crisper drawer week with salmon with creamy pesto sauce, the last batch of arugula for the year from the CSA made into a lemony salad, and a crispy risotto cake made from some leftover corn risotto I scavenged from the freezer.

"Clean out the crisper drawer" chicken stir fry with cabbage, baby bok choy, blue foot mushrooms, cilantro, a small amount of broccolini and one last red pepper.

Pan seared mini gnocchi with brussels sprouts

chicken shawarma

I am nervous about putting a large roasting pan fresh from the oven directly into the trunk of my car. I do not have any cooler or other item large enough to put it in, so it would be sitting right on the trunk surface. I normally transfer the turkey to a large platter or cutting board for the rest period, so this is not much different, to my mind. I'm open to another idea if you have one though!

Sunday, spaghetti puttanesca with cod. I kept the olives whole so my nephew could pick them out of his portion. Monday, roasted butternut squash soup flavored with green Thai curry paste, fish sauce, ginger, and lemongrass, topped with toasted coconut, cilantro and chopped up cashews.

I dislike turkey, and don't eat it at Thanksgiving. I have no problem cooking it for others though. This is the second year that I have to cook the entire meal at my house and then transport everything to my Dad's. It's not ideal, but my Dad's pretty much housebound now, and he doesn't like to have people over for as long as it would take to cook the entire meal at his house. Last year I tried the Ina Garten method for make ahead turkey, cooking and carving the turkey at my house, resting it on the gravy and then flash reheating it at my Dad's. Ina Garten's make ahead turkey It was fine, but my brother was disappointed that I brought it over already carved. This year I am going to try and transport the whole bird over there, counting the drive over as the resting period (we only live 15-20 minutes apart). I have two turkey roasters available to me, so plan to swap the cooked bird into the cool pan for the ride between houses. Other dishes are dressing (cooked outside the bird), mashed potatoes, butternut squash, a cauliflower gratin for myself and my niece to share (she doesn't eat turkey either), green beans, and cranberry sauce. Oh, and turkey gravy of course.

Friday, bay scallops with angel hair and crispy panko in lemon sauce Saturday, broiled sole with a different lemon sauce, mashed potatoes and asparagus

tomato-carrot tortellini soup with spinach Served with ATK spicy cheese bread

Chicken tenderloins piccata style over spinach. I did an egg and flour coat on the chicken before cooking it, but I probably won't bother next time.

I've been busy and making lots of repeats lately, so haven't been taking a lot of pictures. Sunday we had cavatappi with a quick tomato basil sauce And last night I made mutter paneer

Black bean soup with pickled onions

That sounds really interesting. I have that cookbook, though have not looked at it in a long time, and I have brussels sprouts from my CSA right now. This might make an appearance later this week. My nephew requested that I make Moroccan meatballs with arugula for dinner last night. He said he used to make it with elk while living in Montana, and it was a favorite meal for him and his roommates. We cannot get elk here as far as I know, so I used beef instead. I also made vegetable "meatballs" for myself and my sister from roasted eggplant and mushrooms since we don't eat red meat. This is my plate, with the vegetable balls. I thought it was fine. He was happy, and that's the most important thing. I was out of couscous, so made rice pilaf instead.

My CSA has been giving me lots of carrots every week. I must have at least 10 lbs. in the house right now, even after making this dinner recipe from the NY Times. Recipe: carrot risotto with chile crisp The recipe calls for 2 1/4 lbs. of carrots. To amp up the number of carrots used even more, I made carrot juice in my vitamix and swapped that in for some of the broth, which took care of another 1 1/2 lbs. It was pretty tasty! The roasted carrots were quite spicy, and we did not need any extra chile crisp drizzled on top like the recipe suggests.

spiced chicken chopped salad

bucatini with corn, bacon and scallions

Tried a recipe from Milk Street's Tuesday Nights Mediterranean for Turkish style flatbreads stuffed with roasted butternut squash and haloumi cheese with a lemon cumin yogurt sauce. The recipe called for large tortillas for the wrapper, probably to save time, but we all liked it enough that I found a recipe for how to make the flatbread from scratch and will make it that way next time. I stuffed my nephew's with spiced ground beef instead of squash so everyone at the table was happy. Next time I will do a salad instead of oven fries.

Ravioli with roasted beet sauce, wilted arugula, and toasted pine nuts

Sunday I made chicken souvlaki with tzatziki and what might be the last of the local tomatoes. Last night, paneer butter masala and maharajah's rice

Gnocchi with roasted cherry tomato sauce, basil and fresh mozzarella cheese

Noodle bowl with seared tuna, choi sum, napa cabbage, and miso glazed harukei turnips