Switcheroo

Normally I do pretty much all of the cooking in our two-person household, and Roger does most of the cleanup. But, a few months ago Roger had the idea that it would be fun to trade jobs for a week. Though I tend to be a control freak in the kitchen, I agreed that this could be a fun experiment. So, last week was the big week. When I got home from work, I kicked back in the recliner while Roger whipped up his culinary delights. My blissful state disappeared quickly when I realized that the piles of dishes in the sink were now MY responsibility... I think he picked out his recipes based on how many dirty dishes they would create ;)

Monday night: Paglia fieno all boscaiola (straw and hay pasta and fresh wild mushrooms)



This is one of the dishes we made in the Italian cooking class we took a few weeks ago. Here is the original recipe, which we halved. (We also left out the prosciutto.)

4 Tbs unsalted butter
1.5 oz dried porcini plus 1/2 lb fresh wild mushrooms
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup brandy (we substituted red wine)
1/4 lb proscuitto, juliened
1.5 cups heavy cream
1 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup frozen peas, defrosted
1.5 lb fettucine

In a medium-sized skillet, melt the butter and when the foam subsides, add the mushrooms, salt them, and saute the mushrooms for 3-4 minutes until soft. Add proscuitto and saute 1 minute. Add the brandy and deglaze the skillet. Boil the liquid and reduce until almost all of the liquid has evaporated. Stir in the cream, reduce until slightly thickened. Add peas and half the cheese and simmer until cheese is melted.

While sauce is cooking, bring two pots of water to a boil (you only need one if you halve the recipe). Divide pasta between the two pots, and cook until al dente. Drain most of the water, leaving a little in each pot to keep the pasta moist. Toss the pasta with the mushroom sauce and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese. Serve immediately with additional parmesan cheese.

Tuesday night: Rice and beans. These were really good. Scarfed them down in about 5 minutes so we could get out the door to Trivia Night (which our team won!!!).



Wednesday night: We went out to Pizzeria Regina :)

Thursday night: Pasta with goat cheese and tomatoes. This is one of our regular dishes and is pretty easy to throw together at a moment's notice. It's from "365 Ways to Cook Pasta."



Friday night: Fish tacos! I am sorry to say that I failed to take a photo of these, because they were REALLY good. The recipe is from one of the Rachel Ray cookbooks, I think Express Lane Meals.

All in all the great cooking swap was a success, though I was very happy to seize control of the kitchen back on Saturday, when I made stuffed acorn squash (stuffed with leftover rice and beans from Tuesday).



On the side is lightly steamed spinach with craisins. I was going to make a salad but Saturday morning, I was randomly flipping through Yoga Journal at my chiropractor's office and read an article about how you should only eat warm salads when the weather is cold. I think it has something to do with ease of digestion? Sounded a little strange, but I'm all in favor of eating warm foods in winter, so I decided to try it out. It was pretty good!

End of the season

So, Oct. 23 was the last day of our CSA... a sad occasion! But it has been a great season. The last delivery was heavy on root vegetables - here we have some carrots, parsnips, beets and turnips, plus a butternut squash. It was not much fun lugging all that stuff home!



We also got quite a few apples. The apples were so tart that we deemed them inedible unless baked. I made a roasted squash and apple casserole (which I sadly forgot to take a picture of), which we had for dinner one night but could have been a dessert too. Here is the recipe - next time I make it I will probably cut down on the sugar, it really doesn't need that much. The next morning I had the leftovers on top of my oatmeal, which was divine.

I have been bad about taking pictures recently, but here are a couple:

Turnip and parsnip gratin. Doesn't sound all that appealing, but it was really good. The recipe is from Cooking Light.



Pizza! With sliced roasted beets, goat cheese, and a walnut-olive oil spread. Mmmmmm.



Without the CSA, I made a trip to Russo's this weekend to stock up on some produce. Even though it's not all local, they do have a lot of local stuff and the non-local stuff is very high quality. I bought a few more squash, apples, pomegranates (!), and the highlight... brussels sprouts! When we got to the store and I saw the brussels sprouts piled high, I let out a squeal of the sort that, as Catherine observed, most people reserve for sightings of Brad Pitt. :) I roasted my sprouts with some maple syrup, mustard and olive oil, and they were delightful.

Bonus fun: Catherine's post on our donut-making adventure.