Recipe Review from 12/21/09

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I've got one week left to go on my 2009 New Recipe Tally. It's looking a bit bleak for getting to the 100 new recipes this year, unless I find some sudden urge to bake a slew of cookies or desserts. Hmmm...it's not pay day donuts at work this next week, and I don't have any evening yoga classes, hmmm... something to consider at any rate.

And we are finally digging out from under a significant snow storm! Sorry, no pictures as I left my camera at work (grrr). With temperatures sitting at 32* it was the wet heavy snow. Storm tally's are now coming in at 22". I'm not surprised - it's over chest deep on the dogs!

Luckily I had some great leftover food in the fridge to satisfy that stay at home and curl up feeling:

Minestrone Soup (Moosewood Ckbk by Molly Katzen) 5.0
We had a family get-together and given current diets, dietary requirements, allergies and general food likes and dislikes with 10 people, I found myself needing a vegetarian dish that would travel well, could be reheated on the stove to free up oven space, would complement the main meal (ham) and that majority of the Family would like.

I picked Minestrone Soup. This actually came together very quickly. I did a couple of modifications - I caramelized the onion, I roasted the garlic ahead of time to mellow the flavor, and I used Swiss chard instead of celery (omitting the leaves - potentially distasteful to some). Since this wouldn't be served until the next day, I held off adding the noodles and when reheating the soup, cooked them then. This did turn out more stew-like than soup like, but a bigger pot and more liquid would quickly fix that. Reheating would also be a snap in a crockpot if feeding a crowd. I'll be making this again.

Potato Gratin (Ckng Lght, Nov 2009) 4.0
This was amazingly easy - especially with my new mandolin! Zip! Zip! Zip! 2 lbs of potatoes were evenly sliced in about 5 minutes (Even better with no lost finger tips!) Combine the potatoes with whole milk, shallots and seasoning in a skillet and cook for about 10 minutes. Spread into a oiled baking dish, top with some Gruyer and Parmesan cheese and bake for about 35 minutes. That is it! I thought these could have used a little more flavor in the way of a bit more butter or seasoning. Perhaps even a bit of cheddar cheese added to the mix. Still, they turned out very good and I won't hesitate to make these again.

Lentil Walnut [Loaf] (modified from Moosewood Ckbk by Molly Katzen)
This cookbook is really my go-to cookbook for good vegetarian recipes. It's the one I reach for when I need to make something for the SIL because the flavors are ones that are easily recognized and the dishes are not "out there". I picked this dish to complement a roast beast dinner and thought it would go good with gravy (she not a strict vegetarian). It was fairly simple to make - cook the lentils until soft, about 40 minutes, then combine with sauteed mushrooms, onion, garlic, walnuts, Swiss chard and seasonings. Add some bread crumbs or wheat germ as binder.

This was originally supposed to be a burger recipe, but I turned it into a loaf. My alterations included: roasting the garlic, red wine vinegar instead of cider, Swiss chard for the spinach, and wheat bran (because I couldn't find my wheat germ). I also added one egg because the mixture seemed rather dry. I loosely formed a loaf and then put it in some saran wrap to chill overnight. It has to travel so baking will occur when I arrive.

Well, if this was supposed to be a burger recipe, and I added an egg to make it stickier for a loaf, I can't imagine how the burgers were going to stay together! The loaf crumbled upon cutting, but that's okay, it still tasted very good. I would make this one again and perhaps cook the lentils longer to make them a bit more mushy for cohesion.