Winter Salad — although frankly, this is pretty good for a summer picnic too (no mayo!): Wild Rice, Corn + Sprout Salad, with Hot Smoked Salmon. Simple to put together, healthy and is a spectacular lunch. While I think that the smoked salmon is integral, I can see that without it, it would also be very nice (somehow, a totally different salad).
Trying something different for a “one pot” meal — or a one pan meal, as it were. And this was so easy to do. Shrimp with Blistered Cherry Tomatoes, Olives + Feta. Took just about 30 minutes and would be easy enough to double to feed a crowd. The shrimp were super flavorful and juicy, combined with the just-warm olives and feta, and the cherry toms bursting with juiciness. Definitely a repeat. You could likely also do this (in this short of a time) with small pieces of fish as well.
First Sourdough of the year: Asiago + Rosemary Artisan Italian Loaf. Really nice crust on this one, great flavor, though I could see that one has to be careful with salt — the cheese is pretty salty. Great dipping bread with olive oil and garlic and would go great with some antipasti. Definitely one to repeat.
As is often this time of year, I am thinking of “stocking stuffer” style gifts and inevitably I make some roasted nuts. This year: Maple Syrup and Bourbon…. a sort of New England meets Kentucky thing. They are delicious, not too hard and quite addictive. I should stop eating them, otherwise I won’t have any more to give away!
I made this absolutely fantastic soup the other day: I roasted a Kuri squash (sort of like a small pumpkin) and made a bisque with some other aromatics (onions, carrots and peppers) and lot and lots of curry. Its delicious and I’m seriously contemplating making another batch with my leftover squash (I bought a whole bunch and I still have two left). The one thing though, is that single color soups don’t photograph well, so the pictures aren’t all that great. Just pretend you have a whiff of the curry and that makes up for the photo. I need a scratch-and-sniff website.