Roasted Cauliflower

Some of the dishes in this cookbook are ones I've made before, (over and over and over again)  It feels like kind of cheating to make them for The Project, like I should save them until I need a break from some of the crazier stuff in the book.  Oh well, some days you just need to eat roasted cauliflower for dinner.  This is one of my favorite things. I think I like roasted cauliflower (when done well) more than french fries.


It is so easy too- toss the florets in olive oil, salt and pepper them, and roast on a cookie sheet. Ta-da! excellent side dish to whatever you're having.  Some people sprinkle on cumin, or curry powder, or pimenton, but I like mine plain. 


Make this now- it's a healthy respite from the pounds of starches you've been eating!

Pumpkin, Sage, Chestnut and Bacon Risotto - 2003

Look at the title. Those five words are so awesome. Wait, look at the title again. Pumpkin, Sage, Chestnut and Bacon. Plus Risotto, which I love.  There is a link to the recipe here.

I was making this dinner for Glee Tuesday, which my friend Julie (and Paul, but he was busy this evening) come over and we watch Glee and eat dinner, drink wine and hang out.  They are going to be Project participants for a long while, so I wanted to start with one that I knew Julie would like.

I swapped out butternut squash for the pumpkin, because even though pumpkins are available this time of year, I prefer butternut in savory applications.  The recipe said I could!  You start by roasting the butternut squash in the oven, for 40 minutes, until soft,  and then laying pieces of bacon over them, sprinkled with chestnuts, and sage. You then cook the whole thing until the bacon is crisp, and take them out of the oven.

Then you start making the risotto- which is a fairly standard risotto recipe- and I am pretty familiar with making risotto, it's one of my favorite things. when the risotto is done, you stir in half of the finely chopped squash in, then bigger chunks of the squash, and on each serving you put diced bacon, sage and chestnuts.

It was really, really good.  The finely chopped squash melts into the risotto, which turns it to a bright orange yellow color. I was worried that the bacon would overpower the dish- but it didn't- it just lent a nice saltiness to the whole mix.  The chestnuts were so excellent. I've never cooked with them before- and they were almost meaty in texture.  Definitely one to make again.

Chicken a La Marengo 1908

*If you want to check out this recipe- it is here


I love chicken, I love mushrooms, and I'm a fan of tomatoes,  to begin with I was thinking that this combination is bound to be wonderful, and it was. 


Cooking it though, wasn't quite the smooth sailing I had hoped.  In looking at the recipe before making it, I couldn't quite visualize it.  Usually when I'm cooking from a recipe I've been thinking about it for awhile, and I kind of work my way thorough the steps in my head, so that when I go to make the recipe, it goes pretty smoothly.  That did not really happen here. I kept running back and forth to my laptop, running into the kitchen, trying to remember what point in the process, I was, going back to the table to chop things, and then repeating that process.  While it was funny to watch- My friend Helena seemed amused by my crazy pacing around the kitchen, I'm hoping that doesn't happen too much. (or at least if it does, while I'm alone so only the cat can see my crazy and disorganized mess)


I think this could probably be solved by better mis en place.


I also doubled the recipe, so that made for a lot of cooking of chicken (two four pound chicken cut up into parts is a lot of cooking going on. Also, it took a lot longer to cook the chicken than I had anticipated.

I started with the sauce, simmering tomato, onion, celery, carrot and parsley for about an hour.


Then I smashed a garlic clove, and started cooking chicken.  I used a dutch oven and my mom's biggest frying pan, and after putting all the pieces into the pans at once, switched over to cooking the chicken in batches, and it seemed to go a lot smoother after that.




Once the sauce was done simmering, I put it through the potato ricer (I don't have a food mill) which turned out a little less liquid than I thought it would, but it turned out that that was okay.

Once the chicken was done, I sauteed the mushrooms, and added the tomato sauce, and things were smelling quite amazing.

Chicken on the platter

Along with the chicken, I served steamed spinach, and mashed red skin potatoes. I knew the chicken was going to be challenging, so I picked sides that I knew would be quick and easy, and go well with the chicken dish. 

If every time cooking from the book is going to be this wonderful, I'm in for a great ride.  The chicken was really good, and the sauce was luscious, the potatoes were creamy and buttery. 

Many thanks for my Mom, my Dad, (especially my Dad, who heroically did all the dishes. I generated a lot of dishes) my cousin Amy, and my auntie Ange and Uncle Dave for coming for dinner and telling me that they liked it.  These guys were here at the first dinner, and I hope they'll be at the last one of the project, which I am definitely going to go all out for. 

Three recipes down, 1000+ to go!