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A New Love: Jacques Pépin's Fast Food
Talking Him Into It - Feeding The Guy
Another Change, and Two Summer Shortcakes
« Spring Flowers | Main | The Cutest Easter Egg Ever! »
This week started with the very simple Rigatoni with Tomato Sauce and Ricotta from Gourmet, moved to the bright Spring Vegetable Fricassee with Saffron Cream from Bon Appétit and then finished with a grand finale of Spring Greens with Orange-Fennel Vinaigrette and Dark Chocolate Torte with Spiked Blackberry Coulis from Bon Appétit's Passover feature.
The rigatoni was lovely and easy to make, with simple clear flavors that were just as wonderful cold for lunch as they had been the night before for dinner. The sauce, a combination of good (canned) tomatoes and fresh basil was simplicity itself to make, the dollop of ricotta on the side contrasted nicely with the tang of the tomatoes, and the pecorino grated over everything added the only depth the dish needed.
The vegetables in saffron cream were not nearly as simple either in method or taste, but they were lovely and a nice variation on our usual salads and braised leeks. The sauce soaked into rice nicely and the whole dish added flavor to the simple chicken I served it with. The only thing that would keep me from making it again is the simple fact that I don't really see the point to covering vegetables with tons of cream - it seems to defeat the purpose of eating the vegetables. If I did make it, however, I would leave out the peas. There's just something about peas that brings a dish down to the level of little kid food.
The real hit of the week, however, were the Passover dishes I made with my hostess Barbara. For second Seder we made the Spring Greens with Orange-Fennel Vinaigrette, in which I omitted the fennel (The Guy doesn't like it) and substituted a little lemon zest and some dried cranberries, which don't taste anything like fennel but pack the same kind of punch in a salad. We agreed at the end of the night that we liked it better this way - fennel would have been one taste too many (especially alongside brisket, turkey, kugel, matzoh, geffilte fish and melon). And for the end of the meal we made the chocolate tort I had been drooling over since the magazine first arrived at my door. The cake was surprisingly easy to make (just melt chocolate, whip eggs, and fold them together), and had the most wonderful fudgy texture that somehow wasn't too dense. The coulis (blackberry with allspice, bay leaf, cloves, wine, and cognac) was a wonderful complement to the chocolate, and added a great flavor to the chocolate glaze. A fantastic way to end the night (now I just need to find the alka-seltzer in Barbara's medicine cabinet....)
Posted by georgia to Kitchen and Cooking , Reviews on April 13, 2006 11:03 PM | permalink | Email this post
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