Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova

This is probably the prettiest dessert I’ve ever made, and that’s saying something.  I halved it and could still feed four comfortably, so the halved recipe is below.  And I learned that I can make a meringue, and people who are scared of them are wusses.  And that a piece of plain white paper stolen from the printer can substitute for baking parchment in a pinch with no ill effects.  Surprisingly easy to make on a week night, but not something you want to serve without a crowd.  And need to find some seedless raspberries, if such things exist.

Oh — check out next week’s spaghetti carbonara if you need something to do with the left over egg yolks. 

Actual recipe:

Mushroom Quesadilla

I liked that this took thirty seconds of my time.  It didn’t suck.  Trader Joe’s makes good tortillas, and the oregano on the mushrooms isn’t something I would have thrown in on my own — I’d probably have made some random attempts at chili powder or cilantro or cumin.  But at the end of the experiment you’re just looking at mushrooms and oregano on tortillas with melted cheese.  There will definitely be chili and cilantro and cumin (and some nice yogurt) in whatever I use the rest of those tortillas on.

Pasta and asparagus

This will make an excellent stand by dish — nothing fancy, just some penne and steamed asparagus that’s then rolled around in the frying pan with some olive oil and garlic and lemon.  I’d like to throw the penne in the pan along with the asparagus next time to get more of a sauce going.  I like that Nigella knows how lazy I am some nights but still gives me something that makes me feel like I’ve cooked.

Double Squash and Bean Salad

I haven’t even tasted this yet, but I don’t really want to.  The roasted zucchini and yellow squash in it just wound up a bit like mush, but the blanched green beans look nice.  Outside of that it’s just some lemon and chopped basil over them, so . . . maybe some of the left over feta or Gorgonzola as needed?  We’ll see what happens when I bring myself to eat it.  Served cold, so that’s not a problem.

Butternut Squash Pizza

And again I say, “meh.”  It was just . . . why bother with the calories that must be involved?  Roast diced (1 inch cubes) butternut with sliced onions (I used red) for 20 minutes at 400, then throw it on some pizza dough with dollops of ricotta and sprinkle on some thyme.  Back in the oven at 450 for about 10 minutes and you . . . wonder why you went to the trouble.  I did learn without a doubt that I hate ricotta.  Not for it’s flavor or texture, but for even existing.  There is no reason for something with so little flavor to exist when there are so many other lovely cheeses.  And I learned that Trader Joe’s makes an amazing whole wheat pizza dough.   And that thyme will do its best to save anything. 

Maybe with a different cheese?  It did cook up just as pretty as its picture, which was nice to see. 

Couscous Salad

It’s good.  It just doesn’t have the flavor level I seem to be looking for today.  Plain couscous served cold with tomato and cucumber and red onion, with red wine vinegar and a bit of olive oil.  A decent work lunch, but it was missing something.

Baked Polenta with Mushrooms and Gorgonzola

I don’t really know what to do with this.  It was good, but not great, and I wound up substituting half of the ingredients so I really don’t know if that made it better or worse or made no difference.  I’d make it again — ready made polenta (only thing the store had) warmed up well in the skillet to combine with the other ingredients, and onion instead of shallot worked I think, but I don’t have to get so fancy with the Shitakes and everything next time.  Definitely using more thyme and mushrooms than recommended was a good thing.

Actual recipe:

“Mediterranean” Turkey Burgers

Well, I looked at the ingredients, and they sounded good, so I went for it.  But then I read the directions and there was chopping and pureeing and making your own mayonnaise and those people are out of their mind.  So in the end I threw some finely chopped red onion, feta, rosemary, and oregano in a bowl and mixed it all up with ground turkey — they were damn near meatballs with the ratio or turkey to stuff I used, but so so yummy patted out thin and grilled.  By the time I was done I felt no need for the zillion-step condiments they wrote about. 

Applesauce Spice Cake

The recipe says to serve it warm with ice cream, which I’m sure would be very nice, but I’d rather just eat more cake.  I might want more fruit in this — maybe some dried apples to go with the raisins, since I didn’t have extra chunky applesauce as suggested.  Maybe more spice while I’m at it, too.   Oh!  Those Triple Gingersnaps sitting in the freezer.  I should just make a fruit cake and be done with it, I suppose.

Actual recipe:

Mushroom Risotto with Asparagus

I love risotto.  It’s just that anytime I make it I spend the entire time thinking I’ll end up with soupy, crunch rice.  And it takes so long to make, stirring in a half cup of broth at a time.  And, too often, I make it with 2 Buck Chuck in place of a decent white wine you actually want to taste, or fake Parmesan, or, I confess, leftover ramen noodle chicken-flavor seasoning packets in place of broth or stock. 

 Even with all of that going against me, this recipe is delicious.  I’d make it again tomorrow.  Or 30 minutes from now.  It’s less to do with the veggies (although those are very good, and I kind of doubled the ratio in appreciation of them) than the bit of rosemary, I think. 

I should also point out I’ve lost the second page of the recipe, and didn’t really care enough to track down a copy of the magazine (from the 1990s, I think), so I just threw everything together in the end.  Including a very tiny bit of rosemary, because even though the first part of the recipe says to discard it, it wound up in the picture.  I’m glad I kept it. 

Actual recipe: