What a stage for a lentil loaf!

I made a lentil loaf with tons of veggies--corn carrots, celery, peppers, onions, garlic, kale from the garden (already!), lots o herbs--basil, parsley, mint, oregano, etc. Topped with sliced tomato and covered (not in photo) with salsa (scallions, garlic, shallots, lemon, tomatoes, seasonings). Used a tiny bit of parmesan, sharp chedder and egg.

Yum.

Of Cookies, Brownies and Babes

This weekend was the Great Saunter around manhattan. Took me out of the kitchen for a moment and so I thought I'd share some pix.

To the right Pete and Michelle finish the walk at @7:15. Yay!

Katie and Peter on the trail

Early Friday I made orange brownies: real orange zest, extract and juice with a glaze of more of the same. I think they went over well but next time would use less eggs and flour---or more juice. The chocolate toffee gooey cookies were an adaptation of a Paula Deen recipe--adding heath toffee to the mix for a bit more chewy gooeyness. Those did not last the evening at my house, and went over well with Katie and John. Oh, and that's Katie's wee baby Molly--contemplating the possibility of another feeding.

Asian meatball and homemade wonton pasta

Here's my take on asian meatballs--pork, ginger, scallions, toasted and ground rice , one egg, soy sauce, fish sauce, star anise, coriander, garlic, clove, cinnamon, parsley and mint. I roasted them in the oven and then added to a stir fry with homemade wonton noodles, tons of veggies, soy, black bean garlic sauce, rice wine vinegar, sirachi sauce, etc.

catching up on the cooking pix

It's been a little while since I've posted my cooking adventures, so here are a few samples. I now use various rooms around the house for drying pasta. . . this is tomato-herb pappardelle. I like the bigger pasta but this could be rolled out a bit. We'll see how it tastes like this.

Here we find my lastest baklava. It never lasts long. I like the combination of apricot, almosd and walnut with just a touch of honey. It's less sweet than the usual stuff but still does the trick--and then some.
here is my lobster/shrimp with wild mushroom pappardelle (from the batch seen above). I made up the recipe using a combination of white sauce and tomato/herb base to match the pasta. The pancetta/sofrito base added a good flavor to the whole thing.