Home Alone

It was a quiet, cold Saturday night... asparagus was $1.49 and I already had some shrimp so:

blanch 1/2 lb asparagus, set tips aside

puree with 2TB butter and 2TB pesto

saute (1) onion and (3) diced garlic cloves

add 1C of arborio rice

add 1/2C white wine and reduce

slowly add 4C chicken stock, one cup at a time and cook until the liquid is gone

stir in butter

serve with asparagus tips and romano

(sorry for the fuzzy picture - I really need a better system)

Friends

Kathy and Ron (from Boston) were in Chicago yesterday, wrapping up a conference so they came for dinner. Ron follows this blog and had high expectations, LOL. Of course, I forgot to take a photo of them so here is an older photo:

BLT Soup (Apple tomato soup, spinach chiffonade and Spam croutons). I made the croutons ahead of time (as usual) but reheated them this time and they were greasy.

Seared Scallops, Spicy Goats Milk Caramel and Smoked Mexican Sea Salt:

Brined and Grilled Pork Loin with Ginger / Scallion Sauce and Toasted Rice Krispies, Cauliflower Puree (not shown) and Green Beans with Fish Aioli and Cashews (also not shown):

Coffee and Donuts (coffee ice cream, glazed donut pancakes and coffee / raspberry sauce):

This and That

Herewith are some recent meals that I won't go into (much) detail about:

Ikea meatballs ("from US sources only using beef and pork"), wide noodles and spinach.

I love these wide, Amish-style noodles - and, of course, the meatballs. Nayyyyyy!

Seared chicken with orange sauce, spring rolls, mushrooms and bok choy.

This was a lot of work because of the spring rolls - my first time. Better to do them with something else. It was all fantastic though.

Braised lamb shanks, curried cauliflower and grape gremolata.

Gremolata is an Italian condiment made from herbs, lemon zest, garlic and - in this case - grapes and mint. I didn't have curry (thought that I did) so I used turmeric. The sauce was delicious, the gremolata not so much.

Grilled flank steak, sauteed spinach, tomato and cashew soubise.

Soubise is the French version of risotto - it's baked with lots of sliced onions and diced tomatoes for 90 minutes (the cashews are sprinkled on after). Couldn't be easier.