After the last few themes, where I was purposefully searching for recipes like quesadillas and crock pot meals, it’s a welcome return — for me anyway! — to the mishmash that constitutes the recipes that float into my in-box each week. For just a little while, I can cook whatever I feel like cooking and not worry about entertaining, bringing things to other people’s houses and the pressure of aiming to please. If I want to make pancakes for dinner, then I can, gosh darn it! But why would I, when I can cook things like this….
Sauteed green beans and brussels sprouts with chile and mint sounds like the perfect veggie side dish to me. I love green veggies, and the hot and cool accompaniments may just be too good to be true … or at least to be imagined, until we taste it!
Penne with grilled eggplant and radicchio sauce actually came across my path late this summer, when we had radicchio coming out of the woodwork, from our CSA farm. I never got the chance to make it, but it is on my list. Eggplant has that sweet-yet-slightly-bitter thing going for it that would be a perfect complement to the bitterness of radicchio and the salty tartness of goat cheese. Sign me up!
There’s almost nothing yummier than a crisp, whether it be apple, cherry, peach, pear or any other fruit imaginable. OK, one thing: a harvest pear crisp with crystallized ginger. C’mon, can’t you taste those sweet, syrupy and juicy pears with the oats and almonds? Now imagine getting a bite with some candied ginger in it … oh yeah. Now, some pumpkin coconut ice cream and you’ve got a killer dessert.
Anything that’s got you wanting to cook, even after the holiday madness?