Saturday, November 15

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I took a bit of a break from cooking--nice once in awhile. Thursday, November 13, the Women Who Dine (myself and 3 friends) had dinner at Sardine here in Madison. www.sardinemadison.com/ We shared seared scallops with potato purée and mushroom sherry cream sauce as an appetizer. Then I had a delicious cream of mushroom soup. For my entree I had: Roasted Arctic char over crispy potato purée, wilted spinach and horseradish cream sauce. Char is similar to a very mild salmon. For dessert a couple of us shared chocolate pot de creme; plus we had a couple of bottles of a nice Argentine wine. Great meal.

Friday, Arthur stopped by to pick up some leftovers and go to his second job. He'll be home Saturday around 11 PM.

I made some great soup which we had with some bread I bought at the indoor farmers' market on Saturday morning.

Roasted Pear-Butternut Soup With Crumbled Stilton
(adapted from MealsMatter.org)

2 Ripe pears, quartered and cored
2 pounds Butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 2-inch chunks (I didn't have enough butternut, so I used 1 butternut and 1 delicata squash)
2 Medium tomatoes, cored and quartered
1 Large leek, pale green and white parts only, halved lengthwise, sliced and washed thoroughly
2 cloves Garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons Extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon Salt, divided
Freshly ground pepper to taste
4 cups Vegetable broth or reduced-sodium chicken broth, divided
2/3 cup Crumbled Stilton or other blue-veined cheese (I used some lovely smoked blue cheese from my HVF CSA cheese share)
1 tablespoon Thinly sliced fresh chives or scallion greens

Preheat oven to 400°F.
Combine pears, squash, tomatoes, leek, garlic, oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper in a large bowl; toss to coat. Spread evenly on a large rimmed baking sheet. Roast, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, 40 to 55 minutes. Let cool slightly.
Place half the vegetables and broth in a large pot and puree with an immersion blender. Puree until as smooth as you prefer. Stir in the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Cook the soup over medium-low heat, stirring, until hot, about 10 minutes.
Garnish with the cheese and chives or green onions.

I also made an some apple crisp which was not one of my favorite versions. Arthur however really loved it, so I'm going to post it.

Donna's Brown Sugar Apple Crisp
Donna from Channel 3000.com says: Of all the apple crisps you have tried, this may become your favorite. I don't agree but you might.

5 medium peeled apples, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar
Topping
1 cup flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 x 9 inch baking pan. Place apple slices in bottom of baking pan. Combine cinnamon and sugar. Sprinkle on top of apples. Set aside. In a medium bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, salt, and baking powder. Stir to mix Add egg and stir with a fork until mealy. Crumble mixture on top of apples. Combine melted butter, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, allspice, and vanilla. Pour evenly over the top of the crumble mixture. Bake for 35 - 40 minutes or until brown on top and apples are tender.

I made a mistake and combined the butter with the flour/egg mixture and had to drop clumps on top of the apples. Maybe it would have been better the other way, but as I say Arthur said it was delicious!

Of course, it could help that I get lovely apples from my fruit CSA with Future Fruit.

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