Friends for dinner

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We had friends join us for dinner on Monday, a couple and their three teenage sons. What a joy to cook for. They are very adventurous eaters and willing to try anything and eat it with gusto! I made marinated roast pork loin served with a citrus sauce. The flavor was great but the cut of meat made it very difficult to carve. The meat was not from one of my usual farmers and I won't buy a roast from this one again. We had a sweet and spicy red pepper chutney. The silly recipe called for 3/4 teaspoon of jalapeno pepper--I mean why bother. I used a whole pepper and left in the seeds. We all loved it. Delightfully spicy. I made a side dish of fingerling potatoes, mushrooms and peas seasoned with marjoram. My friend brought a wonderful asparagus salad with morel mushrooms. I also made a double batch of the Buttermilk Biscuits with Goat Cheese and Chives that I previously posted the recipe for. The guys really loved these. I didn't have so much as a crumb left. For dessert we had Apple Rhubarb Crisp served with Blue Marble whipped cream. This is a great dish to use some of your CSA farm rhubarb in.

Apple and Rhubarb Crisp

2 1/2# tart apples, peeled cored and sliced
1# fresh rhubarb, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup water

Topping:
3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups flour
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine the sliced apples, cut up rhubarb, raisins, brown sugar, sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and water. Place in a 9x13-inch baking dish.

Topping: Melt butter. Pour into a large bowl. Stir in the two types of sugar. Add the cinnamon and baking powder and stir to blend. Next, add the flour and work the mixture until crumbly. I used a pastry cutter. You could also use your hands. Add pecans and mix in. Sprinkle crumbly topping evenly over the fruit mixture. Bake at 375 degrees for 45-55 minutes or until bubbling and browned. Poke the crisp with a knife to make sure the fruit is tender. If the top is getting too brown, tent with aluminum foil. Let it set for 30 minutes before serving. Serve with either ice cream or whipped cream.

From a Penzey's 2001 Summer catalogue

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