Herbed Pork Roast, Apricot-Cranberry Sauce, Roasted Sweet Potatoes

I made this up tonight and mmmmmmmm delicioso!

Vegetable Ratatouille with Cornmeal Biscuits

I was in Chicago for a week, but since I've been back I've been cooking and baking as usual. But before I left for Chicago I made this dish, inspired by a recipe in an article recently in the NY Times. I used whatever vegetables I had around (onion, eggplant, zucchini, half a can of tomatoes) and cooked it up in my cast iron skillet. I then whipped up the biscuit batter, dropped it on top, stuck it in the oven, and viola! a meal appeared before my eyes... out of... vegetables!

Eleven Madison Park

Adam took me out on a hot date last night, to Eleven Madison Park.

This is what we ate:

T A S T E O F A U T U M N

Hors d’oeuvres

Hawaiian Prawns

Roulade with Avocado, Lime and Yogurt

Dover Sole

Slow Cooked with Matsutake Sabayon and Nasturtium

Four Story Hill Farm Suckling Pig

Confit with Crabapple Chutney, Cipollini Onions and Cider Jus

Millbrook Farms Venison

Herb Roasted with Gingerbread Purée, Porcinis and Black Mission Figs

Araguani Chocolate

Ganache with Sweet Potato Dauphine and Chestnut Honey

Mignardises

______

Weekly Lesson

What I learned from one week working with Mindy Segal, of Hot Chocolate in Chicago:

1. I don't know shit about shit- which is a great place to start.

2. I am going to go to pastry school.

3. It is OK to not talk back- sometimes it's better.

4. Secret tattoos are great.

5. Never add sugar to eggs without mixing the eggs first.

6. Sandwich cookies are an art form that need to be respected.

7. I still love food, and working in a kitchen.

8. Working hard pays off if you know what you want first.

9. Pig is good in most things.

10. How to properly peel an apple.

A New Breakfast

I am trying out a couple of different food magazines, in order to prepare for the death of Gourmet Magazine (R.I.P).  Anyway, I picked up an issue of Food & Wine (not bad, but I think I'm going with Saveur) and found an interesting recipe for Risotto for Breakfast by Joe Bastianich.  I always thought of Joe as the whipped fat befuddled son of Lidia on her PBS show, but I guess he's got a couple of things going for him - being a sommelier, teaming up with Mario Batali, writing about cereal in Food & Wine... pretty impressive.

So he used soymilk and figs, neither of which I had, so I used regular milk and apples. I really liked it! So much that I might add it to my usual weekday breakfast repertoire.  And it got me thinking about expanding my hot cereal horizons, so I picked up grits at the grocery store too.   

"Cheese sandwich"

I am an improv genius!  I love ricotta in desserts. I had some rhubarb compote in the fridge. So I decided to make something that would go with it, and because I had been experimenting with improvisations on shortbread recipes, I made a quick and easy shortbread with black pepper. The crunch and spicy went really well with the creamy ricotta and sloppy sweet rhubarb.

Black pepper shortbread + rhubarb compote + ricotta cheese + pistachios = well balanced, tasty, somewhat nutritious dessert

Meat & Ricotta LasagnASS

This past weekend I made a lasagna with what I had lying around. It turned out pretty good. Not the best but tasty anyway.

Meat sauce: ground sausage, tomatoes, spinach, onions, garlic, red pepper flakes

Ricotta mixture: ricotta, egg, milk, nutmeg, salt and pepper

Layer alternately between cooked pasta noodles, in hot oven covered, take cover off to get crispy! MAMMMAAAAA MMMIAAA!

Need to Make

From the NYTimes:
Ripe for Autumn's Hearth

Recipes I really want to try from article:

Ratatouille and Sausage Potpie With Cornmeal Biscuits

Tomato Éclairs With Creamy Ricotta and Basil Filling

Fig Tart With Caramelized Onions, Rosemary and Stilton