Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Recipe reviews

Thus far, we've made three of this week's recipes.

Reviews, as promised:
  • Chard and Swiss Cheese Strata
    • Changes: Subbed chard for the spinach, used Swiss instead of Gruyere, added in tomatoes, skimped on eggs a bit (we only had seven—I need chickens!!), and used a mix of (many) day-old bread. 
    • Comments: Everyone liked it well enough to eat it, but it wasn't magical. Also, needed to cook for a long time, but that's probably because the liquid-to-egg quotient was higher than in the original recipe.
    • Overall rating: 3 out of 5
  •  Pasta with Butternut Squash and Parmesan Sauce
    • Changes: I wouldn't roast the butternut squash; instead I'd just peel it, chop it, steam it like I usually do. The roasting was a PITA and didn't add anything. I'd sub balsamic for the lemon juice. Truthfully, I think I'd just pass on the recipe.
    • Comments: Nora more or less refused this dish. She even spat out a few bites, and she's not a dainty eater. I thought it was bleh, Greg thought it was "pretty good for squash," and Sidamo ate it with a moderate degree of enthusiasm.
    • Overall rating: 2 out of 5
  • Vegetarian Pot Pie
    • Changes: Upped the carrots, potatoes, and shrooms, but not the fennel. Chopped everything pretty finely (including the shrooms, excluding the potatoes) to make it more kid-friendly. Seasoned with thyme. After sauteing everything, added a bit of Marsala and cooked it down. Skipped the vinegar. Used this pie crust recipe instead of the puff pastry (skipped the sugar and subbed in some whole-wheat flour).
    • Comments: Huge hit. I doubled it and gave half to a friend who had a baby an embarrassingly long time ago (I swear, I meant to bring a meal two months ago!), so we'll have to see if she concurs, but in this household it was loved and devoured.
    • Overall rating: 4 out of 5
I'm hoping for good things from the gigantes (which will actually be Great Northern beans, since apparently gigantes exist only on the coasts) and sweet potatoes. Oh, and if you have any suggestions on what to do with the remaining 15/16ths of a can of chipotles in adobo sauce, please pass them along.

4 comments:

Lauren McBride said...

The pot pie sounds good!

If you still have the can of chipotles, Mark Bittman has a recipe for black bean puree with chipotles. If you have the book, it's page 613. Otherwise just look at my latest blog post. Instead of white beans use black beans and add 1 or 2 tablespoons of chopped canned chipotles in adobo sauce in Step 1.

Deirdre said...

Thanks, Lauren! I'll check out the Bittman recipe. It's fun sharing recipes with you; seems like our families' eating habits are more or less identical. :)

ng01915 said...

weird, also, I was in the bean aisle at the supermarket yesterday, and an older gentleman actually explained how to make gigantes, unsoliceted, when he saw me buy northern white beans. Will have to try it out.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for the reviews along with the links! I am trying to include more easy, healthy, meatless dishes and I'll definitely be adding the veg potpie to the list. Keep them coming :)