Week 21 Potato Soup, Oven Roasted Veggies, and a Raspberry Dessert

Oven Roasted Veggies

Potato Soup

Carl

White Wine........ A lot of white wine in almost every meal in the potato soup with was all that great in the raspberry gratins that look amazing but I messed up the sauce that was supposed to be like a whipped cream but was a soup made from yolks, sugar, and white wine of coarse. the best was the vegetables that were fennel, fingerling potatoes, green beans, asparagus. the best thing on the menu. Next week is our last week of Ina Garten. Cant wait Nikki and Kelly and Dan are all comin!

David

SALTY. Wow. I put the required amount of salt in the potato soup and it was so salty that I we used it as a dip instead of a soup. Most everyone did not finish their soup. It also turned out the color of pea soup. I was very disappointed. However, I did learn that I should put the required amount of salt in "to taste" meaning, put the salt in until it tastes good. Don't put the whole required amount of salt in at once. Live and Learn.

The veggies were good. I even liked the fennel. I think I could eat veggies all day long.

The raspberry dessert tasted good. It just didn't have the consistency that we would have liked. Carl said he didn't cook it right. But I saw him follow the instructions to a T. Sometimes those things happen.

A special thanks goes out to LINDA who got all the food for us. We just didn't have time to go to the store this week. We are preparing to go on Spring Break.

Week 20 Creamy Tomato Soup with Mustard Fish and Cucumber Salad

Mustard Fish
Cucumber Salad

Tomato Soup

Fruit Popsicle

David

Today was awesome because we had 3 guests. We had Lynne my sister and her daughter Aimee and also we had Daniel my nephew. It was a great night. Daniel brought the dessert again.

I loved the Soup. It was really good. It had a lot of robust flavor. It was made with tomato's and cream. MMMMMMM. Secondly I liked the fish. I thought it didn't have that overpowering fishy taste. I like that. The mustard sauce was tasty. The cucumber salad was a flop. We made a lot of it and it went to waste this week because nobody liked it.

I did feel like we should have had little mini cheese sandwiches. I grew up having cheese sandwiches with my tomato soup.

Carl

Well beside the stellar guest we had some goods and some BADS! The mustard fish was good flavorful sauce and as my dad said it didn't have a fishy taste. Also the soup was good and the soup was OK it had a strong flavor but I thought it should have been creamier. Lastly the creamy cucumber salad was not good... Cant wait till next week!!!

Weeks 4 Cauliflower Soup and Some Scallops and Custurd

David

I thought this weeks recipes were so good that I'm going to type them in for you. I think that you will really enjoy two of these that we could today. Here they are

Roasted Cauliflower Soup by Tyler Florence

1 Quart of Milk

Salt

1 Head of Cauliflower

1/2 onion sliced

8 fresh thyme sprigs

1 stick of butter

1 bay leaf

Olive Oil

Freshly Ground Pepper

Heat the milk and salt to simmering. Add the broken up cauliflower, onion, butter, thyme sprigs, and bay leaf. Bring back to simmer. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Discard the thyme sprigs and bay leaf. Put into a blender and mix for a puree. Serve with Olive oil on top.

Today was interesting. We couldn't find the BIG scallops, so we decided to go with the small scallops (Carl was reluctant). The only thing was that we had to put the prosciutto (like bacon) around the small scallops. This took some skill. We ended up really liking the golden apples that were cooked with the scallops. None of us would make the scallops again.

We have figured out so far that we have a 3 hour average from start to clean up. Wow. It has been fun. Lastly, Carl and I got into a little suds war. I made a beard on him with the suds from the sink, and then he smeared suds all over my head. It was all in fun.

Carl

Vanilla Pots De Creme

1 1/2 cups milk

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

5 large egg yolks

1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Amaretto cookies (optional contain gluten)

Preheat oven 325 F and bring saucepan to boil for water bath. pour milk and cream in saucepan place over medium low heat. bring to simmer, remove from heat.

whisk egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl till sugar dissolves. Gradually whisk hot cream mixture in a slow pour careful not to cook eggs. stir in vanilla.

Pour in 8 oz. ramekins (we used coffee cups what ever you have that is larger than 8 oz.) cover with foil to make the crust softer. Place ramekins into a large, shallow baking pan and pour boiling water (about a half inch) for water bath. Slide pan into oven. Bake about forty five minutes. Till set but still jiggles. Remove pan and let cool in water for 10 minutes. Put them in fridge for at least two hours.

Yummm and the closing of the eyes and I almost pulled a Dan Rische (a humm of enjoyment before the food entered my mouth). The vanilla pot de creme were to die for. Creamy velvet is the word I would describe. But I'm a sucker for any creme dish (especially Magginos creme brulee). But the dessert was sweet fresh and light perfect with about anything chocolate, fruit, nut, etc. need I say more. well we say so long to Tyler and on to Mexico for or festive feast of a Christmas (what?!).