Search Results for "brussels sprouts"

ENTERTAINING IDEAS

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DRESSINGS, SAUCES, CONDIMENTS & MISCELLANEOUS

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VEGETARIAN

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BREADS & PIZZAS

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APPETIZERS/HOR D’OEUVRES

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This is one of those “Do as I say, not as I do!” recipes.

Last night I decided to throw some potatoes, onion, and broth in my slow cooker to make a no-fuss potato soup for the next day.

It turned out to be a huge fuss. All because I wasn’t thinking about exactly how my particular slow cooker works.

I set it on “low” for 4 hours. Which would have been just fine, perfect in fact. I later went to bed. During the middle of the night, I rolled over and woke slightly to smell the delicious soup simmering away as the comforting aroma of soup wafted into my room. Fabulous.

Problem was, I forgot that my slow cooker switches to “keep warm” after the 4 hours is up. So for an additional 4 hours or so, the darn thing kept cooking the soup. Overcooking it, actually.

When I woke this morning and went to look in on it, it was still lightly simmering and it was dark… so dark!

Please learn from my mistake. If you know your slow cooker turns OFF when it is done, fine. If it switches to “keep warm,” be sure to be around (or at least awake) to turn it off.

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I told you yesterday about the pasta dish I enjoyed at foreigncinema in San Francisco. I recreated the recipe at home, making a few substitutions, an addition of cherry tomatoes, and…

… believe it or not, the omission of cheese. Gasp! It really just didn’t need it. Feel free to add it back in if you’d like.

This was the menu description:

Orecchiette pasta: Brussels sprouts, fava leaf, delicata, wild mushrooms, Reggiano, garlic, chili flakes.

This is fava leaf. Unless you grow your own fava beans, fava leaf is going to be pretty darn hard to come by. Since spinach is very similar in taste, I used spinach.

Delicata is a winter squash, even so, it belongs to the same species as all types of summer squash including pattypan squash, zucchini, and yellow crookneck squash. Although delicata squash is common in markets this time of year, I didn’t see any the day I shopped, so I used yellow crookneck instead.

All that being said … here is my recipe…

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As fun as Saturday was, I think Sunday might have come close to topping it. At the very least, it was a draw.

Photo

Marissa and Jeff came up to the Hotel Drisco for breakfast. There is French brie, smoked salmon, and all the fixings added to the breakfast buffet on weekends! After breakfast, Marissa and I went to her neighborhood nail salon, just 2 blocks down the hill from her house, to get a mani/pedi. Once our fingers and toes were as gorgeous as could be, we did what any glamour girls would do…

… we climbed onto a motorcycle! It’s called a GoCar, but it is technically a motorcycle. And it is the most fun, ever! We only nearly crashed it into a ditch once and then nearly killed ourselves one other time. Other than those two tiny moments … so much fun!

Oh, and I might as well tell you this part now before Marissa adds it in the comments – I was at the throttle both of those “life flashing before your eyes” moments! (I would say “at the wheel” but there is no wheel, just handlebars with a throttle.)

No foot peddles for stop and or go either, just the handlebars with the brakes. Oh, and the GoCar does not go in reverse. Do you need to back up? One of you gets out and pushes it backward. We each had to do that once. I pushed it back to get out of a parking space and Marissa pushed it back away from the previously mentioned ditch. I also managed to run over my own foot with the front tire while pushing it backward – luckily GoCars have sought their frames from somewhere like this fiberglass manufacturing company and therefore are quite light and not toe-crushing.

We picked up our GoCar in Fisherman’s Wharf and drove toward the Golden Gate Bridge, along Crissy Field, and then along the Pacific Ocean and through the Presidio.

Under the bridge, we stopped at Fort Point. Neither of us had been there before. It is so cool!

Fort Point was constructed just before the outbreak of the Civil War.

Military officials declared its position at the Golden Gate as the “key to the whole Pacific Coast.”

Fort Point never saw action, its massive brick walls look to be impenetrable.

Original plans for the Golden Gate Bridge in the 1930’s called for the fort’s removal. Chief Engineer Joseph Strauss redesigned the bridge, adding an arch over the fort, saving it from demolition.

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A look back on the Best of 2013 from LesPetitesGourmettes.com.

Plus a bonus recipe from way back in 2012 that I just have to add – because I love it and because I am going to make a big batch of it today! And… just because.

I know the question you are asking yourself, “Linda, how on earth did you compile your top 10 list of best recipes from 2013?”

Very scientifically, that’s how.

Here are the exact criteria needed to make the top 10 list:

1. Most feedback and comments are here on the blog.
2. Most often pinned on Pinterest.
3. Most shares, “likes” and/or comments on the Les Petites Gourmettes Facebook page.
4. Most loved by me – in other words, a recipe could make the cut because I really like the recipe!
5. Finally, the last criteria were that it was not one of the recipes from a three-week period in February when I did that stupid 3-week life-sucking cleanse. Not one of those would ever make any Top 10 list. Nowhere! Never! Not Ever!  I only wish I could get those 3 weeks of my life back.

On to the TOP TEN –

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A couple of weekends ago, we had dear friends over for an intimate dinner party. There were just four of us and it could not have been a more lovely and relaxing evening.

Both the husband and the wife of this chic and well-traveled couple are fabulous cooks – so obviously I wasn’t planning on serving them hot dogs and baked beans.

At first, I was thinking of French cuisine. Maybe Italian … or what about Spanish?

Oh, forget it, I’ll just do a bit of everything. From that, my Eclectic European Dinner Party was born.

I’ll be posting a different recipe from the menu- including appetizers, cocktails, soup, salad, and main course – each day this week.

First up: Antipasto Numero Uno….

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