Gotta do Italian for Valentine’s Day, of course.
- Sausage and Spinach Soup: A surprising hit with the ESC crowd given that it was one of those old 90s Cooking Light recipes that start like “Gingerly spray the pay with cooking oil just enough so that you see a mist but not enough so that puddles of oil form that will kill you.” Ah, the 90s, when fat was evil but sugar and carbs were somehow A-OK. Either way, this soup was legit.
- The Obituary: a nice New-Orleans-y spin on a martini. It didn’t hurt that we had a bottle of this amazing vermouth that my friend Kristin gave me.
- Lobster fra Diavolo. I thought the fresh pasta I made to go with it was too soft; everyone else loved it. Naturally, I snuck a tablespoon of gochujang into the sauce to replace a tablespoon of the tomato paste….
- Crispy Cauliflower with Pancetta and Olives: I think this was everyone’s favorite. It sort of tastes like a deconstructed muffuletta.
- Caramelized Panettone Bread Pudding with vanilla ice cream: We couldn’t find panettone anywhere this time of year, so we used Columba Cake instead, which is like the Easter Version of panettone. The main difference is it has a sugar crust, so I cut the 1/2 C of sugar that was supposed to go into the batter. Easy and delicious!
The Rookery 