Wee Feast

Some people, like my college roommate, choose to spend their alone time blasting motown music and singing along in an empty house. Another friend takes time alone as the chance to obsessively clean and organize her apartment. And what do I do? I eat blue cheese, thanks for asking.

This recipe is an easy way to jazz up some mixed greens and pears. It’s based off an Ina Garten recipe. Just core some pears, stuff with walnuts, cranberries, and blue cheese, and roast in a wine/juice bath. Serve warm. It makes a delightful fall lunch.

Finally, a way to use up leftover risotto. Although I got so excited about these risotto cakes that I sort of packed away the last bit of risotto in the pan before everyone was really done with it so I’d have enough for the cakes. Hey, they’re that good. I was inspired by Ina Garten, who makes risotto from scratch just to make these cakes (except with a lot more flavoring than I added, but she is working from plain rice). 

How to make risotto cakes:

• Get yourself some leftover risotto. Mix in some fresh herbs to punch up the flavor.
• Set yourself up an assembly station with 2 dishes: one with an egg, beaten, and one with some bread crumbs. If you want to get really fancy, use panko-style bread crumbs.
• Heat some oil in a frying pan (I used olive oil or canola oil, either would be good, this isn’t a deep hot fry so you’ll be ok no matter what).
• Shape your risotto and herbs into patties (mine were about 3/4 of an inch thick and maybe 2 1/2 inches wide.
• Dip in egg, dip in bread crumbs. You can do this even if you loathe eggs as much as I do.
• Fry ‘em up, about 3 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels. Eat.

I served mine with some fresh zucchini on the side, but a salad would be even more ideal.

This lemon cake was the requested birthday cake for one of my favorite people. While my personal choice is usually chocolate and more chocolate, I had to reconcile myself with the fact that not everyone has my level of tolerance for that particular flavor. My goal was to best the Starbucks lemon pound cake, and this recipe hit it out of the park.

I don’t mean to be in an Ina Garten rut; I don’t mean to give you the idea she’s my favorite chef (big hearts go out to you, Deborah Madison). That said, the Barefoot Contessa has become a gold standard for entertaining with simple but flavorful food. And with that in mind, Garten’s lemon cake is the way to go. (Want proof? I told my mom I was baking a lemon cake, and she said, “I hope you’re using the cake from Barefoot Contessa: Parties!”)

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When you’re in the mood for Sunday dinner, and the weather says it’s spring—despite the chilly weather—vegetable pot pie is the ultimate fix. It has both a warming casserole appeal and spring-is-coming-just-look-at-all-those-veggies optimism. Fancy enough for company, simple enough to feed a crowd of young professionals exhausted after a late Saturday night, this was the perfect Sunday evening meal this weekend.

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