More adventures in cooking!

So I've taken Tom's advice to heart and have been keeping an eye out for recipes that are relatively easy to follow. This weekend's brunch was a big challenge, as he was down the Cape fishing and unavailable to rescue me, even by phone!

Our menu:

• Baguettes and several dips/spreads: herbed dipping sauces, rosemary & sage white bean dip, herbed goat cheese, and Persian spinach dip. I was excited particularly to find a spinach dip that doesn't have mayo in it -- instead, you use yogurt. The goat cheese was a hit with those who liked the lemony bite -- I normally love lemon, but thought it was a bit too much. I was nervous about the white bean dip -- it seemed too dry when I first made it, but sitting overnight did the trick (actually, they all sat overnight and were probably the better for it).
  
• Several salads: green salad with feta and grapes (minus the citrus dressing, as I didn't have white wine vinegar); corn salad (very yummy -- no mayo!); and a squash-based garden salad with citrus dressing.
  
• Frittata with spinach, potatoes and leeks. I followed suggestions and added more basil, but it was still a little bit on the bland side. It also took WAY longer than 25 minutes to cook -- try closer to an hour. Overall it was fine, but needed a little something-something.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the spread, and no emergency take-out orders to the Chinese restaurant down the street were placed. :) I learned how to saute onions and spinach and even used the dutch oven several times. I'm also getting better with Tom's knives, particularly the santoku knife I've jokingly referred to as the sudoku knife!

Today, Tom picked up our latest CSA delivery and was pleased to find all veggies he recognized (those of you who played "name that vegetable" with us last week will be amused to learn the dirt balls were beets and the green bowling ball was in fact a watermelon). Tonight he helped me make gazpacho, something I've always loved and have been dying to try. I had ripped out another version of the recipe from Yankee Magazine last year because it had instructions on how to peel and seed a tomato -- apparently I just learn how to blanche, according to Tom! It's another recipe that calls for an overnight in the fridge, so stay tuned...