There are times when for the sake of variety, I change up a favourite dish.  Other times, when I run out of a certain ingredient that I do so.  On this day it was for both reasons.  Besides, being an “inventive cook” means switching things up every once in a while.  There are recipes that my family will not tolerate my messing with (my chicken enchiladas for example), but everyone seemed pleased with this new twist on a classic.

I took these and a dish of “regular” scalloped potatoes (with cheese and onion) to a Easter dinner this spring.  Looks gorgeous to have one scoop of each on a dinner plate alongside a classically baked ham.

2 garlic cloves minced

2 1/2 c half & half cream

6 potatoes

2 T flour

3 c grated Gruyere

S & P to taste

Stir garlic into cream and set aside.  Slice potatoes into paper-thin rounds and toss with flour.  I leave the peel on for nutritional purposes and an extra bit of colour.  Arrange them in a 9″ x 13″ glass baking dish.  Sprinkle with half of the cheese and pour 1/2 of the cream mixture over top.  Sprinkle with S & P.  Repeat layers.  Cover and bake at 325 degrees for one hour.  Remove cover and continue baking for 1/2 hour or until potatoes are tender. 

Kath’s quote:  “People have been cooking and eating for thousands of years, so if you are the very first to have thought of adding fresh lime juice to scalloped potatoes try to understand that there must be a reason for this.”-Fran Lebowitz

Every once in a while, a book comes into my life that I know will live with me for a very long time.  I had never heard the title or the author until this treasure was gifted to me on Mother’s Day by my son and his wife.

The author, Paula Butturini, is recounting a stretch of time spent in Rome.  The work is non-fiction.  The read restores memories for me of our time in Italy.  I am unable to adequately describe the Italian’s reverence of food although I have attempted it often in this space.  I believe that we are intended (like the Italians and French) to shop daily and then prepare fresh food with urgency.  If this was the case for us in North America I know that our reliance on packaged and processed food would be a thing of the past.  We would enjoy better health and families would once again gather around the dinner table.

The Campo that is mentioned here is the Campo dei Fiori which means “field of flowers”.  It was originally a meadow, then cobble-stoned in the 1430’s.  It was transformed into a public market in 1869. 

This is from Paula’s prologue:

“Morning after morning for an entire year, I walked to the Campo before most people were up.  Noisy, hoking, shouting Rome is almost quiet at that hour, and what began as a simple routine soon took on the trappings of a ritual.  I woke up early, dressed, walked out the door and over to the Campo.  I would buy a shiny, plump purple-black eggplant.  Or a handful of slender green beans, so fresh and young, you could eat them raw.  I bought three golden pears, or a heavy bunch of fat, green grapes.  I bought a few slices of Milanese salami, a bit of veal.  I bought a thin slab of creamy Gorgonzola, to spread on crusty, still-warm bread.  I bought milk, yogurt, butter and eggs, and finally the newspapers.  Then I would head home, stopping in the tiny church of Santa Brigida, which lay halfway between the Campo and our apartment.” 

Kath’s quote:  “When I was alone, I lived on eggplant, the stove top cook’s strongest ally…. “-Laurie Colwin

The three sisters love to dine together and use the excuse of our birthdays, fairly well placed throughout the year, to get together.  Well as you know, mine was recently and I carefully choose the restaurant.  A central location is key because our Mom and Sister #2 are in EK and Sister #3 in Corydon Village.  We also have an eye of accessibility for my Mom and Dessert Sinsations Cafe filled the bill on all accounts.  To find that it was Mexican Fiesta month, was the icing on the proverbial cake.

Chef Barbara’s partner Rich, is known to us from our former restaurant days when we all worked together.  We were very impressed with their new twists on some of our old favourites.

I kicked the night off with a mango Margarita and then followed with a savoury Mexican soup. 

Sister #3 had a Taco Salad that she seemed quite pleased with.

Sister #2 tucked in to the chicken fingers which had a layer of curry under the crunchy breading. 

Our Mom, the gravy-lover, opted for the poutine made with a mixture of white and sweet potatoes. This inspired us to try the lobster and dill hollandaise poutine for the table.

When asked what I would like to sample from the dessert display, my answer was a fork.  I was too satiated for a full dessert but was happy to share one four ways.  It was a tough decision (as one might expect at a restaurant so named).  In the end, the red velvet chocolate cake was the winner. 

Kath’s quote: “Sir, Respect Your Dinner: idolize it, enjoy it properly. You will be many hours in the week, many weeks in the year, and many years in your life happier if you do.”-William Makepeace Thackeray

Every once in a while, I unexpectedly stumble across a gem of a cookbook.  My latest find is this one: a collection assembled from the learners of the former Age & Opportunity (English as an Additional Language) for Older Adults program.  Two of the recipe writers have since passed on and their recipes are a memorial.

I so wish that the recipes from my little Polish Grandma Felice had been recorded somewhere but since they have not, I scan collections such as this for the possibility of her jarred meat, her prune dumplings or her thimble cookies.  Her Poppy Seed Roll was legendary (well perhaps only to her neighbours of the little town of Limerick SK) but stellar in my memory.

In the Recipes from Europe section there is a version but it is from the Ukraine and not Poland.  Still I will give it a try.  Others on my list:

Mullah Potatoes from Sudan

Alfajores (Dulce de Leche Cookies) from Argentina

Fried Milk from China

Lumpia (Spring Rolls) from the Philippines.  I’ve always wondered what lumpia rolls were at Confusion Corner.

and Plov from Uzbekistan (I’m going to have to look that one up in my atlas) 

The collection itself is very user friendly as it has a spiral spine which means it will lay flat in the kitchen.  The design by Jeff Lukin is excellent;  done with a template of clouds on every page as if you were flying the world to savour these dishes.

To find out where you can pick up your copy-contact Age & Opportunity at 956-6440. 

Kath’s quote:  “I know the look of an apple that is roasting and sizzling on the hearth on a winter’s evening, and I know the comfort that comes of eating it hot, along with some sugar and a drench of cream… I know how the nuts taken in conjunction with winter apples, cider, and doughnuts, make old people’s tales and old jokes sound fresh and crisp and enchanting.”-Mark Twain

My lovely daughter-in-law missed out on the celebration of her birth on her birthday weekend as we were all away in Minneapolis and she was not feeling well.  My son and husband thought that it might be nice to combine events and recognize both birthdays with a special lunch.

So what was on the menu?  We had a stash of beautiful strip loins in the freezer and while at The Keg Friday night for after work beverages-was inspired to do steak toppers.  D concocted three luscious choices:

mushrooms and onions sauteed in butter and garlic

roasted pecans, chevre and a basil & balsamic salsa

pan fried shrimp and bernaise sauce

Over mojitoes, made the authentic way by mashing the mint and sugar, we amused our mouths (amuse bouche) with a baked brie smothered in bubbling blueberries.

Mounds of roasted sweet potatoes and spring asparagus accompanied the topped steaks along with a family tradition: herb pull-apart loaf just out of the oven.

D wanted to honour two favourites by purchasing me a Jeanne’s cake and making hot fudge sundaes for Daughter #3. The recipe for D’s family recipe is included in the recipe archives.  Years ago we knew that Daughter #3 would fit into our family perfectly when D made hot fudge at the cottage and #3 asked for a spoon to clean out the sauce pan.

Red wine was poured all around and I savoured mine in my new ceramic wine goblet made by my favourite potter Kathryne Koop, with whom I share an unusual name spelling.  D remarked with dismay that now he won’t be able to keep track of how much is in my glass (to refill it of course).

The number of birthdays that we celebrate is not infinite, so make each one special and use the day to celebrate family and its unique bonds.

Kath’s quote:  “The dinner table is the center for the teaching and practicing not just of table manners but of conversation, consideration, tolerance, family feeling, and just about all the other accomplishments of polite society except the minuet.”-Judith Martin

Thank you my sweet babe.