As spring begins to unfold (not only have I started the garden but my whole neighborhood is filling with blooms) so, too, is the expanding availability of the COVID vaccine. As a dual celebration, we had a small dinner party at my mother’s with some of her friends and my brother, none of whom had seen her or each other for over a year and all of us vaccine #2 plus two weeks. Such a worthy event, I thought, deserved to have a fitting dinner over which to linger and chat. And so we did.
Menu Planning
This won’t surprise those who know me but may sound a bit much to those who don’t, but I spend a fair amount of time putting together a menu, using different cookbooks, magazine recipes, and the internet. I’m usually pretty happy with what I come up with and then promptly forget what I served, when, and to whom. The pandemic has pretty well fried what is left of my memory so I decided to put together a menu planning template that I can use and save so I know what the heck I did, especially if it was successful; no point in reinventing the wheel. I always plan out my preparation work, too, so that I can do things ahead of time and not make myself too crazy. It’s also handy if I decided to write a post so that I can easily give proper attribution. Happy to share if anyone wants a copy.
Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto
It’s too early to cook out of my garden, alas, but I still have plenty of last year’s garden in the freezer and pantry. Each summer, in addition to canning tomatoes, I oven-dry a fair amount to use just like sun-dried tomatoes. I had an abundance of tomatoes last summer (you can read about the “tomato allée” here) and had dried a full gallon bag of cherry tomatoes (you can also dry other types; I mostly canned my plum tomatoes, ate my beefsteak, and dried the cherry). To oven dry them, I just cut them in half, place on a parchment-lined baking sheet face up, sprinkle with salt, and put them in the oven at its lowest possible temperature for several hours. They don’t dry out completely and I prefer not to pack them in oil so they go into the freezer; they would mold otherwise.
I always like to serve something before dinner, especially if people are having wine or cocktails, and also because I think a little something does stimulate the appetite; they’re called appetizers for a reason. For this evening, I made David Lebovitz’s sun-dried tomato pesto and served a schmear on ciabatta bread from a local baker. The tomatoes are blitzed in a food processor or blender with toasted walnuts, rosemary, garlic , parmigano, and salt. Holy smokes was it good. I made a lot and we ate it on our eggs the next morning, and I can see all sorts of things it could go with. That recipe is a keeper. Which is a good thing, considering how many more I have in the freezer to get through.
Roasted Asparagus Lasagna
Having made white lasagnas before, I know them to be more delicate overall and wanted to use fresh pasta. The recipe calls for the no-boil noodles which are thinner than the usual dried ones; they would totally work. A local Italian store sells fresh-frozen lasagna sheets but they’re thicker than I was after so out came my pasta machine. Rolled out to the thickness (or thinness, really) I had pictured, the assembly goes pretty quickly: pasta, sauce, ricotta (with parsley and parmigiano), fresh mozzarella, and sprinkled with roasted asparagus stalks, repeat, end with pasta, the asparagus tips and a sprinkling of parmigiano on top. I put it all together at my house, transported it to my mother’s, then baked it for 45 minutes at 450°, and let stand for 20 minutes while we were nibbling on our appetizers and catching up.
Making Ricotta
For dinner, we tucked into a roasted asparagus lasagna. Roasting is one of my favorite ways to handle vegetables, really deepening the flavor. I used Food 52’s recipe and was intrigued that it included a suggestion to use an herb-infused whey in the sauce, if one were making the ricotta. Which, of course, I do because why make it easy? To qualify—I make ricotta if it is taking a central role in a dish; the texture and taste makes a difference there, I think. And it’s not hard nor time-consuming. I use Smitten Kitchen’s recipe here and I highly recommend it. During berry season, I spread it on whole-grain toast and top with berries and toasted sunflower seeds for breakfast—so delicious!
But back to the lasagna. After making the ricotta, it drains for an hour or so through a fine sieve and the liquid that drains away is the whey. It’s pretty watery but still has flavor. It was simmered with fresh herbs and smashed garlic and used to make the white sauce for the lasagna, with goat cheese whisked in. Recipe can be found here.
Herb Salad
Alongside we had a beautiful spring salad with watermelon radishes, celery, and fennel sliced on the mandolin to get them super thin, celery leaves, fennel fronds, some red romaine lettuce and pea shoots. My mother had offered to do the salad but when I saw the watermelon radishes, I wanted to do a version of Melissa Clarke’s herb salad that is so beautiful, similar to the one I made here, on another lovely evening in early summer. Ours was a little different incorporating the pea shoots and romaine from my mother’s ingredients but very airy and beautiful. Ironically, we were seated at the table when I realized I had forgotten the radishes, the very impetus for making this particular salad. I fetched them from the kitchen and distributed them where they belonged. Crisis averted!
The other thing I forgot to do was to take pictures of the end results. Clearly, I’m not a professional blogger; I was too busy enjoying our evening! I’m sure I’ll make this again (and I have all the details saved on in a Word document after all) and, when I do, I’ll add a picture on this page. But for now, you’ll just have to imagine it in all its golden goodness.
Honey-Lemon Tart
We ended the meal with a honey-lemon tart with a salted shortbread crust from Bon Appetit magazine. I was able to find Meyer lemons, the flavor of which falls between regular lemons and oranges: sweet-tart. Cut thinly on the good old kitchen mandolin, the slices are mixed with sugar and honey. A friend of mine and his husband have bees in their back yard. I have been gifted some of their honey, which I used in this (Thanks, Joshua and Heath!). It is a really delicious combination of a saltier-than-usual crust, (pressed into a springform pan) the tanginess of the Meyers, and the sweetness of the honey. I’m thinking that a little thyme in there might be nice—a future experiment! I do have to work on getting my crust more even; it was so thick that a piece shot out while being cut and ricocheted off a guest! Note to self: thin the crust where the sides meet the bottom.
It was such a pleasure to be gathered again around a table after so long apart. The food itself didn’t really matter; it was the companionship that we had all been missing. (But it was an awfully good dinner!). I do look forward to future small gatherings as people get their vaccines and we learn more about what we can do to reconnect and still keep everyone safe. Here’s to the first of many more!
Joanna Hutchinson
15 Apr 2021How fabulous! Absolutely jelly of that meal, moreso of the company. Happy Spring, Maria.
Handmade Bits and Bobs
20 Apr 2021Someday we’ll be able to gather round the table again–maybe for a nice chatty dinner on the back porch!
Becky B
14 Apr 2021Sounds delicious! My parents traveled to Germany in the spring of 2019 and raved about white asparagus. A thought for a future lasagna…
Handmade Bits and Bobs
14 Apr 2021I’ve seen it but never tried it–certainly keep it in mind for future festivities!
Auntie
14 Apr 2021I’m know your dinner was delicious as I heard from one of the lucky diners.
I’d love to have your meal planner.
BTW, I recognize that blue and white vase.
Handmade Bits and Bobs
14 Apr 2021It was pretty good, albeit a little rich! I’ll email you the planner.