Best Meal Ever

Thanks to last weekend's wonderful Yosemite trip, I've been a little overwhelmed this week and haven't gotten around to posting Tuesday's dinner until now. And once again, I don't have time to flesh it out; V-day dinner starts in half an hour. However, it was really, really good, so I want to at least get the list down before I forget the dishes.

Roasted Salmon
With Asianish Glaze: Two parts mustard, One part soy sauce, a big glug of olive oil, and as much garlic as we had time to chop. Roasted at 500 for maybe 25 minutes? (Thank you Christie! That fish was maybe the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in our kitchen!)

Lentilles au vin (encore, this time with champignons)
I carefully followed a recipe from Local Flavors by Deborah Madison, but the basic idea is this: get a lot of dried porcini mushrooms, maybe a cup and a half. Let them soak in boiling water for at least a half hour. While that is happening, saute some carrots and onions and celery and garlic in olive oil, then add some (four bottles of) wine. Simmer for a long time. Add the mushroom soaking liquid and some (maybe two cups) of soy sauce. Simmer some more, then strain, and mix with some (a gallon of) French lentils, and some chopped brown button mushrooms you've been roasting for the last half hour. This will be way to much food, so maybe next time cut by a quarter.

Carrot Salad (encore, this time with raisins and sesame seeds)
I don't always like raisins in my carrot salad, but I guess the house does. The leftovers didn't last half as long as last time.

Beet and Tomato Ragout with Goat Cheese Souffles
A favorite dinner party recipe from back when I was a grown up. It scaled remarkably well.

Chard and Beet Greens
Apparently emblematic of my cooking. Fortunately, pretty tasty.

Reheated Day Old Acme Bread
We had a lot of rolls this week, so I threw them in a metal bowl with a bit of water in the bottom and put them in a 500 degree oven for ten minutes. This worked ever better than I expected. We should do this every week that we have rolls, because I don't think we ever get through all the bread.

Vegan Chocolate Raspberry Cake
From the Veganomicon; very delicious. Someone asked "What kind of black magic makes this cake vegan?" The answer: Smucker's Strawberry Jam.