Lunch Club Round-Up: Week four

Due to the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, last week was a four-day work-week at our office. It was for this reason (and also because Jeremy hurt his back) that just four of us (rather than five) got together, under Jane's direction, to observe another Lunch Club series. Here's what we made and ate:





Tuesday - Greta
(I found the orange in my purse)
Full disclosure: I did not eat any cornbread because I got full.







Wednesday - David G.





Thursday - Me
(salad recipe here)







Friday - Jane

Is there hope for TJ chocolates?

We've discussed a perceived problem with Trader Joe's Chocolates, so I'd like to let everyone know that TJ's Belgian Chocolate Hazelnut Seashells aren't bad. I wouldn't say eating one was a transformative experience, but I would say it was pleasant - and that I'd eat more.



This was part of last night's shared meal after the midweek service at church. Leila made bean soup. I've never had blended bean soup before. It's surprising to eat a non-chunky soup with the flavor of beans.

After the meal, I found it hard to leave to go to choir practice when I knew I'd be missing a viewing of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, which was being watched after the meal. But we all make sacrifices, don't we?

I did get to watch the Top Chef finale later. There is plenty of commentary online, so I'll just say a person in a weeks-long competition should not win or lose based on a single meal. That's like taking a class and finding out your final grade is wholly based on the final, with no consideration of all the papers and tests one has completed throughout the course.



p.s. I signed up for a CSA last night, too, and am looking forward to how more fresh vegetables might change the face of this blog.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

(photo by the chef)

The household dined on Dan-made tortilla soup (recipe by Kenny Shopsin). Blue tortilla chips were undeniably pleasant on top. The recipe said to put them at the bottom, but they would have been soggy immediately had we done that.

I have no photo of it, but I would like to mention that there was also a "Nutella Milk" experiment performed after dinner. It was not unpleasant, but I'm going back to the drawing board!

Cream of the Crop

Ah, leftovers. Our kitchen is filled with foodstuffs in varying stages of decomposition. I'm only willing to eat the not-that-decomposed stuff, of course. Tonight, cream of celery soup sounded better than eating a bunch of celery and carrot sticks.


What to Do
Boil:

• 1-1/2 cups chicken stock

Add:

• 6 ounces celery, sliced thin
  
• 2-3 medium carrots, sliced thin
  
• 1 medium shallot, chopped

Heat in another pan:

• 1-1/2 cups heavy cream
  

Add to hot cream, whisking until combined:

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1-1/2 cups hot milk

Add hot cream to vegetable and broth mixture, along with:

• 2 tablespoons butter

Boil everything 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Use immersion blender (or regular blender) to mix to a creamier consistency (it's okay if it isn't completely smooth).

Garnish each bowl with a few gratings of fresh nutmeg.


(adapted from an Allrecipes recipe)

Beet this.

Let's stay in today.

A grey afternoon + farmers' market beets + mustard + vinegar + buttermilk (granted, someone had to run to the store for the buttermilk) + Nigella Lawson's How to Eat* (I am in raptures over her. She is my first honorary aunt) = cups of comforting beet soup. The perfect accompaniment to PS3 video games on a stay-in Saturday afternoon.



But we don't have to stay in all day. After eating our beet soup, let's venture outside to see Pete Seeger in a family concert (with a grandson, Tao Rodríguez-Seeger, and the amazing Guy Davis) in Brooklyn at this year's Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Chili Pepper Fiesta.



That's better.

* In the wise words of Ms. Lawson, "although it's possible to love eating without being able to cook, I don't believe you can ever really cook unless you love eating...I have nothing to declare but my greed."