Impromptu meal....

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"mouse on a wheel..."

This week has been hellishly busy and mouse feels like she's been running on one of those mouse wheels all week long. Seriously, what happened to Monday? Tuesday?? There was some blinking involved because when mouse next opened her eyes, it was Friday and Daddy was calling to say he wanted to have an impromptu get-together at Casa de Omega.

Tonight!! No less and to make sure the meal is kosher. Oy vey!

And not to mention the house isn't exactly company ready. So it started, mouse running around making the house presentable and made an emergency trip to the butcher.

Not it demands saying you really need to be on good terms with a good butcher...he was able to hook mouse up and it's ready to go into the oven. Stopped at the market and picked up the other stuff needed for dessert, and even had time to stop at the dry cleaners and the florist.

Now of course the final touches will be cleaning the kitchen, setting the table and doing all the regular things.

Just in case anyone is curious...

First course

Assorted olives, nuts and grapes

Second course

Charred pepper salad

Burn the skins of red, yellow, green and orange bell peppers on cooktop, remove skins and slice, discarding seeds. Toss with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, cumin.

Third course

Eggplant soup

Take two whole eggplants and put in oven to roast for 45 minutes. In the meantime take one onion, some fresh garlic, celery (2 ribs or more), couple carrots, cut so they're similar in size and cook until they begin to soften. Add pulp from eggplant and chicken stock about 6 cups. salt, pepper, cumin, smoked paperika, and whatever other spices sound good. Some add cream.

Main course

Pot roast with baked potatoes

Dredge roast in flour, salt and pepper and brown on all sides. Cut up two cups each of onion, celery and carrots. Three cloves of garlic, minced. Place roast on a platter and toss in veggies. Cook the veggies until tender. De-glaze pot with red wine, or cognac (or both). Take about 4 sprigs of rosemary, 20 sprigs of thyme tied together, two bay leaves and half cup of minced parsley. Return meat to pot, add 1 large 28oz can of whole tomatoes (Roma). Bring all to simmer. Cover and bake in oven for about two hours.

Prep potaoes, scrub, wash and put in oven for about an hour (can be done while roast cooks)

Horseradish, chive and sour cream topping. Pint of sour cream, a nice bunch of chives chopped, grate horseraddish and mix together. If using prepared horseradish about a tablespoon. Mix thoroughly adding a little pepper and maybe salt, to taste. Great on potatoes. Not really kosher tho...

Dessert course

bread pudding


Enjoy the weekend and mouse is hoping for left-overs.

Potatoes with Parsley, Lemon and Garlic

This recipe is from the magazine Super Food Ideas.

1 lemon, rind grated
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, shredded
1 garlic clove, crushed
6 desiree potatoes
2 tbsp olive oil

1) Place lemon rind, parsley and garlic into a small bowl. Mix well to combine. Cover and set aside.

2) Cut potatoes into 3/4cm thick slices. Arrange half the potatoes in a single layer, slightly overlapping, on a large microwave-safe plate. Cover with plastic wrap. Cook on HIGH power for 5 minutes, or until almost tender (do not cook potatoes through as they will continue to cook under grill). Remove and repeat with remaining potatoes.

3) Preheat grill on medium heat. Slide potatoes onto a grill tray lined with baking paper and drizzle with oil. Grill potatoes 8 to 10 minutes or until golden and tender.

4) Place potatoes onto a serving plate and sprinkle with parsley mixture. Season with salt and pepper.

Chinese Mixed Vegetables

This recipe is from the Mastering the Art of Wok Cooking cookbook.

1 medium-sized carrot
1 stick celery
1 small onion
60g (2oz) canned bamboo shoots, drained
90g (3oz) canned young corn cobs, drained
6 dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked
12 canned champignons, drained
6 canned water chestnuts, drained
1 medium Chinese cabbage (bok choy)
2 slices fresh ginger, shredded
cooking oil

Sauce
2 tbsp water or chicken stock
2 tsp Chinese oyster sauce
1 tsp dry sherry
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cornflour (cornstarch)
1/4 tsp salt

1) Peel and thinly slice the carrot, cutting diagonally. String the celery, if necessary, and slice similarly. Peel onion and cut into wedges from top to root. Thinly slice bamboo shoots and cut corn into halves. Drain the mushrooms and remove the stems. Cut the champignons and water chestnuts into halves. Thoroughly wash the cabbage and chop roughly.

2) Heat about 2 1/2 tbsp oil in the wok and stir fry the raw vegetables first for about 2 minutes, then add the canned vegetables and ginger and stir fry until just tender.

3) Add sauce ingredients, premixed, and bring to the boil. Simmer briefly and serve hot.