Meatless Monday review

Because my husband and children are wildly carnivorous and the holidays are wildly without regimen, I was lax about Meatless Mondays while we were on break. A mostly vegetarian myself, I stuck with it but could easily do so every day so that hardly counts. In any case, yesterday we resumed our MM tradition, and as T looked over our dinner, I saw the familiar eyebrow raise of skepticism and "oh, shoot." More often than not he ends up enjoying our meatless meals and so, by and large, I ignore any protestations. I'm cooking after all! Last night I decided to make a warm farro-based salad into which I stirred caramelized rutabaga cubes, goat cheese, toasted pecans, and this wonderful roasted leek and garlic dressing that came to me while cooking. In essence, I roasted the leeks and garlic until they were super soft, hovering somewhere on the solid side of liquid. Then I dumped them into a food processor and added the extra oil from the rutabagas, the juice and zest of a clementine and a knob of crème fraîche. When that was whipped into a "dressing" of sorts, I stirred it into the warm farro mixture until it was evenly distributed.

T didn't love this dish, but I really enjoyed it and felt both fulfilled and virtuous while doing so.

Delicious dinner

Once dinner (for me) finally came 'round tonight, I was really hungry and really tired. The boys and I went to get frozen yogurt (Jack mixed watermelon and Oreo in the same cup; BARF) and then to the bookstore for a new book each: Knuffle Bunny really is a hoot, and J discovered a new mystery series that comes in chapter book form, so we got one of those. Fun. Nonetheless, controlling small Tasmanian devils in stores (read: public places) sometimes feels like a Herculean task, and after that, getting home, making dinner, mediating the requisite witching-hour sibling squabble and then a bath and bedtime...well, suffice it to say that I poured a glass of wine during the last book. Pasta sounded comforting, and a rummage through the fridge unearthed some young leeks, half of a when-did-I-buy-that Savoy cabbage, 1 clementine, some prosciutto and my fresh ricotta. OK! A quick cook of the prosciutto and then in the meager drippings, a sauté of shredded cabbage, chopped leeks, a scallion, 2 ramp bulbs and the zest of the clementine. I chose farro linguine to accompany this and added a bit of whey, the juice of half the clementine and some fresh ricotta at the end. Really yummy! I didn't incorporate much of the actual prosciutto; just enough to add some crisp flavor, and a grate of pecorino over pasta is never a bad idea.