Aside from the apples, this has been a very relaxing week for me in the kitchen.  My in-laws visited last weekend and, as I’ve told you already, my mother in law is an excellent cook.  She arrived with a stack of recipe print-outs and a plan, and she fed us well.  What luxury.  I could get used to that.

In The Kitchen

Menu 1: My mother in law made this leek and gruyere tart in puff pastry, which sparked a lively discussion about the difference between a tart and a pizza.  The upshot, I think, is that if you want to serve something fancier than a pizza you should put the toppings on puff pastry instead of pizza dough.  (These mushrooms and blue cheese would certainly work in puff pastry.)  I made that super-green lemony spinach soup and my favorite summer crunch salad–which is too good to confine to summer–to serve with the tart.Menu 2: If you’re most people in the world, apparently you’ll love Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce.  But whatever tomato sauce you choose, I recommend serving your pasta alongside roasted eggplant tossed with pesto and garlic bread.  My favorite garlic bread formula is as follows: 2 Tb. softened butter, 1 Tbsp. olive oil, 2 pressed cloves of garlic, a big pinch of salt.  Mix together and spread on a length of baguette.  Top with fresh parsley and toast for a minute under the broiler.Preserving

Meanwhile, we’ve been peeling and peeling apples.  We made more applesauce.  A friend dropped two dehydrators by so we could dry countless apple rings (which somehow, once dried, shrink to an insignificant size that belies all the work it took to make them).  And I made apple peel tea.  I’ll tell you more about that this week.On My Plate

I’m looking forward to participating in the Virtual Vegan Potluck on November 1!  I’m bringing soup, of course.  A roasted celery soup.  Creamy.  Intense.  Vegan.  I hope you’ll join us!

And now we’re on to the good part of the apple project: all the perfect ones we stashed in the fridge for eating and baking.  I can never decide between apple cake and apple pie.  Which do you prefer?