Menu for the Week of January 10

Ain't that a beaut? That, my friends, is a persimmon pudding (cake, really). We had our friends Ann and Jim over for an impromptu dinner of CSF pollock last night and I decided to jazz things up with a fun dessert. I'll post the recipe and method later, but I basically used this recipe from Martha Stewart, scaled down for my pudding mold.

The highlight of the weekend, other than dinner with friends of course, was the visit I made to the winter farmers' market in Exeter, NH. My camera crapped out the second I got there, so no pictures unfortunately. I was thrilled to see that the market was mobbed! There weren't tons of vegetables, but I did pick up some gorgeous turnips, turnip greens, parsnips, potatoes, a duck, eggs, lamb shanks, wine and sunflower seed oil. I'm looking forward to the next one on the 23rd.

I decided to let the market drive my menu as best as I could. Also, since I really need to make room in the freezer, I've decided that I'm not buying any conventionally produced (read: supermarket-sourced) meat or seafood until I've exhausted what's already in the freezer. I am making an exception for any farmers' market purchases.

Menu for the Week

Sunday

Oysters on the half-shell (oysters! from a farmers' market, who knew!)

Turnip green and leek ravioli, sauced with braised turnips

Monday

Borrachos (thank you Last Night's Dinner)

Corn tortillas

Shredded cabbage salad

Tuesday

Vegetable and sausage lasagna

Wednesday

Pureed chickpea soup with chickpea fritters and Indian spices

Pickled vegetables

Thursday

Baccala croquettes (made with baccala I made this summer with our CSF codfish - thanks Last Night's Dinner for the recipe)

White bean salad with pickled onions

Big green salad

Friday

Jim Lahey's no-knead pizza dough pizza: 1 tomato, 1 onion

Green salad