Love Leftovers.

Saturday) Dan and I bought a turkey from Maple Lawn Farm at Common Market a while ago, and it was time to cook. Dan took charge in cooking the bird. At last minute we casually invited a couple, who are vegetarians. We had some really good looking veggies from the farmer's market and some mushroom and fennel that we got from MOM's.
I like it when cooking sort of happens. When Dan put the bird away into oven, I took over the kitchen, and pulled out all the veggies that I want to cook, and arranged them in groups. Here is how it went:

• Thinly sliced fennel, red onion, and celeriac salad. Dressed in olive oil, and lemon juice.
  
• Mushroom, spinach and leek tart as a main vegetarian dish. Crimini and white oyster mushroom, baby yellow squash sauteed in olive oil and thyme. Baby spinach briefly cooked. Leek cooked in butter till melting soft. Layered in rich shortbread tart shell then filled with cream/egg.
• Multigrain roll, improvised to add gluten free serial and sunflower seeds on top of oatmeal and flax seeds.
• Par-boiled and then roasted beets, red and chiogga. Served with CapriKorn farm soft goat cheese.
• Roasted brussels sprout served with grated Parmesan Reggiano.
• Tatsoi sauteed in soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic and ginger.
  
• Fresh baby carrots, broccoli, fennel served with a dipping sauce
• Mashed rutabaga
  
• Apple tart
• Pear reduction with lavender blossom

I had three things to bake and veggies to roast, and the bird was taking its time in the oven, which made me a bit nervous when it got closer for our guests to arrive. Dan made the dipping sauce, mashed rutabaga, and gravy when the turkey finally came out. He also cleaned the dining room, set the table, entertained the guests while I continued to cook and serve. I needed this - the joy of cooking all day. Every dish turned out so well I couldn't pick my favorite.

Sunday) What a beautiful day it was! I spent all day in the garden. For breakfast, we had leftover veggie tart, apple tart, and toasted multigrain roll with raspberry jam. All home-made and it took just minutes to put together.

For lunch, Dan made turkey salad sandwich. Diced turkey meat, apple, celeriac, red onion and mayo, salt, pepper.

For dinner, we had turkey soup. Three main herbs in the stock were rosemary, sage, and oregano. Simple with carrots, celeriac and pasta, but deeply satisfying flavor from the stock that simmered all day.

Monday) I made a turkey tart following Cook's Country recipe. I had to modify the recipe as I go - too much blue cheese for me so cut down to 1/3 cup. We were out of pears so used an apple (the recipe calls for 4 pears which sounded way too much). We didn't have sour cream, so used different ratio of yogurt and cream. Overall it was pretty good combination - next time, I need to keep the tart longer in the oven, and refine the ratio of ingredients.

Wednesday) Eating more leftovers! Mashed rutabaga, cauliflower puree, fennel and celeriac salad, spicy green with dressing made from pear reduction, and tatsoi. Warmed up steak and pork tenderloin are also left over from previous meals.

In short, we have been eating well and the fridge is empty. Well almost empty since we still have lots of turkey meat left. I wonder what Dan is fixing for breakfast today - I'd better go check.

Yeon