I don't often cook a large vegetarian meal mainly because I like meat too much. However, when a good friend comes to visit, who is a vegetarian, my skills get tested a bit. My dear friend Regina and her boyfriend Rachid came over to do some riding in north lake this past Thursday. With more than one vegetarian at the dinner table, my menu was amended to meet their needs. The two main dishes created for this evenings events were a butternut & acorn squash soup, and a asparagus & mushroom risotto.
The soup base was prepped the evening before by roasting the squash with some brown sugar, nutmeg, and butter. They were halved and placed skin up on a roasting pan with a bit of water in the basin. 400* for an hour and they came out beautiful. Finishing the soup by softening some shallots in olive oil, the base was added with ladles of veggie stock. Blended and finished with heavy cream. The soup (which would have easily fed 12) was completely finished by the end of the meal.
The risotto was simple, but difficult to time due to altitude. Mushrooms & asparagus added to the rice with some veggie stock and finished with some parmesan cheese and a drizzle of good olive oil.
For the experimental course, I tried to steal a dish made by the Lone Eagle Grill in Incline. Portabellos smothered in goat cheese, dredged in panko and then fried. Served with a simple tomato sauce made from fresh tomatoes, and a baby spinach salad. This was a hit, and a keeper. Gone before I could even grab a second bite!
Simply added to the main course for the meat eaters was a few king crab legs which were conveniently on sale at Safeway.
What seemed like 8 bottles of wine later, a fabulous dinner with great music and conversation!
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