asparagus tart

As I mentioned in my previous post. Ben and I made a lot of a food over the weekend. My friend Grace bought me Kitchen Seasons by Ross Dobson for my birthday, and it is one the best cookbooks ever! All the recipes are easy, unique, and sorted by whats' best for the season your in. Asparagus season has passed, but I thought I would try to make this tart anyway since I had 2 bundles of asparagus I forgot to make for the crab dinner. It was so yummy! Ingredients:
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2 x 12-oz ready rolled puffed pastry (defrosted)
1 egg lightly beaten and mixed with 2 tsp water
2 T butter
2 T light olive oil
2 bunches of asparagus trimmed
5 oz. soft goat cheese
sea salt and black pepper
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Directions:
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-Preheat oven to 425 and line 2 baking sheets with baking paper

-cut the pastry to make 2 rectangles and place each one on a baking sheet.

-cut 1/2 inch wide strips around each rectangle and place the strips back along the border of the rectangles to form a border.

-prick the center of each pastry with a fork and brush the beaten egg all over both.

-cook in a preheated oven for 15 minutes or until puffed and pale golden.

*Meanwhile*
- Saute the asparagus with the oil and butter on high heat in a pan turning often until they start to soften

-season well with sea salt and pepper and set aside

-crumble goat cheese on pastry staying within borders and top with asparagus

-put back in oven for 10 minutes until dark golden.

SERVE!

food.

{vegan creamy butternut squash soup}
{butternut squash ravioli (before cooked)}
{ravioli with homemade tomato sauce (sorry for the blurry pic)}
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Since I'm not eating out for the month Ben and I have been making some awesome meals. Well, at least Ben has :) He's a pretty amazing cook and sometimes I help out. He's been on a vegan cooking streak lately and made creamy butternut squash soup and ravioli. The soup was so rich tasting I would have never thought it was vegan. When I came home last night from salsa lessons* he was in the midst of making homemade butternut squash ravioli (also vegan since we had no eggs). I always thought pasta would be difficult to make, but it wasn't too bad and it was delicious. Ben assigned me the task of making the sauce which was SO EASY and tasty. If you can take away anything from this post, take this sauce recipe. Anyone can do it.

Creamy Butternut Squash Soup:

Ingredients:

2 large butternut squash (12 cups cubed)

3 large organic red potatoes (6 cups cubed)

1 large onion diced

6 cups veggie stock (simmering on stove in LARGE pot)

2 T canola oil

4 T of vegan butter

4 cups of unsweetened soymilk

fresh lemon juice

S & P

1t tarragon

pinch of nutmeg

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Heat oil in a large pot and saute onion on medium until soft

add potatoes and squash, stir cover.

Lower heat and cook until they "sweat" (15 min)

Stir in stock and seasonings, boil

Reduce heat and simmer uncovered till all vegetables are tender

Let it cool half way

Use and immersion blender to blend soup then add soymilk and lemon juice.

Done! Eat with yummy bread

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EASY Tomato Sauce:

7 organic tomato's, halved, seeded, and cubed

4 garlic cloves

1.5 T of sugar

1 T of salt

Red pepper flakes (I used about a tablespoon and it was medium)

2 T olive oil

** you can change the amount of everything depending on how much sauce you want to make. This recipe made about 2.5 cups.

Directions:

Throw everything into a blender and blend smooth

Put sauce in in pan and simmer for half an hour. DONE!

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**I got talked into salsa lessons last night by my friend Walter. I was kind of dreading it, but it was actually quite fun!

farmers market

ben made the most delicious lunch for me on Friday.

he's an excellent cook.

the kind that can look into an empty fridge or cupboard and make a fantastic meal out of nothing.

(grilled portable sandwich with corn and brussel sprouts)

it was yummy

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He also bought a bag full of fresh produce from the farmers market

everything was picture perfect and tasty.

the oyster mushrooms were bought from my friend Savannah,

who we recently started a fungi farm!

I would love to go visit it this summer....