A Delicious Departure!

My lovely sister Stephanie is lucky enough to be spending this semester studying abroad in Italy and traveling Europe (tough life, I know.) She has never been away from home for so long… or so far away, and I miss her quite a lot. Though I think my cell phone bill will be lower without her in calling distance Anyway, how does this relate to the project? Other than the fact that I plan on forcing her to bring me back several varieties of real Italian olive oil (this is the first she’s probably hearing of this)… Well, for her send off we decided to give her a grand dinner bon voyage bash! The whole dinner was prepared completely from the book (which I was rather proud of figuring out) for 1 vegitarian brother and for my low fat/ low carb eating mother and sister. I was exceptionally skeptical of my ability to pull of this dinner (with all its restrictions) from within only The Early Years… but I did! And it was quite a success.

Firstly, the “French Onion Soup“

I began cooking this waaay before dinner… because you have to ‘sweat’ the onions for quite a while. I had to use 2 pans to fit them all in because of my ghetto cookware. I opted to put in some red onion as well (AB suggests that this adds a “darker” quality to the soup). This soup was, in a word, magic. Worlds better than any restaurant I’ve had (compliments to AB, not necessarily to the chef… following directions closely is about all I can take credit for . I now will never stand for bland/ watery french onion soup. It’s a soup I’d never really taken a liking to because, frankly, it’s so hard to find done well. And now I see that the old phrase “If you want it done right, do it yourself!” is exceptionally wise. Even Ben (who haaaatttteeeesss onions) at this. Woo!

Second, “TBL Panzanella Salad“

Fresh herbs… bacon grease… homemade crutons… teeny tomatoes. Yum. The fresh mint and basil added a lot to this salad! I really enjoyed eating it and I’ve made it a few times since. It’s just so fresh and delicious. Definitely a hit.

Third, “Eggplant Pasta“

At first, I didn’t even consider making this recipe for the dinner because of the “pasta” (no carbs for mama and sister…) but then I realized, it’s not pasta at all! Oh you crafty AB, you! It’s eggplant cut to resemble pasta. Oh, how clever. It had a great, spicy, creamy flavor! I had to cook the eggplant a bit longer than the recipe stated, because it was pretty much still raw. I don’t know if that is what AB had intended (a little al dente pasta, if you will) but I know my mom doesn’t like raw eggplant, so I kept it going.

All in all, impressive, delicious, and fun to make with your family! I know my sister is enjoying massive amounts of authentic Italian food and will have majorly high expectations once she returns home. I will try to meet them sis! Love you!

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