Text 18353, 124 rader
Skriven 2011-11-27 23:28:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: Saturday 270
====================
I got up bright and early and ready to cook.

I asked what we were going to take to Sue's leftovers party,
and Rosemary said cranberry sauce, of course (that's her
annual donation), only this year there were three of us
(the boys being given money for pizza, Connie and John
being invited on their own), but she figured there would be
enough at the party without my whipping up something else.
So despite looking lustfully at mounds of stuffing and mashed
taters just crying out to have something made out of them, I
only made John and Connie's dish. I unwrapped the crepes and
discovered that there were in fact 13 of them. Rosemary joked
that I should make suzettes. I said I could do that easily.

In fact, that might have been a good idea. But here's what
I did.

Crepe casserole with mushrooms and onions
cat: main, lacto, vegetarian, cannellonioid
servings: 12

oil
12 oz mushrooms, sliced
2 Tb butter
2 md onions, minced
s, p
1 Tb fresh thyme leaves
1 c stuffing (leftover)
1 c whipped cream (leftover)
12 crepes (leftover)
2 c bechamel sauce
1/2 c grated cheese (I used leftover Cheddar)
- Parmesan by preference

Oil a baking dish (or in this case, 2 small ones).

Saute mushrooms in butter until slightly browned.
Remove and chop a little.

In the same pan, wilt onions, salting and peppering
liberally. Return the mushrooms to the pan with the
thyme (if using dried thyme, add earlier). Add the
stuffing, well broken up, and enough whipped cream
to loosen the stuffing and almost liquidize it.
There should be a thickish, sludgy aspect to this
filling. Roll 2 or 3 Tb of filling into each crepe,
putting each rolled crepe into the baking dish as
it is done. When all are nestled in their places,
top with bechamel sauce and then cheese. Bake at
350F for 20 min or until heated through.

Source: moi

You will note that I used only 12 crepes. I made a
suzette for Rosemary with the other one, which I
think amused but did not surprise her.

==

Sixty guests crammed into a space that accommodates
60 comfortably. Now that's planning. The year the
article about it came out there were nearly 100, but I
guess it's had its moment of fame, and the peak is past.
It was much lower key this year, and I enjoyed that,
especially this year I knew over a quarter of the
people, and in the past I've known the same 15-20, but
the dilution factor was greater.

This year nobody was proving anything, and the best
wine was a Bourgogne ordinaire from a shipper I hadn't
heard of: I took a sniff, dismissed it, and turned my
attention to the mild and inoffensive Dewar's, which I
stuck with until I tired of it and then replaced with
the even milder and less characterful VO.

Also, the fanciful or time-consuming dishes of years
past (Ken Newman's saffron sweet potato and red pepper
soup, for example) were absent, and we were back to our
roots - real leftovers (there were 3 casseroles of sweet
potatoes and assorted other things with marshmallows on
top - I didn't try any of them) and some salads to liven
life up.

What I had, besides alcohol, which provided half my
caloric intake:

half a devilled egg - very plain, egg, mustard, full stop

about 3 oz of smoked turkey - from the same source that has
in years past offered really black inedible turkey; this
year's was a bit close to jerky but possibly safe for human
consumption and was the only turkey on offer! I had mostly
skin (kind of burnt)

about a cup of mushroom noodles, of which I had had high
hopes, but they turned out to be unseasoned and bland

the baked-on edges leftover from my (John and Connie's)
crepe dish (by far, FAR the best thing this year)

a quarter of a ricotta-filled doughnutty thing from a
Sicilian bakery in New York city, driven up by Stacy, a
30-something girl who was here in place of her mother,
who had poison ivy; other than the hired help she was by
20 years the youngest person in attendance.

Slim pickin's this year: I admit there were a couple
creamy- or cheesy-looking items that might have been
palatable, but certainly not palatable enough to justify
my pill expense.

When they cleared everything, I noticed that there as
still a bit over half a cup of Rosemary's cranberry sauce,
so I happily slurped that down, which made my friend Judy
sitting at my left offer me the bits of pecan pie that
she couldn't eat, so I had that. It was nowhere near so
good as Connie's from Thanksgiving.

It was also a short party, and I think we were all home
and tucked in before 9.

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