Another slight variation on one of the meals from this week’s plan: Steak, roasted sweet potatoes and fennel baked in cream. The fennel stole the show, even though the fennel was also carrots.

The bulbs of fennel in my CSA box were teeny tiny. Delicious, flavorful and sweet, but nowhere close to the 1.5lbs we needed. The solution was to use carrots in place of the missing fennel.

It was wonderful, delicious, a keeper. Everyone agreed. Even Rose ate a carrot, for the first time in as long as I can remember.

• Fennel Baked in Cream •
original recipe from Saveur

10-15 minutes hands on time, 1 3/4 hours total

1 1⁄2 lbs. fennel (about 2 large bulbs), stalks removed, halved lengthwise, and cut into 1⁄2″ wedges*
2 cups heavy cream
1 1⁄2 cups finely grated Parmesan (or Pecorino) 
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed

*Note: If you don’t have enough fennel, substitute carrots, peeled and halved lengthwise, for up to half the fennel. Don’t totally replace the fennel though, it just wouldn’t be the same.

1. Heat oven to 425°. In a bowl, toss together fennel, cream, and 1 cup Parmesan; season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a 3-qt. baking dish; dot with butter. Cover dish with foil; bake for 60 minutes.
2. Uncover baking dish; sprinkle with remaining Parmesan. Bake until fennel is tender, about 30 minutes. 

My What To Expect app says I should be eating lots of protein now, and that wild salmon is a good choice. I put salmon on this week’s menu and ordered up a couple of wild Alaskan filets from Fresh Direct.

The menu plan recommended miso glazed salmon and roasted broccoli but my taste buds did not concur. I wanted a creamy, yogurty sauce, and I did not want to go across the street to the store, for the ingredients we didn’t have.

We ended up having this salmon, with basil instead of dill in the sauce, and wine instead of citrus in the marinade. And it was just fine.

I don’t know about you, but when my husband is feeling under the weather, I take him meat shopping. Today we went over to the wonderful Empire Market in College Point for some homemade smoked pork chops, hot dogs, pancetta and bacon.

Shane and Rose had the chops tonight, with sauerkraut. I made a sweet potato & swiss chard gratin with gorgonzola and gouda cheese and a simple salad.

The gratin was really good, but I’m not sure I’d be able to recreate it. Shane agreed it was delicious “despite the dreaded kale” (which was actually swiss chard).

The dish was loosely based on this recipe which I had on my Pinterest Recipes to Try board. Essentially, I added 1/2 cup of crumbled gruyere to the cream mixture, replaced the cheddar with gouda and the kale with swiss chard. I added some fresh sage, and did a few other things which I can’t quite remember. Go ahead and give it a go, it’s hard to mess up a gratin.

Over the course of my long and illustrious career as a 99%-of-the-time vegetarian, I’ve been served many a “mean bowl” of vegetarian chili. The chili always comes with a promise of unparalleled flavor, spice, or some other form of unforgettableness. But until recently, chili has not been something I would get excited about.

Chili is sometimes the only thing folks can come up with when faced with feeding a vegetarian. They promise it will blow the vegetarian’s mind, in hopes that it proves an adequate substitute for the steak that everyone else is eating.

Of course, I totally appreciate the kind intentions behind, and am grateful for, every single bowl of vegetarian chili I’ve ever been offered. I would never turn up my nose at a bowl of chili made especially for me. It’s just that I can’t promise to find it mind blowing or unforgettable… unless it’s this chili*.

So next time  you want to make chili, try this one, I promise unparalleled flavor and unforgettableness ;)

*Which doesn’t have to be vegetarian, if that’s not your thing. There’s a turkey version of the recipe right here too.

Our very kind and generous neighbor brought up a batch of Marcella Hazan’s meatballs for Shane’s convalescence. This made Shane very happy. It made Rose very happy too. Those guys just love their meatballs, and yours truly never makes them.

Our neighbor says her husband fell in love with her because of these meatballs, which is not surprising. Marcella’s recipes are known for kindling romance. Apparently she used to hear, all the time, from people who had fallen in love over one of her dishes.

For the vegetarian, I chopped up some leftover baked ricotta and tossed it with the leftover basil sauce (from the ricotta) and grated pecorino. It was surprisingly good, but the real pleasure was in watching my husband and daughter relish their meatballs.