This was a very satisfying meal. Chicken with White Wine & Lemon (recipe below), Farmhouse Baked Ricotta (with sweet potatoes and basil sauce), Roasted Broccoli, and a green salad with my version of Rita’s Dressing (with measurements! recipe below).

I had half a ball of fresh mozzarella in the fridge and decided to use it in lieu of cheddar or gruyere for the baked ricotta. Though it tasted good, the fresh mozzarella was too wet for this dish and made it a bit soggy. I recommend using a harder cheese, per the original recipe. For another view of the ricotta, scroll all the way down.

• Chicken with White Wine & Lemon •
from this recipe from Dinner A Love Story

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
4-6 boneless chicken breasts, pounded very thin (if they flatten into really large cutlets, you might want to halve them so they’re easier to handle in the pan)
1/2 cup flour or so, salted and peppered, and piled on a plate
juice from 1 lemon
1/4 cup white wine
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped shallots*
handful chopped parsley

Heat 1 tablespoon butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Dredge chicken breasts in seasoned flour then add to pan (in batches if necessary), frying about 3 minutes a side. Remove breasts to a platter after they have cooked through and tent with foil to keep warm. Once all the chicken is fried, add lemon juice, wine, shallots, and remaining butter to the pan and turn up heat, scraping the brown bits as you go. Once the sauce has reduced slightly, pour over chicken on platter. Top with parsley.

*Onion will work in a pinch.
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• Rita’s Dressing (Nina’s Version) •

Note: I like to make this in an 8oz jar because we rarely use a whole batch at once, this makes it easy to save and use the next day.

1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
the juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 teaspoon lemon zest, or tiny, super-finely slivered bits of lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/2 cup olive oil (add more if it’s too tangy for you)

Combine all ingredients in a jar, shake vigorously to combine. Serve over greens alone, or over greens with herbs (recommended), or whatever you like!

You’re not going to believe me when I tell you this. It sounds like an urban legend, or something. But I assure you, I’ve witnessed it firsthand.

Here goes: When you go to a Chinese restaurant in Ireland, they offer you a choice of rice… or potatoes. Potatoes! You can get them boiled, baked, mashed or as chips (french fries). It’s true. Promise.

I really should have made rice to have with our steak, and very Chinese restaurant-tasting bok choy tonight. But my inner Irish got the best of me, I made potatoes by mistake.

Even without rice, the bok choy was exceptional. My non-veggie-loving husband and daughter both ate, and liked it, which is saying a lot.

The bok choy was based on this Mark Bittman recipe, which I made a couple of weeks ago. My adaptation uses baked tofu and ginger, and is totally worth trying, if I do say so myself. The recipe is below.

• Bok choy with Baked Tofu, Ginger and Oyster Sauce •
adapted from Mark Bittman’s recipe

1 package extra-firm tofu
2 lbs bok choy, trimmed
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons minced, fresh ginger
1/3 cup oyster sauce
2 tablespoons water

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Drain the tofu and wrap it in several layers of paper towels. Press it between a plate (on the bottom) and something heavy (on top) and let sit for 20-30 minutes.

Chop the tofu into approximately 3/4″ squares and toss in a medium bowl with one tablespoon of vegetable oil, until well coated. Lay the tofu out on a parchment or foil covered baking tray and bake until very lightly browned, about 30 minutes. Toss the tofu squares a few times while baking. Remove from oven and set aside.

Wash and clean the bok choy. Separate leaves and stems of bok choy; cut stems into 2-inch lengths and chop the leaves in half.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet. Add the garlic, ginger, bok choy stems and tofu to the pan and cook over medium heat for about 4 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the bok choy leaves, oyster sauce and water and cook for another 2 minutes. Serve right away. Rice would be a nice accompaniment.

This soup should not be good, it defies logic. The ingredients are cauliflower, onion, olive oil, water and salt. Boring right? I don’t understand how it comes out tasting so good. In fact, I’m not sure why I even bothered to make it, but I did. Probably because the Community Pick recipes over at Food 52 are very reliable.

After setting myself up to be incredibly disappointed, we ended up having a lovely meal and a new soup to add to our repertoire. To make the meal more substantial we also had crusty bread, prosciutto, fresh mozzarella and roasted peppers.

A friend asked that I be less vague about some of my vegetable recipes. I measured tonight and am giving you the foolproof roasted pepper recipe below, as well as the cauliflower soup recipe. Enjoy!

• Cauliflower Soup •
from this recipe by Paul Bertoli at Food 52

3tablespoons olive oil
1medium onion (6 ounces), sliced thin
1head very fresh cauliflower (about 1-1/2 pounds), broken into florets
Salt, to taste
5 1/2cups water, divided
Extra virgin olive oil, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Warm the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan. Sweat the onion in the olive oil over low heat without letting it brown for 15 minutes.

Add the cauliflower, salt to taste, and 1/2 cup water. Raise the heat slightly, cover the pot tightly and stew the cauliflower for 15 to 18 minutes, or until tender.

Then add another 4 1/2 cups hot water, bring to a low simmer and cook an additional 20 minutes uncovered.

Working in batches, purée the soup in a blender to a very smooth, creamy consistency. Alternatively, you can use a stick blender to purée it, right in the pot. Let the soup stand for 20 minutes. In this time it will thicken slightly.

Thin the soup with 1/2 cup hot water, if needed. Reheat the soup. Serve hot, drizzled with a thin stream of extra-virgin olive oil and freshly ground black pepper.

• Foolproof Roasted Long Peppers •
4 long un-spicy peppers, like these
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1/2 teaspoon good quality balsamic vinegar (optional)

Heat oven to 35o degrees. Seed the peppers and cut them lengthwise, into long, thick strips, about 4-6 strips per pepper. Toss with olive oil and salt and place them in a medium glass baking dish, I use a pie dish. Roast for about 1/2 hour or until soft and wilted, stirring a few times along the way. Remove to a serving dish, pouring the juices over them. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar, if using, and serve.

Tonight’s dinner was a funny, ironic, kind of combination. For them, beans & franks, the quintessential, ready-to-eat canned meal. For me, an uber-earthy brown rice , sweet potato and kale salad with miso-ginger dressing.

But you know me, I wouldn’t serve my family franks and beans from a can. Oh no. What we had were what Jenny from Dinner A Love Story calls Highbrow Franks & Beans. You know, the kind where you start with dried beans. The kind with organic all-beef Franks. The kind that takes over 6 hours to make. Oh yes I did.

And I’ll do it again. Phrases like “What’s your favorite food? This (pointing to franks & beans) is mine” and “I want this for lunch every day” were thrown around. Yes, a big success. And also absolutely perfect for the nights, like tonight, when we don’t get home until 8:00.

A lot of people have been trying to persuade me to get a slow cooker. If anything is going to convince me to clutter-up my tiny New York City kitchen with another big appliance, this is the dish that will do it. Presuming, of course, that this is a dish that could be made in a slow cooker.

As for the polar opposite on the table, I had a tweaked version of Smitten Kitchen’s Miso Sweet Potato and Broccoli Bowl. My version used kale, skipped the sesame seeds and left the garlic out of the dressing. It was utterly delicious, as the recipe promised. The kind of meal that makes you feel like your body owes you a big old thank you.

• Franks & Beans •
from Dinner A Love Story

1 pound dried navy or great northern beans
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
2 tablespoons molasses
1/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
2 thick strips bacon
3 hot dogs, sliced into rounds as shown

In a large pan, cover the beans with water. Bring to a boil and simmer until tender, about 1 hour. Drain.

• Miso, Sweet Potato and Kale Bowl •
altered slightly from Smitten Kitchen’s recipe

For the bowl
1/2 cup dried brown rice
2 large sweet potatoes
1 bag or bunch of baby kale
2 tablespoons olive oil
Coarse or kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

For the miso-sesame dressing
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons white miso
2 tablespoons tahini
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons olive oil

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Cook rice according to package directions and set aside.

Peel sweet potatoes and cut into 1-inch cubes. Toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Lay potatoes out on a baking tray. Roast for 20 minutes, until browning underneath. Toss and continue cooking until browned on most of the sides and cooked through. Remove from baking tray to a medium or large bowl.

Toss the kale with 1 tablespoon olive oil and salt, lay out on the baking tray you just used for the potatoes and cook until wilted and even a little bit crispy in areas. Add cooked kale and rice to the bowl with the sweet potatoes. Toss to combine and set aside until ready to serve.

To make the sesame-miso dressing: Combine everything in tall container and blend with a stick blender until smooth.

Toss salad with some of the dressing, and serve with additional dressing on the side.