There is still fear of Sunday nights in my house because of the dinner I made back on September 26 (see: http://www.ayuh.com/2010/09/26/sunday-dinner/).  But even Fiona has said that I now have redeemed myself.

Last Sunday was Couscous Shepherd’s Pie–mixed, cooked “tofu chicken,” beans, and other veggies topped with a layer of couscous and then baked–which followed up nicely on my Baked Red Beans and Rice the previous Thursday.  Last night I made Vegetable Pot Pie, which was delicious.  (Hmmm.  I’m only now realizing that I’ve made “pie” two weeks in a row.  I need to branch out.)  It basically consisted of a lot of mushrooms, onions, garlic, vegetable broth, peas, corn, sweet potatoes, russet potatoes, and parsnips, all cooked until tender.  Then I dissolved corn starch in water and added it to the vegetables to thicken it.  Put all that in a casserole dish, top it with buttermilk biscuit dough (which was really easy to make) sprinkled with a little fresh dill, and bake it at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.  Really very good.

Oh, and I started everything off with herbed goat cheese stuffed into puff pastry immediately after removing the puffed pastry from the oven.  The hot puffed pastry warmed up the goat cheese nicely.  (I actually had intended to use phyllo dough, but picked up the wrong box from the freezer at the store.  Still, it was yummy.)

So, I’m feeling much better about my Sunday dinners … as is my family.

Well, as I’m sure you all can imagine, most of my cards, letters, and emails this week have been asking the same question: “What did you do about dinner in Boston on Saturday?”  Before some of you start getting impatient and sending me yet another note, I’ll tell you.

We went to a small highly recommended, highly expensive, and excessively mediocre French restaurant called Pigalle.  The most economical thing on the menu was a three-course dinner for $40, but there was no vegetarian option.  But I chose it anyway, and had a mango salad, followed by a shrimp and pasta dish, followed by a creme brullee.

The mango salad was interesting, but the grapefruit was too much for it.  The shrimps were batter-fried, and I have never understood why they don’t take the tails off before serving them, especially when the tails are hidden in some kind of batter thing.  The creme brulee was served warm.  The brulee part, of course, has just been blow-torched, but the creme part is supposed to be cold.

So, shrimp.

Wicked, on the other hand, was nothing short of phenomenal.  I love a good musical with a blow-you-away number at the end of the first act.  Dream Girls had it (I’m not goin’), as did Les Mis (1 Day More).  Wicked’s Defying Gravity (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g4ekwTd6Ig) is the same kind of thing.  Sensational.

I found the cookbook. It was in the dining room under a stack of mail.

The recipe I made on Thursday was called “Baked Red Beans and Rice.” Never would have guessed that.

I’m happy to say my vegetarian cooking is getting better.  Thursday night I made something called … well, I can’t remember what it was called, and I can’t find the cookbook right now.  I thought it would be here in the kitchen, but it’s not.  I’ve also checked the living room and the dining room.  It seems to have disappeared.  It’s the one with the big tomato on it.

Still, I do recall what was in it.

1 1/4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup long-grain rice
1 can dark red kidney beans
2 cups tomato salsa
1 tsp chili powder
salt and pepper

Basically, you mix everything together in a casserole dish, cover it tightly (I used aluminum foil), and bake it at 350 degrees for an hour.  Serve with guacamole and a salad.  Really easy and very good.  Much better than those whole wheat pastas with the soy ricotta cheese.

I just checked the downstairs bathroom, but the cookbook isn’t there either.

We’re going out for dinner in Boston tonight before seeing Wicked.  Another opportunity to order the least expensive thing on the menu–the token vegetarian option.