Ham and Mushroom crepes, oh my

Although I've now determined that ROAST HAM is the easiest party meal in the world, there's really just one reason to roast a ham: the leftovers are truly excellent. There are very good ham-Cheddar-Branston sandwiches, even better ham omelettes and even just plain cold ham eaten out of the tin foil. And then there are ham and mushroom crepes.

Imagine a warm, creamy mushroom sauce full of matchsticks of ham with parsley, pepper and lots of fresh lemon juice. Then imagine wrapping this lovable sauce with tender whole wheat crepes. It's an old recipe that Mom always used to make in the post-ham week and I'm delighted to report that the recipe has stood the test of 30 years time.

So so sosososo good.

Kitty, curious

There's a window at eye level in my near-basement kitchen and it's rather a convenient spot to stow dishes that are in transition between the oven and the fridge. I've taken to leaving a rack in the window ledge for cooling cookies and pies and such too.

This particular casserole (penne, 3-cheese sauce, bacon, peas) (oh yeah) was awaiting a delivery of breadcrumbs and I was pottering about in the kitchen when one of the countless neighbourhood meowzers came by for a sniff. I did let out a bit of a shriek (it's surprising to see anyone -- human or feline -- making an attempt on your supper) but she turned out to be pretty cute.

She then stood guard for a while.

Orphans' Thanksgiving

In university days I was too far from home to make the 22-hour train ride just for little old Thanksgiving. Instead I'd host a potluck for all the other "orphans" who were from far away.

The menu was typical university frugal-hippie carbo-mix up: tofu lasagna, and someone would bring either that broccoli salad with dried cranberries or the spinach salad with candied walnuts that was making the potluck rounds at the time, store-bought bread or coleslaw or pasta salad. There was little in the way of traditional Thanksgiving fare -- a turkey would have been too big an expense. But Dave insisted on making a pumpkin pie from scratch...starting with a whole pumpkin and no recipe. His first attempt was a wet, fibrous, eggy disaster but by the end of our undergrad degrees, he was making decent pies.

Thanksgiving still feels more like a friends holiday than a family one. Happily, I've got a few more pennies than I did in those days, so this year we roasted a naturally-raised ham. The guests are still "orphans" (though I hesitate to call them such). The Brit of course, and our charming LadyBrit friend, as well as my second cousin who is too much fun to be family.

But may I recommend ROAST HAM as the easiest, most bang-for-buck, affordable and effortless roast of them all. It's ready whenever you are and goes well with anything  you can throw at it -- from cheese to nuts to eggs the next morning. I would challenge anyone to name a vegetable that didn't work brilliantly as ROAST HAM's wing-man.

Roast ham, whipped carrot & rutabaga, boiled new potatoes with dill butter, roasted cauliflower with cumin seeds, spicy cranberry chutney, tomato chutney, lots of wine, then pumpkin pie (tinned pumpkin: I'm not as ambitious as Dave was), whipped cream and brandies.

Table for 1

Judith Jones's new book, The Pleasures of Cooking for One, came across my desk last week. She never thought she could cook "well" for herself after her husband died, but proved herself wrong (as the book sweetly elucidates). She now routinely whips up hollandaise for one, fries up a single serving of pommes Anna in a tiny pan, and keeps a big batch of béchamel in the freezer so she can dole it out by the spoonful. Smartypants.

After reading that,  I couldn't well make yet another plate of Pasta for One. A small roast chicken then, with roasted golden beets, garlic-sautéed beet greens and Marcella Hazan's brilliant if plainly-named "roasted mixed vegetables".

Add one (very large) glass of wine and one tv movie (Master and Commander, swoon) for a perfect Saturday evening in.

One red onion quartered, 2 tomatoes quartered, 1 red pepper in wedges and 4 small potatoes in wedges. Drizzle with much olive oil and lots of salt and roast at 400 F for about 35 minutes. The result is magically so much more than the simple sum of its parts.