Book Club

 

I've just been aching for an excuse to show off this M.A. Hadley platter on my bog, which is ostensibly about knitting, but sometimes about cooking and eating. I found my excuse today. First, let me brag about how I found it. I went to the Bakersfield Peddler's Fair a couple of weeks ago with a friend and saw this platter for $50. I haven't seen one just like it anywhere, so it's probably not even being manufactured anymore, but I'm sure I'd have to pay at least $100, maybe even $200 for it online if I could find it. I had to borrow $20 from my friend because I didn't even have $50 on me, and I didn't try to dither the sellers down at all because it was such a good deal.

Well, today was our monthly book club meeting, and we had read Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson, who was raised in Sweden. I made smørrebrød, which are Danish open-faced sandwiches, which I thought  close enough to be appropriate, and I used my...platter. Everyone loved the sandwiches, which was only a tiny bit surprising because my friends are adventurous. I've made quite a few smørrebrød before, but I found two different recipe on NPR to try this time. I made roast beef with arugula  and horseradish with creme fraiche and blue cheese and apple with bacon. I pretty much ignored the fact that I've been trying to be really healthy and ate a ton of them. I've had a cold all week and haven't exercised much, so, of course, it makes sense that I would also ruin my diet this week too, sigh!

 The roast beef smorrebrod were topped with a radish and a little grated carrot.

The blue cheese and apple ones were supposed to applewood smoked bacon, but I just used prosciutto, and it tasted wonderful. Food can be so much fun. I enjoy eating healthy, so I'm not dreading going back to being a little more disciplined, but it was fun to fall off the wagon for a day or two.