Sunday Feast № 46 | Grilled Escarole Toasts with Salmon Roe

Simplicity is happiness. "Really?!", you pull back and purse your lips. Take a look at this! As simple as it gets! Grilling and good produce brought together to get the feel good factor going. And I have you know that I woke up uncustomarily early for a weekend day, and for me, and started the day with crème fraîche and salmon roe courtesy of œufs en cocotte, so you would think I have had enough crème fraîche and salmon roe already. Come lunch, this tweaked recipe from Food & Wine magazine October 2015 issue was on the menu (more thyme and infusing the olive oil with thyme and garlic, microwave has to have its purpose). Great as an appetizer, too. Add a glass or more of your favorite dry white wine, and you will be as happy. Trust me.

Sunday Feast № 12 | Chinese Five-Spice Spare Ribs with Hoisin Glaze

The beauty of communal feast preparation is that you do not have to do it all, and since I hosted, I took to what required overnight preparation and slow cooking. To boot, one of my local supermarkets had a deal on pork spare ribs (2 for 1) that primed me for taking on this spare ribs recipe twice!    The recipe came courtesy of a friend who attended a Chinese New Year meal class at Chicago's The Chopping Block, with original Hoisin Glaze recipe halved by me second time around. And since she attended the class, the accompanying chicken bao and vegetable pot stickers were under her purview - she was effectively branded "The Chef" - and the purview of a friend that has mad bao assembly skills - "The Sous Chef" - with the bao dough prepared by a friend that is a real life pastry chef and who also made crêpes for desert - "The Pastry and Deserts Chef". All of these require skills which are currently beyond me - yeast dough is involved, nimble fingers and good eye for "done" are required. Hence, I was an apprentice line cook chopping, stirring and cleaning when required, a dish washer, and when just watching or calling to the table, a self-appointed "Restaurateur".    The ribs were the appetizer to give us energy to prepare the rest of the feast, but they also make a great main dish with rice and vegetables or salad.