Thai Watermelon Salad

Yup, it's fall.  Connie didn't even ask me if I wanted to eat out on the screened porch.  It's our summertime favorite spot.  We finish our dinners and head to the rockers and finish our wine and talk.  Now, though, it's cold and rainy.  Good thing I made comfort food for dinner - potato, bacon and cabbage torte.  There's enough left for lunch day after tomorrow.  That's because I'm having lunch with a client tomorrow.  Connie will get the leftover sesame noodles while I eat something not as good... Today we had leftover duck risotto.  That was amazingly good stuff.  Dinner on Tuesday will be appetizers at a beer tasting.  And, Wednesday's dinner is almost done and in the fridge.  I won't have to dig into the freezer at the office this week at all.  Best of all, by the time the week's over we'll have tried at least six new recipes.  Thus far, the five we've tried have all been keepers.  I love it when that happens. 

So, let's talk about the recipes...

French Toast with Peaches.  I blogged about this for Secret Recipe Club.  REALLY good stuff!

Jeni's Pear Riesling Sorbet.  There's an ice cream shop in Columbus, OH (Dublin, OH if you want to be really specific) called Jeni's.  For the most part, Connie and I have very similar tastes.  We love cheese, anchovies, smoked oysters, salumi.  We dislike milk.  But, I love ice cream and he doesn't.  When we're in Ohio visiting our grandkids, we frequently head to Jeni's.  Yup, it's typically my suggestion.  I have a heckuva time deciding what to get.  There are so many incredible flavors to choose from.  Connie, not so much.  He gets the Pear Riesling Sorbet.  So, thinking that I might try to make some ice cream like Jeni's I bought her cookbook.  Lucky day!  It has the Pear Riesling Sorbet recipe!  Now, I wound up dumping the mix in the freezer and leaving it overnight.  So, what I really have is a frozen block at this point.  But, scraping with a spoon allows a spoonful at a time to be enjoyed.  And, I've got to say it's just the same flavor. 

Duck Risotto.  A lot of folks find risotto intimidating.  I'll confess that I felt the same way way back when.  Now, risotto is clean up the kitchen for two.  We've not made risotto in forever.  Then, one of my blogger friends mentioned the fact she was making duck risotto.  So, Heather Tallman, aka Basilmomma, this is ALL your fault.  I took my typical mushroom risotto recipe and changed it up just a bit.  The initial olive oil was replaced with duck fat.  A duck confit leg was shredded and added with the mushrooms.  And, of course, the duck skin was crisped and put on top.  YUM!!  At some point I've got to check Heather's blog and see how she made hers...

Then, we had two totally new recipes. 

The first was sesame noodles.  Pretty basic stuff.  A peanut butter, soy sauce and sesame noodle dressing over thin spaghetti, chicken, red bell pepper and snow peas.  I got the recipe in a Martha Stewart email.  We've had several similar dishes and loved all of them.  Best thing is that since the recipe is to be served at room temperature or cool, it makes fabulous leftovers!

 I'd been hungry for the watermelon salad with feta and red onions.  That was until I read Jamie Oliver's Thai Watermelon Salad recipe in Jamie's Dinners.  This was amazing.  I ate the leftovers the next day for lunch.  The peanuts were kinda yucky.  But, the rest of the salad was still killer.  This will absolutely be a regular in our home.

Thai Watermelon Salad

Ingredients:
1/2 of a small, seedless watermelon
1 bunch cilantro leaves
1 handful of mint leaves
1 small bunch of radishes, thinly sliced
1 large handful peanuts
1- 2 oz feta cheese, crumbled

for the dressing:
2 t grated fresh ginger
2 T soy sauce
6 T extra virgin olive oil
1 t sesame oil
juice of two limes
salt and pepper

Directions:

Mix the dressing ingredients.  Toss all the salad ingredients.  Mix with the dressing and serve immediately.