THE LADY OF SHALLOTS

5-Spice Pork Buns with Red Cabbage, Carrot & Thai Basil Salad (4/4 stars) A friend was kind enough to send me a free trial of Blue Apron , a subscription cook-it-yourself service. I was skeptical at first, based on some of the  criticisms I have below, but after three weeks,  I'm quite hooked. It has been perfect for this busy end of the semester as it removes the parts I hate most: planning and shopping.  I don't plan on using it much this summer when I have access to farmer's markets, and time to think about something other than my career, but since many have asked, I thought I'd do a little review here. Orange-glazed Chicken Drumsticks with Mashed Yucca and Arugula Salad (4/4 stars) PROS: not having to plan the meals (which I like to do occasionally, but not for the entire week) no food waste, as they send you only the amount that you need for the recipe no food shopping other than to pick up staples (breakfast stuff, etc) for the week ...

Ina Garten's Couscous with Peas and Mint: 3.5 stars Sometimes you make couscous for 15 people (Ina Garten's "Couscous with Peas and Mint" from her Foolpoof: Recipes You Can Trust ) and convince yourself that you need to double the recipe. Then you find that it probably wasn't necessary to buy TWO bags of frozen peas. Now you find yourself staring at a whole lot of leftover defrosted peas. What to do? Here's one idea! How about lamb sausage (more specifically, lamb-apricot sausage from Savenor's ) with a mint-pea purée? (It is winter, so I used this recipe for the purée and left off the pea shoots, etc). Do remember that a little bit of fresh mint goes a long way, so you may want to adjust the amounts depending on your preferred pea-taste to mint-taste ratio.  Serious Eats' "Lamb Sausage with Pea Purée" : 4 stars But one can only make/eat so much mint-pea purée. I was excited to try Food52's Peas Porridge Hot recipe until I...

First, the sole and the slaw: I had some frozen sole filets in the freezer, and was desperate for a quick and easy recipe, but something a little better than just butter and onions.  Enter Baked Sole with Lemon .  Now, I'm a little wary of About.com--perhaps unfairly--as I find one particular About.com site on a topic about which I think I'm rather authoritative, to be full of inaccuracies and astonishingly sophomoric given the supposed "credentials" of the "guide."But that is not of great import at the moment as we are talking about food--not this other subject that shall remain nameless. I really loved this recipe for the good balance of butter and lemon. I made two adjustments (for pragmatic what-I-had-on-hand reasons): shallots instead of onion (a common substitution here at The Lady of Shallots), and cilantro mixed in with parsley. The real annoyance with baking sole (or any other thin, flat fish) is that you basically have to watch it carefully ...

I've been enjoying the "A Month of Easy Dinners" issue of Real Simple (October 2009). I hope to try all of them, but some of them may have to wait until next Fall. This week, however, I managed to make the " Ravioli with Apples and Walnuts " and " Meatballs with Sautéed chard ". RAVIOLI WITH APPLES AND WALNUTS Modifications: I added some andouille chicken sausage we had in the fridge. Rating: 3.5/5 stars Notes: very good in concept and I liked the apples with the spicy sausage. I did find the dish to be too dry, however, and think I will toss it all in some truffle oil next time. Nice balance of flavors. MEATBALLS WITH SAUTÉED CHARD Modifications: none (served with whole-wheat couscous instead of suggested baguette) Rating: 4/5 stars Notes: really loved these meatballs--would make easy appetizers for a party, too. The combination of pine nuts, currants, cinnamon and pork gave them a Mediterranean taste and the moisture from the chard kept them fro...