BRUCEBINDER.COM

J: Welcome back and thanks for the trip report. You probably should do something about how you import text files into your mail program though. All your apostrophes came out as weird characters. What with the holidays, I only owe you two Sunday Dinner reports. Here's the first. This one was for AnnMarie's birthday and she didn't really have a request, but I know she likes capers so I made spinach ravioli with lemon-caper sauce. With it, I served salad, chinese pea pods with tarragon, and mashed potatoes and yams with roasted garlic. Shall we begin? Ravioli I bought sheets of fresh spinach pasta at Lotsa Pasta, a local pasta shop and restaurant. It's a really good place, that happens to serve timpano -- inspired by the movie _Big Night_, which you should go see, if you haven't already. I prepared the spinach the same way I did for lasagna -- rinsed, steamed, pressed, drained, chopped in the food processor. I added just enough ricotta so that you could taste it, but the stuff was still pretty much the same color as spinach. I salted and peppered to taste. To stuff the ravioli: Lay a sheet flat. Score it lightly every two inches with the back of a knife -- north-south and east-west. Put a blob of stuffing in the middle of each square. Paint a little water along the lines and around the edged. Lay another sheet on top. Press down between blobs and seal. Cut along seals. I think I didn't put enough stuffing in each of mine. I used about half a teaspoon but I think more would fit and they were a little flat. For the sauce, I used equal parts white wine and lemon juice -- about five lemons worth. I heated it on the stove in a pan and added two tablespoons butter and a lot of capers, maybe four or five tablespoons. I heated it to just boiling. Then I added about a half cup non-fat sour cream. You could use more or less; it only serves to thicken the sauce. You could also use whipping cream instead, if your arteries can take it, but I find the non-fat sour cream works real well as a thickener and richener for cream sauces. I heated that to just boiling and served it over the ravioi, which I boiled for about ten minutes. Salad Regular stuff. For the dressing, Mom's dill dressing: 2/3 pint (non-fat) sour cream, 1/3 pint (non-fat) mayonaise, juice of one lemon, two garlic cloves, several tablespoons dried dill weed (taste to figure out how much but if you let it sit over night the dill gets stronger, so account for that). Put all ingredients in a blender and puree. I also add a whole (cut in 8-10 chunks) peeled cucumber; my addition to the recipe. Pea Pods Steamed. Tossed with a little margerine and sprinkled with dried tarragon. I actually found a recipe recently with more ingredients that I'll try next time, but this was simple and good. Potatoes Straight from "Bon Apetite" 8 large garlic cloves, unpeeled 3 1/2 Tbsp olive oil 1 1/2 lbs russets, peeled, 2 inch pieces 1 1/2 lbs red sweet potatoes, peeled, 2 inch pieces 1/2 cup milk 2 Tbsp butter 1 generous tsp minced fresh rosemary (1/2 tsp dried) 6 Tbsp freshly grated parmesan Drizzle oil on garlic, bake at 350 for 25 minutes (or until soft) in heatproof dish (not metal). Cool, peel, reserve oil. Boil all potatoes in salted water 25 minutes (or until tender). Drain, saving 1 cup of liquid. Mash potatoes, milk, butter, rosemary, garlic, reserved oil. Thin to desired consistency with reserved cooking liquid. Mix in half the parmesan. Salt and pepper to taste. Spoon potatoes into 8x8x2 buttered glass baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover. Let stand at room temperature) Bake at 350 uncovered until heated through and golden on top, about 45 minutes. I hope I didn't forget anything. Talk to you soon, Bruce