Pumpkin Ravioli with Brown Butter and Sage Sauce on November 1

I wrote about me making the pumpkin ravioli and Bruce & I testing them with the unorthodox application of Bolognese sauce in the post on the 28th.  We had our neighbors, Chris & John, come over for dinner on this day and  I served the ravioli with the traditional sauce of brown butter and toasted sage.  Before the meal, we enjoyed appetizers of prosciutto wrapped fresh figs served with aceto balsamico extra vecchio from Modena, and River’s Edge Chevre with hazelnuts and Frangelico.  We also enjoyed Baba Ghanouj with pine nuts and parsley.

Bruce made a chopped Caesar salad and we served it with the ravioli to cut some of the richness of the butter sauce.  I made a honey pine nut tart for dessert (this was the first time I ever made pastry dough) and it is the only picture I have for the entire meal…..we stayed true to form and forgot to take pictures again.  We enjoyed white wine to start and finished with a nice bottle of (Cuneo) Tre Nova Secopassa 2004.

Chicken and Mushroom Crepes on October 31

Bruce had been asking me to make chicken crepes for a couple of months, so I decided this was the day he would get his request fulfilled.  I roasted boneless chicken breasts at 350 F for 30 minutes, shredded the meat, then added it to sauteed mushrooms (scallop and yellow oyster), leek, green onion, parsley, black pepper, and tossed the mixture with some of the leftover lemon garlic cream sauce from September 20.  I made beer batter crepes and a toasted garlic besciamella, added the remaining lemon garlic cream sauce, and some of Franny’s pepper paste to it.  The besciamella was then poured over the crepes and topped with Parmesan cheese and homemade breadcrumbs and baked in the oven for 30 min at 350 F.

Bruce made sauteed beet greens and kale with garlic, lemon juice, and Franny’s pepper paste.  However, he put a little too much of the pepper paste in the greens because we were both sweating!!!  We drank a bottle of Cuneo Two Rivers Bordeaux style red wine 2004 to help ease our pain.

Roasted Dungeness Crab on October 30

I went to see Amber at Local Ocean this morning and she had fresh Dungeness crab from Alsea Bay of which I bought two nice sized boys about 2 1/2 lbs. each.  I made a garlic, crushed fennel, olive oil, and red pepper flake marinade, cracked the shells on the crab legs, broke the crabs in half, poured the mixture over the shells, and roasted them in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 F.

I made garlic bread and Bruce made a salad of arugula, spearmint, cilantro, parsley, celeriac, fennel, onion, grapefruit, black olives, and Parmesan cheese.  The dressing was hibiscus vinaigrette and the wine was Bogle sauvignon blanc 2008.