Date Night In: A Little French

“There are times…when I forget just how effective simplicity can be…What if it was as simple as turning off gadgets and TVs and tuning in to each other?” –Ashley Rodriguez, DNI, p. 259

And thus we embarked on our fifth Date Night In. Roy and I both love French food, and I think the appeal of a French-themed evening sold us on our next DNI. French food, to me anyway, sounds complicated and expensive and delicious. This DNI was neither complicated nor expensive. The deliciousness was up for discussion.

The boys were bedded as close to 7:30 as possible (so 8 o’clock…) and we ambled downstairs to complete preparations. Roy handled the cocktail and I tackled the lentils. We were both enthused to undertake a grown-up project. Much of the previous hour had been devoted to removing Owen’s latest “contribution” to the tub and giving it a thorough disinfecting. Little teeth were brushed and we were sprayed with spitty toothpaste. We read the same bedtime stories for the thousandth time, roundly chastised for misreading or mixing up any details. Yes, it was time for a cocktail and grownup conversation.

The cocktail, Grapefruit 75, was simply assembled and the perfect thing to sip on as the lentil dish took shape. It was reminiscent of the first cocktail we made back in September, minus all the crushed ice. It was largely familiar and comfortable, which was a great way to kick off the evening.

Nothing too fancy visually here, but it was tasty.

The White Salad with Pomegranate Cranberry had been completed earlier and we pulled it out and assembled our table. I was nervous about the salad. The fennel bulb had smelled strongly of licorice as I meticulously cut matchstick-sized pieces. Yuk. I’d never had celeriac but celery isn’t my fav, and the dressing was just lemon juice, olive oil, and salt. I had my doubts. It was GREAT. First off, everything was so uniformly white and pretty to look at. But the flavors melded and nothing stood out too strongly. It was dressed just enough and the cranberries, while no pomegranate seeds, added a light sweetness here and there. This was probably my second favorite salad, after the mango miso, that we’ve made for a Date Night In.

I don't recommend making this unless you have some kind of mandoline. I have a super-cheap one that helped get things down to a flat, relatively uniform thickness, and then I knifed everything into matchsticks. This would have been even easier with a decent mandoline that doesn't terrify me of slicing off a uniform thickness of my finger.

We dove into the Braised French Green Lentils with Mushrooms and Kale. Holy smokes. Favorite DNI dish so far, hands down. You wouldn’t think that a meatless dish comprised entirely of common, humble ingredients could be so incredible. The egg on top broke open and the yolk mixed in to create a little extra richness. (I felt very MasterChef when we did that.) Our enjoyment was briefly impinged on by wailing upstairs. Roy discovered James half-fake crying because we had forgotten to put his watch back on after his bath. Considering it was around 9PM, he must have been really bored up there.

It may not look like much, but, but, but!

Dessert, as alluded to yesterday, was going to be a mixed bag. At the boys’ dinnertime around 6PM I had been feeding them chicken, pasta, and peas, and James piped up, “What’s gonna be for dessert? Hmmmm. What could we have… <slow, steady smile of clever plan spreads across his face> …hmmmm…hey…what about if we had some of, you know, The Disaster???”

So I guess my Florentines have a new name now. But they must have tasted OK to be requested so specifically!

Dessert was wonderful. The dark chocolate from The Disaster mixed with the Café au Lait Pudding, which was basically espresso, heavy cream, and sugar. Not much to worry about there. It was light and rich and the delicate texture of The Disaster provided an excellent contrast. A pleasing conclusion.

Look at those pleasing geometrical shapes! ;) Who needs perfect, lacy circles anyway?

My biggest regret from this DNI? No leftovers! Usually at least one of the recipes in a meal makes enough for leftovers. None this time! I absolutely intend to go out and purchase more mushrooms and cream to make the lentils again this week though. It was so good.

My second biggest regret, and this is becoming a monthly occurrence, is the frantic dry mouth in the middle of the night after a DNI. Ashley Rodriguez’s food blog, which propelled her to author this cookbook, is called “Not Without Salt.” So none of the recipes in her cookbook are Without Salt. And many of them are Not Without A Lot Of Salt. Last night I had a repeating dream of beelining to a vending machine, desperately inserting dollar bills, and chugging bottle after bottle of cold water.

DNI at your own risk I guess. But do DNI. Now that we’ve completed a few of these we can look forward to them in more specific ways, and are getting better at automatically divvying up the prep work. It’s a wonderful exercise in teamwork—and the edible rewards are stunning.

“Sometimes our dinners are multiple courses that require forethought in order for dinner to be on the table before midnight, and other times they are made up of a few simple ingredients put together in a way that creates a beautifully complex, yet comforting dish. Either way, it always ends up with us being together and connecting. Relationships can be complicated, but making a bit of time for each other is really quite simple.” –Ashley Rodriguez, p. 259

Today’s 1%;

14/50: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. Perhaps my favorite non-Harry Potter book of 2016 so far. Written from the perspective of an autistic boy, it was funny and brilliant and bittersweet all in a relatively quick read. Thanks Roy, for the recommendation on that one.