Dinner Party Guest List--Any Ten People Who Ever Lived

Mushroom and Leek Strudel
Ossobuco, thought you might like this vegan recipe --- BumbleBeeBoogie

Recipe from Very Vegetarian

The wide availability of frozen phyllo dough makes this elegant dish easy to make, even for the novice cook.

Mushroom and Leek Strudel

1 Tbs (15 ml) plus about 1/4 cup (60 ml) olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 lb (900 g) leeks, white part only, cleaned and sliced
1 lb (450 g) shiitake or Portobello mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup (125 ml) white wine, vegetable stock, or water
1/2 tsp (2 ml) fennel seeds, crushed
1/2 tsp (2 ml) anise seeds, crushed
1/4 tsp (1 ml) caraway seeds, crushed
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
4 sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed

Heat 1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil in a large pot over moderate heat. Sauté the onions and garlic until tender but not brown, about 5 minutes. Add the leeks, mushrooms, liquid, seeds, salt, and pepper to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer covered for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Lay one sheet of phyllo dough on a clean dish towel and brush with olive oil. Lay another sheet on top and brush with olive oil. Repeat with remaining sheets. Spread the filling mixture along the long edge of the pastry, about 3 inches (8 cm) from the edge. Fold the edge of the pastry over the filling and roll it up, using the towel to help in the rolling. Lay seam side down on a lightly oiled baking sheet and brush the top with olive oil. Bake in a preheated 350F (180C) oven about 30 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes before cutting. Serves 4 to 6.

Turkish Stuffed Peppers
Another good vegan recipe ---- BumbleBeeBoogie

From World Wide Vegetarian
Turkish Stuffed Peppers

1/4 cup (60 ml) olive oil
2 cups (500 ml) chopped onions
1 cup (250 ml) uncooked rice
1/4 cup (60 ml) pine nuts (pignoli)
2 1/4 cups (550 ml) water
1 Tbs (15 ml) tomato paste
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 tsp (5 ml) sugar
1 tsp (5 ml) allspice
1/2 tsp (2 ml) cinnamon
2 Tbs (30 ml) finely chopped fresh mint
3 Tbs (45 ml) lemon juice
6 to 8 (depending on size) green bell peppers, tops removed, seeded, but kept whole
1 cup water
Lemon wedges for garnish

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over moderate heat and sauté the onions, stirring frequently, until light brown. Add the rice and cook, stirring, for about 3 minutes. Add the pine nuts and cook an additional minute (no longer). Add the water, tomato paste, salt, pepper, allspice, and cinnamon, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer covered for 30 minutes. Add the mint and lemon juice and toss gently with a fork to mix and fluff the rice. Stuff the peppers with the rice mixture and place them in a large casserole. Add 1 cup water to the bottom of the baking dish and bake covered in a preheated 350F (180C) oven for 45 minutes, until the peppers are tender. Allow to cool and remove the remaining water from the bottom of the baking dish. Chill the peppers in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, or overnight. Serve chilled or at room temperature, garnished with lemon wedges. Serves 6 to 8.

Italian Pasta with Amatrice Sauce
If you crave pasta, you might try this vegan recipe --- BumbleBeeBoogie

From World Vegetarian
Italian Pasta with Amatrice Sauce

2 Tbs (30 ml) olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup (60 ml) dry white wine (optional)
1 28-oz (794 g) can tomatoes (preferably Italian plum tomatoes), drained and chopped
1 tsp (5 ml) sugar
1 tsp (5 ml) chili powder
1 tsp (5 ml) paprika
1 tsp (5 ml) dried basil
1/2 tsp (2 ml) dried oregano
1/4 tsp (1 ml) cinnamon
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 lb (450 g) dried pasta, such as penne or mostaccioli, cooked according to package directions
Parmesan cheese, grated

Heat the oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat, and sauté the garlic and onion for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onion is softened. Add the optional wine, tomatoes, and spices, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Ladle the sauce over the cooked pasta and serve with grated Parmesan cheese. Serves 4 to 6.

Kara, u a veggie ?????????????

WOW, okay, let me plan a pure veggie meal for you, I will come back and post the recipies as well....

<thinking, it should be atleast as good as cav's - cause I can't do better than him>

Cav, Someone actually got to eat this. I'm green with envy

What is sunomono? Not that I care all that much. I adore scallops. Also adore asparagus. But adore doesn't really cover how much I love lamb.

What's an heirloom tomato tower? Dessert!! My tongue is dragging on the ground. Just thinking up a meal like this is a gift.

Hi osso. Thanks for the welcome.

BBB, enuf already. I am cutting, pasting, and printing as fast as I can.

Gautam, I thought you knew I was a veg. I am phasing out seafood and fish and eat them only when there is nothing else on the menu. I have about 20 vegetarian and vegan cook books, and I search eternally for new veg recipes that appeal to carnivores. I hear that you are a marvelous cook. Zat so?

I do remember you telling me this, but since you never fail to amaze me, everytime you own up to something, even if you have owned up to it befoe, I am amazed ... (does that make sense ?)

As far as my cooking is concerned, no one has left for their heavenly or helly abode after eating what I cooked, nor has anyone threatened to kill me - so I guess I am a decent enuff cook !!

Gautam..

Roberta, 'sunomono', literally translated from Japanese, means 'vinegared foods', and hence encompasses a wide variety of Japanese salads.

Heirloom tomatoes are hmm...well, varieties that existed before your standard supermarket red, yellow and orange. Some organic farmers here are reviving them, and I can tell you, the flavour does indeed remind one that tomatoes are a fruit.

As for the tower, I slice the tomatoes, then stack the slices on a plate with dressed baby greens inbetween, and a little drizzle of vinaigrette around the presentation finishes the job.

Problem with true heirlooms is that they aren't disease resistant and thus hard for the home grower to consistently produce. I've given up on them for now as they produced so poorly the last couple years. They can be tasty though.

This year I have Champions, Beefmasters, Ace, Early Girl, Better Boy, Oregon Spring, Sweet 100, some volunteer cherry tomatoes, and a couple I don't remember. They are all doing pretty well.

This is the dude I get the heirlooms from. His business has grown immensely since the article was written:

http://www.eap.mcgill.ca/MagRack/SF/Spring%20936.htm

Cav, Thanks for explaining. I had dinner at a student's home. She's Japanese. I think we had sunomono. Also thanks for explaining the tomato tower. Heirlooms? I guess I could find some if I went poking around the veggie stands.

I've got four dinners planned. Hadn't really thought about the menus. Do I want three different meals? Gotta think. One thing is for sure. I won't be doing the cooking. Maybe I'll make some chopped liver. One of the few things I make really, really well. Otherwise, I'll get a caterer. Cav? You available?

) Jesus Christ
2) Ben Franklin
3) Mhutma Ghandi
4) Harry Browne
5) Robert Schuller
6) Raquel Welch
7) Sandra Bullock
8) Alyssa Milano
9) Robin Williams
10) Howard Stern

speaking of tomatoes
Speaking of tomatoes: Several decades ago in California, we were landscaping the rear yard of a new home. We bought a truck load of sewer sludge to add to the soil for our garden. It was wonderful compost.

The only problem was that as we began to water the ground, little cherry tomato plants started popping up all over the yard. The seeds had survived the sterilization process of the sewer sludge and propagated in the yard.

We kept some of the plants and the tomatoes were very good.

---BumbleBeeBoogie

CerealKiller, Intriguing list. Care to explain why you made the choices you made?

BBB, Those are some tough seeds. I'm impressed.

Because Jena Jameson and her friends weren't available

Jesus Christ - because I want to know the truth

Ben Franklin - interesting,funny,clever, and smart character

Mhutma Ghandi - to understand how he can be so peaceful and loving surrounded by all this hate

Harry Browne - love his ideas about how the US should be run/ ought to be president

Robert Schuller - intelligent,clever, and insightful man with some great ideas about how to live your life accordingly

Raquel Welch - the most physically beautiful woman that ever walked the planet

Sandra Bullock - gorgeous,great personality,and I love her laugh

Alyssa Milano - sexy as hell,pretty,and I like her mannerisms

Robin Williams - quick witted,funny, and he can make fun of everybody else

Howard Stern - interesting,funny,and insightful

I'm a Howard Stern fan as well, and he could get us all a table at Nobu.

I am a living human who has never never heard Howard Stern. or read him, as the case may be. Well, I am growing weirder; I was a very media aware child/then adult, for various reasons, and now I don't even watch tv, and hardly do radio, not all out of hostility but for new interests (she says, smiling..)

Bumble, I'm not a vegan, I do eat meat of the politically correct (heh) kind, that is locally raised, wisely...though I am not unsympathetic with vegans, more perhaps than they are to me. But....I like all three of your recipes, good ingredients in all of them. I am a good pal of Kara, who is further along on this trail than I am.

Usually I don't even look at vegetarian cookbooks, with a few exceptions (Deborah Madison..) I'd rather look at cuisines of different places, and find recipes that fit what I see fresh at my markets. Let's just say I incline away from meat, a good portion but not all of the time... despite my screen name.

I am most lately in agreement - now, ahem - with Peter Singer..no reference now.

Heirloom tomatoes, I cry for mine, in Venice. Last time I grew tomatoes I had nine types of heirlooms...and now in north north coastal California, very coastal, there is no way. I buy instead from the street markets, where people who grow them 45 minutes inland lay down a mere dollop of what I raised myself, with the help of my good local nursery with starters.

Roberta, you too could grow one, you have HEAT in New York, and dontcha got a roof????

Alright folks, sorry for digression. Woman has too much wine at the dinner party, starts talking tomatoes..

Osso...

Back from a gig for four lovely ladies who had a lively amount of a very nice Pinot Grigio....intellectual, all in the medical profession...halfway through the salmon, the conversation turned to "Passion vs. Security"...I felt like I was in an A2K forum A lovely time was had by all.