May 6. Breakfast at Figtree's. Cucumber salad with sour cream and dill. Black Bean Soup. Caramelized Tofu with broccoli, carrots, fennel and peanut sauce. Roasted Tomatoes. Eggplant with pomegranate sauce. Cucumber salad with sour cream and dill. Roasted Peppers.

Phone rang around 8:30 this morning.  It was Andrea---she'd finished her final law school exams,  had been early morning biking with a friend and was now in the neighborhood.  Was it too early too call.  Well, almost, I had to admit.  I'd been up, but reading in bed and not quite ready for the world.  Still, I knew I'd be delighted to see her, so suggested she come by for coffee and breakfast. I quickly restored a bit of order to the house (reminded myself that despite exhaustion shouldn't wait until morning to clean up...you never know).  When Andrea arrived I

groggily put up water, ground coffee, started thinking eggs--when I realized it was not yet 9am--if we leapt on our bikes we might make it to Figtree's for the wondrous 1/2 price meals before 9am.  No cooking.  No cleaning.  Just beach sitting and corn cakes with poached eggs.  We'd arrived in Venice in the summer of 1976.  Sarah was born November, 1977 and Figtree's must have opened in early 1978 -- it was just a coffee bar--I don't remember food--but I'd go there with baby Sarah for expresso and a chat with Bill and Tammy Feigenbaum (the original Figtrees).

We had a fine breakfast.  I was already planning a vegetarian dinner for Emily--Since Sam was off kayaking, I invited Andrea to join us, and as she had planned to dine with Jeannette (Matt would be off coaching his nephew's ball game), we were suddenly a party of four!  Andrea offered to bring bread and dessert--and I had ample provisions in the fridge (big surprise)--so we were set.

In my ideal world, I throw a meal together when the guests arrive, but even a meal that is almost ready to go sometimes takes a bit of advance preparation.  I had to press the tofu, prepare the cucumber salad and make a vegetable broth.  The descriptions are long, but none of it took very much time.   There were enough left-over black beans to turn into soup.  If my guests weren't vegetarians, I'd mix the beans with the frozen chicken broth cubes in my freezer, but instead I emptied the vegetable bin to cook up a quick stock.

VEGETABLE BROTH

1 Onion

2-4 Cloves Garlic

3 Carrots

4 Stalks Celery

Parsley

Dill

2-3 Quarts Water

This broth might not have been necessary.  I could have just added water to the brew of beans--but this is more flavorful.

CUCUMBER SALAD WITH SOUR CREAM AND DILL 

I usually just sprinkle some soy sauce and rice vinegar on thinly sliced cucumbers but because I had both sour cream and dill I took this path:

1 English Seedless Cucumber, thinly sliced

3 tablespoons sour cream

4 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

1 tablespoon white vinegar

pinch of sugar

pepper

Salt

Sprinkle cucumber slices with salt.  Let it sit for several hours.  They'll release lots of water--drain as well as you can.

Mix sour cream, dill, vinegar, pepper and sugar.  Pour over cucumbers and serve.  

The Weight

This was my best iteration of tofu pressing:

Wrap the whole block of tofu in paper towels, place it between two flat cutting boards and  place my  jar of mysterious silver weights,  purchased at a garage sale years ago, on top.  Their   proper use, I think, is  to weigh down pie crusts--but they  are surely available  for other duties.  An hour or so should be plenty of time--but if you forget about it for a while, no harm done.   I cut the tofu into neat little  pieces, ready for their later caramelizing.

The peanut sauce didn't have to be made in advance--but I was in good prepping mode--so I forged ahead in yet another Deborah Madison inspired recipe. Again, you can play with these measurements, add a different hot sauce, chili oil, etc.  Be brave!  These are all excellent ingredients--it would be hard to go wrong.

PEANUT SAUCE

3 tablespoons chunky peanut butter

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 teaspoons (at least) soy sauce

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon Rooster chili garlic sauce

Mix all ingredients together.  Add 2-6 tablespoons warm water to get a proper saucy consistency.  Taste--add salt if necessary. 

Emily, Andrea and Jeannette arrived hungry--we were soon eating the soup, accompanied by  little side dishes of chopped red onion, cilantro and sour cream.  There was also the cucumber salad and little bowls of leftover eggplant with pomegranate molasses, and roasted tomatoes.  Excellent starters all.

On to the next course:   Caramelized Tofu  in a stir fry with broccoli, carrots, and fennel with peanut sauce.

Many different parts, but with eight hands, we pulled it together with ease and grace.

As the tofu browned, and the pasta water boiled, we proceeded to:

BROCCOLI, CARROT AND FENNEL STIR FRY

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped 

4 carrots, sliced into 1 1/2 inch sticks

1 good sized  broccoli stalk, cut into florets, stem sliced into 1 1/2 inch sticks

Vegetable Oil

Add oil to a heated wok or heavy pan.  Stir fry the ginger and garlic for about 30 seconds.  Add the carrots and broccoli, cook for another couple of minutes.  When they are cooked, add them to the waiting caramelized tofu.  I had planned to toss in the peanut sauce, but ended up serving it on the side. 

Caramelized tofu, broccoli, carrots and fennel in peanut sauce

In addition to bringing bread, Andrea had also bought an assortment of cookies--a fine dessert.

All guests were excellent cleaner-uppers as well as great talkers.  By the time they left the fridge was stocked with a new round of left-overs, kitchen was sparkling and the dish washer was running.  A Sunday of two excellent meals.