The Wedding Feast

“But we just had lunch a few hours ago?!”

(Oft said to us by Ronnie during his time as the cook at OA.)

While on staff at the Outdoor Academy of the Southern Appalachians, we ate a lot of great food with a lot of great cooks. We learned much about planning and cooking and cleaning. Making a great meal is work. But sometimes, you just don’t want to work. On one occasion (and we truly think this happened only once while we were there), the refrigerators and pantries needed to be cleaned out of many small amounts of disjointed ingredients. We had a delicious meal of this and thats. Others may call it antipasto or tapas; we call it The Wedding Feast.

Nowadays, when we are hungry but not too hungry and there is not an obvious entree waiting to be created, we create our own Wedding Feast. Taking whatever this and thats we find in the kitchen, placing them on a beautiful serving dish, and retiring to the back porch, we enjoy a lovely meal.

For this example, we had: Wickles Pickled Okra; slices of pepperoni; Beecher’s Cheddar  Cheese; goat cheese; quince paste; dates stuffed with blue cheese; green olives; a perfect avocado; dried apricots; and some fancy crackers; all presented on a big dish made by our favorite local potter Becky Bolton Crisswell. By placing the items separately on the dish, we each could make our own combinations of perfect bites. (Pepperoni and quince paste is sweet and spicy; avocado and goat cheese is creamy and salty.)

Other fine Wedding Feast options are: chicken salad; store-bought roasted chicken, wings, egg rolls, stuffed grape-leaves; hard-boiled eggs; boiled shrimp; hummus; quesadillas; cheese toast; relish tray dips and vegetables; fresh and dried fruits; nuts; artichoke hearts; bruschetta; and any leftovers you can eat with your fingers.

What’s on the menu for your Wedding Feast?

One-Pot Asian Noodles

“I don’t care.”

(Overheard on the rim of the Grand Canyon; appropriate when you have no idea what to fix for dinner.)

our inspiration
Martha Stewart Lighter Sesame Noodles

ingredients
for the main dish
salt
12 ounces spaghetti noodles
1 bunch broccoli, cut into florets, stalks peeled and thinly sliced (as you prefer)
1-2 red, green, yellow bell peppers (as you prefer) ribs and seeds removed, thinly sliced
1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
4 oz sliced mushrooms
(optional vegetables: carrots, squash, zucchini, snap peas, water chestnuts–each thinly sliced)

for the sauce
¼ cup peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)
3 Tbsp dark-brown sugar
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ to 1 tsp red-pepper flakes

for the added toppings
½ cup chopped green onions or chives
½ cup chopped peanuts (or other appropriate nuts)

directions
In large pot of boiling salted water, cook spaghetti noodles 3 to 4 minutes until less than desired doneness. Add broccoli, peppers, onions, mushroom, and other vegetables. Cook until pasta is done and vegetables are tender. Reserve ½ cup pasta water. Drain pasta and vegetables.

Meanwhile, in a large serving dish/bowl, whisk together peanut butter, brown sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, oil, garlic, and red-pepper. Add hot pasta and vegetables. Toss to coat, thinning sauce with pasta water as needed. Serve at room temperature or chilled topped with green onions/chives and peanuts.

our comments
We love these one-pot recipes! You can use most any vegetables that you have on hand as long as they are quick cooking in this method; if you are concerned about timing the vegetables, prepare them separately and add when mixing sauce, pasta, and other vegetables. (For this one, we added the sliced carrots as we started cooking the pasta.)
And of course, this is an excellent leftover, cold lunch!