RSVP Redux: November and December

Happy New Year!  I hope your celebrations were plentiful and your resolutions do-able!  I know that when I return from Mexico, I will definitely be eating a little lighter than I was through the heady days of December’s party season and through our vacation (can you say “more eggs than you can poke a stick at?” LOL!).  The choices I made for my RSVP Redux entries for November and December were deliberate, knowing I would be posting them at the beginning of a new year when everyone would be vowing to eat lighter.

As soon as I laid eyes on the November issue of Bon Appétit, I knew that the RSVP recipe I would make would the the Panang Curry.  Around the time that issue arrived, I was extremely busy at work and with grad school (oh, you know and the blog!) and was making large batches of food ahead of time so that we would have proper food through the week for dinner and so that Neil would not have to raid the vending machine for lunch.  I whipped this curry up in about 10 minutes, so fast, in fact, that Neil had no idea I had even made it so the day I sent it for lunch, he emailed me “I don’t know where that curry came from but it was GOOD!”.  It’s rare that a lunch merits an email so I knew this was a winner!

 

The December choice came about partly by choice, partly by necessity – I knew I wouldn’t be making it until the last days before leaving for vacation so I made sure to have the necessary ingredients on hand. I liked the look of the Mixed Greens with Pears, Walnuts, Gorgonzola, and Green-Tea Vinaigrette for a quick weekday lunch amidst the December chaos!

As it turns out, I already had pears, walnuts and gorgonzola needing to be used up and all I had to buy was the matcha green tea powder and the salad leaves.  I couldn’t find matcha powder in my local store in small enough quantities (I didn’t really want to buy a whole box for $20), so I ended up getting the leaves and grinding them myself.  I ate this dish the day before we left for Mexico for my lunch as I packed and it was the perfect light lunch – substantial enough to tide me over until dinner but light enough to not fill me up too much, necessitating a nap (believe me, I had NO TIME for naps in the days before we left!!!).  With some fresh baguette and perhaps a bowl of soup, this is an ideal New Year’s Resolution lunch or dinner.

This was a super tasty salad – loved the tang of the vinaigrette and the green tea definitely added a lovely, unusual zing to the salad.  I kept my pears with the peel on because I like the look of them but also because I happen to quite like pear skin.  This would be a nice salad to start a dinner if you were entertaining friends – it’s very elegant yet so simple. Loved it!

Want to join in the fun?

Subscribe to Bon Appétit here and join RSVP Redux – we’d love to have you cook along with us!

29 thoughts on “RSVP Redux: November and December”

  1. Thank you so much for posting lighter recipes. 🙂 We’re taking a 21-day meat fee oath, so I’m looking for non-meat recipes to collect and try. Think the panang would be great with shrimp, so going to give that a go and see what happens! Happy New Year to you, and have a great time in Mexico!!

    [K]

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  2. These are indeed great suggestions for the post-holidays period! I feel I cannot eat one more cookie this season. I didn’t think I would have ever said that in my life 🙂
    Happy New Year and have fun in Mexico!

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  3. One of the things I miss the most about traveling is my Bon Appetit subscription. When I got it each month I would fold half the pages over because I wanted to make so many recipes in it.

    I can’t make curries here in Ecuador we just don’t have the ingredients. On a depressing note, I went on Epicurious.com yesterday to find the proportions for alfredo sauce and the first 3 recipes with alfredo used sauce from a jar.

    How odd.

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  4. oh, great idea with the panang curry. that’s my favorite dish to order at Thai restaurants. thanks for posting this, i can’t wait to try it out in the new year. do you have tips on where to find some of the more obscure ingredients?

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  5. mmmm, both look good! panang curry is one of my favorite thai dishes and one of the standards – along with tofu pad thai – by which i judge the new thai restaurants that seem to pop up around here every few months. i figure if you can’t make this basic staple, and make it well, the rest of your menu probably isn’t all that hot either. i’ve never tried making it here at home, but this recipe looks easy enough that i just might have to change that!

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  6. Happy 2011 Mardi! Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy and joyous 2011! I love both the curry and the salad – I had bookmarked both of those to try so it was great to read that they are indeed winners!
    Participating in RSVP Redux is definitely on my resolution list this year!!

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  7. Made and loved both of these; I go into a salad mode after the holidays; even those this season I didn’t feel like I overdid it, I’m just ready for lighter fare and not a cookie in site. Thanks for participating in RSVP Redux and now will hold Nancy to it!

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