Vegetarian Shepard’s Pie

Last night we made a vegetarian Shepard’s pie, with sautéed onion, yellow pepper, squash, green beans, and oregano (the last 3 all from the garden). We wanted a sauce/gravy to bind the veggies together, but not a thick stew gravy. So we mashed some potatoes, but added twice as much milk and butter to make almost like a potato white sauce.


A little thyme and sage as seasonings. Topped the veggie stew with normal-texture mashed potatoes (also from the garden) and a bit of Irish cheddar cheese. Paired with a Bogel Zinfandel wine.

Creating with Leftovers

Ah, the wonders of leftovers. Half a head of Napa cabbage; cooked salmon; wild and brown rice combo from a few nights ago. We steamed the cabbage leaves, and stuffed (rolled) them with the salmon, some ginger, and water chestnuts. A little Japanese sushi ginger on the side. We made the rice into a fried-rice mix by adding thin-sliced white onion (we had no green onions in the house), some of the uncooked cabbage (shredded), a few garden snap peas, and a couple of scrambled eggs. And since the high temperature was only 66 yesterday (the low was 39 – in August!), we paired our dinner with hot Sake.

African Salad and Chardonnay

Here’s one of those instances where I let my wife into the kitchen. She really creates excellent meals, although I like to pretend I’m the kitchen star.

Last night was a “European-inspired” salad modified from an African cookbook. We paired it with a 2008 Ridge Chardonnay Jimsomare.