No new dinners to report

but some pie making activity has been going on in the home of one chef. Another chef has foiled plans for Sunday Night Dinner for three Sundays in a row, due to travel. He is personally responsible for the unhappiness of the other three.

In order to appease the viewing public, here is a short photo essay on apple pie.

Apples, peeled.



Apples, mixed with sugar, cinnamon and a touch of flour.



Fill the pies.



Both pies!



Cover the pies with crust. Fix the edges up nice.



Put them in the oven, wrapped up around the edges so they don't get burnt.



Take them out when they are golden.



Nestle them in the orange box.



These pies are ready for travel. But where are they going??

A serious lack of dedication

to Sunday night dinner has taken over the chefs. Last week, the host chef was working, this week one of the chefs was missing. But the remaining chefs couldn't give up that easily. It was a lovely night for a fall dinner. On the menu: butternut squash ravioli, salad, and pumpkin doughnuts (or donuts).

The chefs branched out and used non CI recipes this week. The pasta recipe was from Professional Chef, vol. 7. The butternut squash ravioli recipe from foodtv.com and the doughnuts from epicurious.com.

Let's start with the ravioli. The chefs are very good at pasta making. The filling for the ravioli was more interesting. A 5lb butternut squash was cut into pieces and roasted in the oven for around an hour. The roasted pieces were peeled and placed into Big Bertha. She made quick work of pureeing them. Then, some minced shallots were sauted in a pan with butter. The squash puree, a little cream, a little parmesan, and a little salt and pepper joined in next. This was cooked briefly, then packaged into ravioli. These were then cooked in boiling water (It's Pasta Time saved the day again!) for about 3 minutes. The cooked ravioli were briefly sauted in a brown butter sage sauce (which, surprisingly I'm sure, contained butter and sage leaves) and then were ready to be eaten! The delicious nature of these ravioli cannot be overstated.

The salad was a variation on a common salad theme. Baby greens, sliced strawberries and walnuts. On the side, for those not afraid of unknown black material, was an apricot vinaigrette.
And if the butternut squash ravioli weren't enough, the pumpkin doughnuts (donuts) capped off a delicious fall meal. The dough contains the usuals, sugar, eggs, flour, salt, baking powder, pumpkin and lots of spices. The dough is mixed and then needs a rest in the refrigerator. After its nap it's ready to be rolled out and cut with a doughnut (donut) cutter. Then a four minute bath in hot oil, a quick draining on some paper towels, and into the cinnamon sugar!

It's so hard to eat just one pumpkin doughnut (donut).