Crib Crew Dinner Menu

Each year, we kick off the CRIB with a Crew Dinner. I did not have the juice or time to pull off something elaborate and allowed what was available this morning at the Farmer's Market to guide me.

The Menu was:

Starters:
Oven Roasted Tomatoes with Mozzarella and Lemon Basil
Kale Bruschetta
Rosemary Spiced Nuts

Main Event
Potato Leek Gratin (Used Deborah Madison's Recipe from 'Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone')
Warm Red Cabbage Salad with Dried Fruit and Feta (Used Ed Brown's Recipe from 'Tomato Teachings and Radish Blessings'
Arugula Salad with Fennel, Avocado and Pomegranate Seeds

Leela brought and Apple Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream
and Uschi brought a Pear and Almond Tart with Ginger Whip Creme

Lime Chicken Soup

Yesterday we had a ton of beautiful small tomatoes from Steve;s farm, a big white onion, lots of limes and poblanos and so the inspiration was born for a chicken lime soup.

1 White Onion
1 or 2 Carrots
3 Cloves Garlic
Mexican Oregano, Thyme and Cumin Sees
Chicken Broth
2 or 3 poblanos
2 Chicken Breasts
Lots of Fresh Tomatoes
8 Limes
2 ears corn (optional)
1 bunch cilantro
1 or 2 Avocado
1 or 2 jalepenos


1. Heat Olive oil in Big heavy Soup Pot.
2. Slice up white onion and throw in oil, stir and lower heat to slowly soften and brown.
3. Slice up a carrot or two, peal and smash a few cloves of garlic and add them to the pot.
4. Meanwhile, Roast, Peel and Thinly slice Poblanos
5. When onions and carrots are to your desired "cookedness", stir in desired amount of Mexican Oregano, Thyme and cumin seed. Stir and cook just a bit longer and then add chicken broth. (One tetrapak container for 2 peeps.)
6. Meanwhile, cube 2 chicken breasts.
7. When Broth is boiling, turn down heat and allow to simmer for a little bit while you prep the rest of the ingredients.
8. If you are lucky enough to have Steve's amazing small tomatoes on hand, cut them into half moon wedges. If not, the cut sweet cherry tomatoes in half or thinly slice Big tomatoes into half moon shapes.
9. Prep the Avocados by cutting in half, removing pit and slicing inside the peel.
10. Finely chop cilantro, thinly slice the jalapenos and juice the limes into a small bowl.
11. 10 minutes before you want to eat, bring broth back to boil and add chicken. Stir occasionally as it cooks. It cooks AMAZINGLY fast. Like 8 minutes or less. When chicken is cooked though (CHECK), add poblanos. Stir and add tomatoes. Add the Corn if using. Stir and remove from heat.
12. Stir in lime juice and salt to taste.
13. To serve, ladle soup into bowls. Spoon out half of a half of the avocado slices on top of soup and sprinkle with cilantro and jalepenos if desired.


Note: I made some white rice so Eric's would be a heartier, but I felt it was better without it.