Cooking with Kate

Kate is my Mother-in-Law's sister. She is in love with my dog. And she likes to play with my knives (I do have a pretty awesome and near complete set of Wusthof knives.)

Sonny--my dog

And she has made an appointment to cook with me. I think maybe the dog is the main draw for this, but she says she wants to be my sous chef (that would involve "playing" with my knives), so we've made a date for Monday 10/24.

Everybody (my mom, Josh's mom, my sister) says I've over-scheduled our day. I think we'll be able to handle this with few problems.

This is what we are making:
1.  Meatloaf
2.  quesadillas 
3.  sausage, pepper and onion pasta thing to be baked at a later date
4.  the "best flank steak" Josh has ever eaten
5.  mushroom soup

I'll admit that does seem a little over ambitious.  Allow me, please to explain why I think this is doable.

1.  I can marinate the steak on Saturday.  We will likely eat this without the sauteed mushrooms but sliced over a salad with the mushroom soup.
2.  I will cook the chicken on Sunday for the quesadillas.
3.  I will make my pasta sauce on Sunday (For future reference, I'm Italian...we call tomato sauce "gravy."  This is what I mean when I refer to gravy.)  I can also cook the pasta.
4.  I will saute my onions, carrots, and celery for the meatloaf on Monday morning before Kate joins and we go to the market.  I can also make the glaze (ketchup/chili sauce, cider vinegar and brown sugar) and mix some of the other ingredients.

My plan is that on returning from the market (this market deserves a post of it's own), we will mix the meatloaf and fix the quesadillas for lunch.  After lunch, we'll saute the sausage, peppers and onion for the pasta dish.  Then we'll make the soup.  When Josh get's home and is fixing us Daiquiris, I'll grill the flank steak.

With a "sous chef," the cooking, and especially the clean-up should go more smoothly.

At least, that's my plan.  I'll let you know how it goes.

happy cooking