I guess everyone is waiting for me to start things off with the entree..so here goes. This dish is absolutely wonderful! I could have eaten the whole thing myself and I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. I know we just had a chicken and lemon dish awhile back, but this one is slightly differant, very fragrant and flavorful, and just seems to sing spring.

Chicken braised with Lemon, Fennel and Garlic -serves 6

1 fennel bulb (about 1 lb) with fronds
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp each salt and fresh ground pepper
12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, (I use 16 cause that's what comes in the package)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
20 large cloves garlic, peeled, (if the cloves were really large I cut them in half)
2 cups good chicken stock
1 cup white wine
Half lemon thinly sliced, (I used 3/4 of a lemon)
2 tbsp chopped fresh dill

Cut fennel in half lengthwise and core. Cut lengthwise into 1/4 inch thick slices. Chop fennel fronds and set aside. In shallow dish mix flour, salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in mixture to coat all over. Reserve remaining flour mixture. In large shallow dutch oven, heat oil over med-high heat and brown chicken in batches. Transfer chicken to plate and drain off fat in pan. Add garlic, and cook over med heat, stirring often til golden. Add chicken stock and wine, bring to boil, stirring and scraping up brown bits. Add lemon and fennel, return chicken and any accumulated juices to pan. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until juices run clear when chicken is pierced, about 30 min. Transfer chicken, lemon and fennel to platter, cover and keep warm. In a bowl, whisk reserved flour mixture with 1/4 cup cold water. Whisk into pan and boil over heat, whisking until thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in chopped fennel fronds, and dill, add chicken back to pan and cook a few minutes more, then serve.

I think some pasta for the first course with that chicken:

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9 oz. package refrigerated cheese-filled ravioli
1 extra-large egg
1 cup Panko bread crumbs
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon Italian or Southwest seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
2 to 4 tablespoons olive oil
Freshly grated parmesan cheese
Marinara sauce (optional)

Place egg in a shallow bowl and beat with a fork. In another shallow bowl combine Panko and bread crumbs along with seasoning and salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until hot.

Working in batches, coat each ravioli with egg then with bread crumb mixture and place in a single layer in hot oil being careful not to crowd the pan. Fry on until golden on the one side, about 3 minutes, turn over and continue to fry until golden on the other side. (Ravioli will puff up slightly.) Remove from oil and place on a rack that is placed over a baking sheet and sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan cheese. Place in the oven set on warm while frying remaining ravioli. Wipe excess residue from skillet and add more oil and fry another batch of ravioli until all are cooked, keeping warm in the oven on the rack. Serve as is or along with marinara sauce for dipping.

Marilyn

That chicken sounds really good, Shelley. To compliment it, something a little fruity for the salad:

Orange & Red Onion Salad with Cumin Vinaigrette

Vinaigrette:

1/2 cup olive oil
3 tbls fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
Pepper to taste

Salad:

6 oranges (or valentines when in season)
1 head red leaf lettuce
2 large red onions, thinlh sliced
3/4 cup Kalamat or other black olives

For vinaigrette: Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, cumin and salt in a small bowl. Season with pepper. Can be made as much as three days ahead. Cover and store at room temperature.

For salad: Cut peel and pith from oranges. Slice into rounds, reserving 1 tbls juice. Arrange lettuce leaves on platter. Alternate orange and onion slices atop lettuce. Garnish with olives. Can be prepared four hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate.

Whisk reserved oragne juice into vinaigrette. Pour over salad.

Here's a good munchie to have with drinks....I love rollups and have done many variations.

Shrimp Roll Ups

1 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup cocktail sauce

1 small package frozen salad shrimp chopped fine

1/4 cup shredded swiss cheese

1/4 cup peeled seeded finely chopped cucumber

2-4 tablespoons finely chopped green onions

4 8-inch flour tortillas

Cocktail sauce

Mix the cream cheese and cocktail sauce. Blend thoroughly.

Add shrimp, cheese, cucumber and green onion, and mix well

Spread about 1/2 cup of mixture on each tortilla and roll up.

Wrap individually in plastic and place in refrigerator over night.

Slice into 1/2 inch slices.

Serve with additional cocktail sauce.

Nancy

At Bob Hester's old hunting camp on Lake Matamuskeet there was a gentleman who did the greatest oyster roasts ever. And they were accompanied by his own cocktail sauce.

I've got the recipe if anyone is interested in making their own for Wizard's rollup recipe.

Please post it.

What I make is just a mixture of ketchup, horseradish, celery and lemon.

Nancy

Most of them are a variation on that theme, Nancy. Here's my favorite. Just wish I could roast oysters the way Tom did:

Tom Burrus' Cocktail Sauce

1 gal ketchup
1 qut vinegar
Juice of 6 lemons
Bottle A-1 sauce
Bottle hot sauce
Bottle horseradish
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp salt.

Combine ingredients. Simmer 30 minutes. Serve hot or cold.

Note: This recipe can be halved or doubled. But if you go further than that in either direction it doesn't work. Even halving it makes a lot, so I put it up in pint zip locks and store them in the freezer.

I love this custard recipe from Cooks Illustrated. My favorite version is the Orange Custard and more than half the time, instead of making the pie, I just bake the filling in individual ramekins. I've also included the original recipe if this might be too much orange with GL's salad.

Orange Custard Pie
Source: Cooks Illustrated 5/1999
Cindy's note - sometimes I just make the filling and bake in

2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoons grated orange zest
1 1/2 tablespoons orange juice
1/8 teaspoon table salt
1 prebaked 9-inch pie shell

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Heat milk and cream in medium saucepan over medium-low heat until steaming, about 6 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk together eggs, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, orange zest, orange juice, and salt in medium bowl.

2. Heat prebaked pie shell in oven until hot, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk steaming milk and cream into egg and cornstarch mixture in slow, steady stream. Return egg and milk mixture to saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with wooden spoon, scraping bottom of pan, until custard begins to thicken and forms a ridge on tip of spoon when bottom of pan is scraped and spoon is lifted, 6 to 8 minutes. (If using thermometer, stir occasionally until custard reaches 160, then constantly.) Leaving pie plate on oven rack, pour custard into hot pie shell. Bake until custard has set around edges but jiggles slightly in the center when shaken, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool to room temperature, 2 hours. cut into wedges and serve.
Serves 8

Rich, Silky Custard Pie
Source: Cooks Illustrated 5/1999

2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon table salt
1 prebaked 9-inch pie shell

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Heat milk and cream in medium saucepan over medium-low heat until steaming, about 6 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk together eggs, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, nutmeg, and salt in medium bowl.

2. Heat prebaked pie shell in oven until hot, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk steaming milk and cream into egg and cornstarch mixture in slow, steady stream. Return egg and milk mixture to saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with wooden spoon, scraping bottom of pan, until custard begins to thicken and forms a ridge on tip of spoon when bottom of pan is scraped and spoon is lifted, 6 to 8 minutes. (If using thermometer, stir occasionally until custard reaches 160, then constantly.) Leaving pie plate on oven rack, pour custard into hot pie shell. Bake until custard has set around edges but jiggles slightly in the center when shaken, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool to room temperature, 2 hours. cut into wedges and serve.
Serves 8

For some reason, the flavours presented by the other recipes evoked "Gazpacho" to me. But maybe presented in a different way?

You could of course make gazpacho and serve it in hollowed cucumber "cups". They look pretty on a serving platter, but I find them almost impossible to eat. I have been told to "drink" them like a shooter then eat the cucumber cup, but I am not a shooter kind of gal ;).

But something more interesting? Gaxpacho rolls! Yes, a mispelling but for some reason I like it LOL. Cucumber and onion rolled into rice paper wrappers spring roll style, served with a gazpacho vinaigrette dipping sauce. Cool, refreshing, and different. Make with or without the rice noodles. DH likes them with, I prefer without and use leaf lettuce instead.

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Gaxpacho Spring Rolls

-8 rice paper wrappers
-2 oz rice noodles, soaked in hot water until soft and cut a bit to make more manageable
-1 small persian cucumber, sliced into sticks
-1/8 small red onion, sliced paper thin

-1/3 cup V-8 or tomato juice
-1 tbsp olive oil
-1 tsp lemon juice
-1 tsp sherry vinegar
-salt and pepper to taste
-1 tsp salted capers, minced fine
-1 tbsp minced pickled hot pepper

Make the dipping sauce: Whisk together V8 juice, olive oil, lemon juice, sherry vinegar, capers and hot pepper. Add salt and pepper to taste. Reserve 2 tbsp and place rest in fridge to chill.

Toss the rice noodles in reserved dipping sauce.

Soak a rice paper in hot water until pliable. Place flat on a clean cutting board. Add about 2 tbsp noodles, 1/8 of the celery sticks, and 1/8 of the onion. Fold in the sides of the wrapper, then roll starting from the bottom to make a nice, neat roll. Repeat with remaining 7 wrappers.

Lightly oil a plate with good olive oil, and arrange wrappers in a pleasing pattern. Cover and chill until needed.

To serve, cut each roll in half and serve with the chilled dipping sauce (risk to recombine if it separated while chilling).

Dances, when "soaking" rice paper wraps do you actually soak them, or merely lay them on a wet towel?

Oh boy, everything sounds great to me! I'm thinking that since there will be some delicious sauce we need something to absorb some of it and since there isn't a carb that I don't love, I had a hard time deciding on mashed potatoes. In case there isn't enough sauce to go around, these potatoes are good all by themselves. (My cousin recently served them to us with meatloaf, no sauce!)

MASHED SOUR CREAM AND SCALLION POTATOES

10 large Idaho potatoes (7 pounds) peeled and quartered
5 garlic cloves, peeled
1 cup reduced fat sour cream
1/2 cup milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
7 scallions, white and light green parts, thinly sliced

Place the potatoes and garlic in a large pot and add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain the potatotes and garlic and return to the pot. Add the sour cream, milk and butter and mash with a potato masher. Add scallions and stir gently to combine well. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot
Yield: 8 servings
November Real Simple Magazine

Gardenlad - I use my Insta-hot water tap and put about an inch of water in a wide bowl. The first one takes just seconds, subsequent ones take a bit longer. I use a fork to sort of gather them out of the water, and re-arrange them with my hands on the cutting board. They rarely rip or tear for me, but I hear that I am lucky that way.

I do them one by one as I need them, since the soaking goes quickly.

And, it should be WHISK to recombine, there is no risk involved ROFL.

Sure there is. The risk is I might eat too many of them at one sitting. Bwahahahaha!

Since we're finally getting some decent asparagus I'll offer this soup. Recipe is from a friend...

* Exported from MasterCook *

Roasted Asparagus Soup

Recipe By :Katie
Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Soups

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 bunches green onions -- trimmed
1 1/2 pounds asparagus -- trimmed and cut in 2" pieces
1 medium onion -- cut into thin wedges
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper
1/2 cup half and half
1 tablespoon fresh dill -- or 1 tsp. dried

Cut the green onion tops into 1" pieces and set aside. Cut the white part into 1" pieces and place, one layer deep, on a cookie sheet with asparagus and onion wedges. Drizzle with olive oil. Roast at 450F for 20 minutes, until vegies are charred and tender.

Blend one half roasted vegies and 1 c. broth in blender. Place in saucepan and repeat. Add remaining broth and salt and pepper. OR - Place vegies, broth, salt and pepper in saucepan and blend with stick blender.

Heat soup. Stir in half and half and dill. Garnish with chopped green onion tops.

Source:
"Gwen McD., 2004"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Well, Katie beat me to the asparagus with her soup, and the meal has both potatoes and pasta, so I'm leaning toward something lighter and sweeter, like a fruit salad:

Tropical Fruit Salad

20-ounce can pineapple chunks canned in juice
2 kiwi, peeled, halved and sliced
2 cups strawberries, quartered
1 large banana, sliced
1 papaya or mango, peeled and cubed (or substitute an 11-ounce can of mandarin oranges, drained)
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lime zest or peel
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1/3 cup unsweetened or sweetened shredded coconut (optional)

1. Drain pineapple chunks, and reserve 1/4 cup of the pineapple juice.
2. Add pineapple chunks, kiwi, strawberries, banana, and papaya or mango to large serving bowl.
3. Put 1/4 cup pineapple juice, lime peel, lime juice and honey in a 2-cup measure and whisk together until nicely blended. Drizzle over the salad, and toss to coat the fruits well. Sprinkle coconut over the top before serving, if desired.

Yield:
About 7 cups

Annie