Another Dark Days 13 Because Vegetarian is How We Do It

I know these Dark Days' posts are getting old for you.  They are for me, too.

Look, I enjoy the challenge of limiting myself only to local foods once a week and the meals really are delicious and enjoyable.

However, the challenge of photographing the food in the literal dark days, and then saying something about it on the blog. . . . well, this cook needs some fresh ideas.  (And isn't that why spring follows winter?)

And here, we have another vegetarian meal because I got off track with the theme.  And this vegetarian theme is something that I do easily and, I like to think, well (as opposed to the other  Dark Days' themes: desserts, one-pot, breakfast).

Menu: 
portobello pizzas with garlic, bell peppers, and feta
green salad with shredded carrots, turnips, and radishes - vinaigrette
homemade rosemary noodles with brown butter

Homemade noodles are not like dried semolina pasta.  They are really egg noodles, so they don't fit in very well with the Italian theme here.  Polenta would have been more Italian.

These portobello pizzas were a hit and really not hard to make, although I did add an extra step to the recipe I used.

4 portobello caps, steps removed, brushed clean
1-1 1/2 cups thick pizza or spaghetti sauce
cheese (I used slices of mild goat feta)
1/4 - 1/2 cup pizza toppings (I used chopped bell peppers from the freezer and chopped garlic)

1. Grease a rimmed baking sheet.  Lay the caps on it.  Bake at 425 F for 15 minutes.  Flip.  Bake another 15 minutes.  Water will run out of the caps and sizzle.  You are drying the caps out a little - skip this step if you don't have time.
2.  With the caps stem-side up, place the pizza toppings on as you would pizza.
3.  Reduce oven heat to 375.  Return pizzas to oven. Bake 10-15 minutes, until heated through. (My pizza sauce was already hot so this didn't take long).
4.  The tomato sauce juiced out onto the already blackened mushroom water.  It looked like a terrible mess, but when I took the pizzas off the sheet, I immediately put water into it.  After supper, it was a breeze to clean (or Mr. Thrift would have grumbled and left the scene).

Then we sat at the table looking at Genevieve's love letter to The Sound of Music and ate fastnachts because it was Fat Tuesday.  The children wanted to know if Easter was tomorrow.  Oh no, children, there are still many dark dregs of winter left and a long wait until the glory of Easter.  Waiting.. . with flashes of spring all along the way.