Friday, June 20, 2008

Figs and Wedding Fun


I want to back up a bit.

About three weeks ago, to a dinner that followed a trip to our Wednesday market, where we procured an interesting veg I had never tried - Wild Asparagus. These thin little grass-like greens can be blanched to perfection in about 1 minute's time. We made a pretty yummy meal - one which was more clandestine than considered.

So here it is:

I started out with some green onions and a little bit of oil in a medium sized/medium warm pan and added some fresh figs, which I had cut into coins. I let this caramelize, adding some really yummy looking fresh mushrooms and spinach towards the end. I also added some lemon-thyme and some sage from our little terrace garden. I let these cook down a little while longer, while I went to town prepping the fu...when I say prepping I mean pressing and slicing almost in half (more like an incision, which left the thick steaks with a book-like appearance). I stuffed the fig/onion/spinach mixture inside the steaks and popped them in the oven to bake at about 375 for 40 minutes.

I reserved some of the fig sauce for the top, which I added with about 10 minutes left in the bake time. Yummmy.

The asparagus was thrown in a pot of boiling water for one minute and served as a side.

Wedding plans are tripping along wonderfully - we just sent out our Save The Date Cards...is that pretentious? I don't think so....we work with so many folks that travel, and we don't want any one taking off before they get to join us for the vegan wedding of the century. Plus, with folks coming from Canada and the U.K. we want to be able to give people the chance to get in on early flights etc. It was so nice to get so many kind responses from our co-workers.....congrats and such.

We made the cards ourselves and were really happy with the end results. We think we might do the same for the actual invites....and replies...and thank yous. Saved paper, saved shipping and saved me from the consumer wedding dragon, which, I am trying to avoid at all costs.

One can leave a giant not-so-eco footprint with weddings...jesus. We have tried to be aware of that by securing vegan options where ever possible, and staying as eco as we can. There are some great websites out there, many of them from the U.K., such as Eco Wedding and PortoVert, which I quite prefer. We did manage to book Tan for our wedding supper and have booked a vegan caterer for the buffet dinner that we will have later that night at the chateau. The land that we are having the reception on is as eco as possible for Brussels, and I hope to find an earth friendly way to buy the dress of my dreams. Things are coming along with no hitches so far...which makes me worry that all the hiccups will happen on April 11th 2009.

Oh, one last bit of news. It looks like this vegan cowgirl will be whipping up her creations in the most fantastic kitchen she has ever laid eyes on. We got the apartment we wanted so badly....2 bed, backyard, right next to a huge park, still in biking distance to work and the whole kitchen is kitted out in WOOD....it is gorgeous. The best part: the hallway is fitted with its own bookshelves. How amazing is that, this little nerd can NOT wait to get in there.

9 comments:

Rural Vegan said...

I think it's fabulous that you're being so conscious about your wedding, and I don't find save-the-date cards pretentious at all!

Now about those wild asparagus - do they taste like regular asparagus? Never seen those before!

jessy said...

hooray on getting the apartment you wanted! that wild asparagus is just too neat! i love it! and the whole dish looks wonderful!

Alicia said...

The wild asparagus look SO beautiful! I've never seen them before!
And congrats on your new apartment!

LK Sisters said...

The figs and asparagus look sooo good. Especially the wild asparagus - I love trying different varieties of vegetables and fruits!

Katy said...

That dinner looks so yummy! Congrats on the new apartment!

Bianca said...

Huh...I've never seen wild asparagus. It's cute and string beany!

La Familia Verde said...

Cool idea. I've never cooked with figs before.

Veggie said...

I think the save-the-date cards are great idea. Your new apartment sounds great, I would be so excited about the hallway fitted with its own bookshelves too!!

Chile said...

I need a fig tree!

Congratulations on working towards an eco-friendly wedding. My sweetie and I did that almost 20 years ago, sending our printed invitations on 100% recycled cardstock. The folks cleaning up after our vegan reception thought I was nuts as I gathered up the purple candles from all the tables before heading out for our first night together. I still have some of those candles...