This week in the kitchen

Crispy polenta and quinoa fries with tomato sauce and zucchini
I very loosely followed the recipe highlighted above, only the microwave directions failed miserably. I ended up adding a southwestern flavor to my polenta with a can of diced roasted green chilies, and the leftover feta and cheddar jack cheeses in my fridge. I also added my new favorite ingredient: nutritional yeast, except I didn't add quite enough to taste it. The tomato sauce involved throwing some crushed tomatoes, onion, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper in a pot and cooking for a bit. This dish was really yummy, and especially yummy as leftovers with a bit of fried egg thrown in.

Soft Chocolate and Raspberry Tart
For many people, dinner parties are a great excuse to get together with friends. For me, they are a great excuse to try out a new recipe. The tart above is my second recipe from Dorie Greenspan's celebrated Baking from My Home to Yours. This was actually quite simple to make, and was a very rich, velvety chocolate experience. I chopped up the raspberries rather than leaving them whole, so that they would make a layer at the bottom of the tart. They really helped to cut the richness of the chocolate. This was almost as good as the chocolate mousse strawberry tarts at the Bourke Street Bakery in Sydney. Next time I might try to make a lighter chocolate mousse for something similar.

Detail of the chocolate and raspberry layers.