Cooking Through Magnolia Table In A Year: Week 13

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While beautiful skies ushered in the start of spring, week 13 of cooking through Magnolia Table in a year brought the perfect recipes to celebrate the season. Fresh but hearty, the Sweet Pepper & Pancetta Frittata (p.95), Jo’s Quick Table Salad (p.127) and the Red Wine Vinaigrette (p.127) pair together beautifully and were very well received by our Sunday dinner crowd. To add a little more protein to this wonderful meal (another option for our more picky eaters), I paired Ham and Cheese Poppy Seed Biscuits with the other recipes for the week and overall, would definitely recommend each of these for a fresh spring brunch, lunch or dinner.

Sweet Pepper & Pancetta Frittata

Very fresh and deliciously colorful, Joanna’s Sweet Pepper & Pancetta Frittata is a real beauty of a dish. As my first-time cooking with pancetta, I was excited to see the difference between the addition of pancetta and a typical bacon. While still cured, unlike bacon, pancetta is not smoked, so it provides a milder flavoring. If you are not able to come by pancetta or want to bring this frittata together quickly and only have bacon on hand, you certainly could substitute bacon for the pancetta for a similar effect, but it just might have a little stronger of flavoring. Either way, the mix of the soft cheeses, crisp arugula and tender peppers provide for a wonderfully hearty dish. Similarly, unlike many quiches, the Gruyere cheese adds a rich and creamy texture to the egg portion surrounding the peppers and pancetta. While there are quite a few steps, the final result is certainly worth the effort.

Cooking Through Magnolia Table In A Year: Week 13 - Sweet Pepper & Pancetta Frittata

Crowd Average Rating:

As our strongest rating of the week, this Sweet Pepper & Pancetta Frittata came in with an average rating of an 8. With a variety of ratings from a 7 to a 10, the dish was well liked all around and certainly will be making it back to our table in the future. As each step was fairly straightforward, there are not many changes that I would suggest other than the option to switch bacon for the pancetta if needed. Otherwise, Joanna’s creation was perfectly delicious.

Jo’s Quick Table Salad

Easy to make with beautiful presentation, Jo’s Quick Table Salad is a spring delight. Very simple to put together, I can see why this has become Joanna’s go-to salad. The combination of the mandarin oranges, cherries, candied pecans, and feta pair together beautifully and certainly compliment the Sweet Pepper & Pancetta Frittata if you serve them together. Unlike many salads that require chopping, prepping, and fixing, this salad simply is tossed together and becomes a beautiful creation. While the recipe calls for her Buttered Pecans, if you did not have time to make the pecans, you definitely could substitute them for a scoop of store-bought candied pecans and likely it would be just as good (and even easier!). Her candied pecans however were a tremendous hit, as my brother and his friends finished off any leftovers that were not used in the salad.

Crowd Average Rating:

Only a slight step down from the Sweet Pepper & Pancetta Frittata, this Table Salad gained an average rating of a 7.5. With the majority of reviews hanging around a 7 or an 8, this salad is primarily a crowd pleaser and certainly would be even more so, if you allowed people to put on the toppings that they would most prefer.

Likewise, while Joanna recommends this salad with her Red Wine Vinaigrette, we also got several comments that it would be delicious with a strawberry or raspberry vinaigrette to continue the fruity theme of the salad.

Red Wine Vinaigrette

Soft and tangy, this Red Wine Vinaigrette provides a light dressing to Jo’s Quick Table Salad. Despite the ½ cup of olive oil, the dressing is not oily and has a wonderful balance between tangy and sweet, as the honey addition takes the edge off the red wine vinegar. With its red coloring, several around our table thought that it was going to be a raspberry vinaigrette instead which provided quite the surprise. While a raspberry or strawberry vinaigrette would also pair well with the Quick Table Salad above, this vinaigrette recipe is great to have on hand if you need a fast and simple dressing option.

Crowd Average Rating:

With a variety of ratings ranging from a 5 to a 9, this Red Wine Vinaigrette seems to be loved by some, enjoyed by most and not as preferred by a couple. Like most recipes, I believe it largely depends on your taste preferences, as this recipe certainly is quick, easy, and delicious. While not strong commander of attention on a salad, this Red Wine Vinaigrette provides a nice backdrop to compliment the other flavors present.

Looking Ahead – Week Fourteen

Week 14 Shopping List Includes:

Pear vinegar
Shallot
Dijon mustard
Walnut oil
Grapeseed oil
Pears
Pomegranate arils
Walnuts

Baby arugula
Ground pepper
Kosher salt
Blue cheese
New potatoes
Butter
Garlic
All-purpose flour

Heavy cream
Brown sugar
Cayenne pepper
Flatbread
Olive oil
Prosciutto
Parmesan cheese
Basil

Looking ahead at week 14 within our Cooking Through Magnolia Table In A Year Guide, this week will showcase a Layered Arugula Salad (p.121), Buttered Walnuts (p.123) and a Flatbread Pizza (p.87). From last week, you likely will be able to use up any remaining baby arugula, heavy cream, olive oil, brown sugar, etc that you had remaining. Despite having made the Layered Arugula Salad in the past, I am very excited to make this recipe again and pair it with the new Flatbread Pizza recipe while continuing to celebrate the freshness brought by spring.

Final Thoughts

Filled with trying new ingredients once again, week 13 was a success for each recipe and continues to showcase the high ratings of the Magnolia Table cookbook. One quarter down, the overall average rating for the recipes is a 7.5 which I believe is spectacular considering the wide variety of audiences that have judged each dish. So far, the Magnolia Table cookbook has been successful in its mission as “a collection of recipes for gathering” and I can’t wait to see how it continues encourage the gatherings around our table.

Happy cooking!