what to call a dish

Conrad asked me tonight if the dinner I'd made had a name. Was it called something? Did some cookbook author assign a description to it?

No, sorry. It was one of those dinners where I start out with a few things and just kind of think, "Hmmm, that might go with it." The serendipity of browsing in the fridge, right?

But no name for this. Three layers of food. Green lentils on the bottom, cooked in chicken broth. Atop that, some lightly caramelized fennel and garlic to which I added some little grape tomato halves, salt, pepper, and a bit of sherry to sweeten it a tad. Atop all that was a chicken "cutlet", fastened with toothpicks (during the cooking) around a filling of crumbled pancetta, more tomatoes, green onions, and toasted bread crumbs. The remnants of a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc completed the meal.



A fog, meanwhile, has rolled in off the lake.

You know, I will miss the dramatic storms of summer, I admit. Just the same though, is it too early for me to start playing Christmas music?