Join me for a cozy winter dinner with friends! Comforting vegetarian bean and orzo soup paired with a bold radicchio salad and lemon-rosemary focaccia. To finish things off, a gooey chocolate cake that cooks in the microwave in minutes.

Dinner Friends

Today I am joining some lovely blogging friends to share cozy dinner ideas.

When I was invited to be a part of this group, my mind went immediately to what recipes I wanted to cook.

There are so many wonderful cozy winter meal options, but soup is my favorite. I feel like it feeds both the body and the soul this time of year. And then I was thinking a fresh crisp salad on the side to complement it.

Next I consulted my daughters. They always have great ideas. In fact, my daughter Zoë has a biweekly recipe newsletter, In Zoe’s Kitchen.

With their help, I settled on a menu.

I love to cook, but even more, I love to share a meal with family and friends.

So, the more I thought about my cozy dinner, the more I realized I didn’t want to just share some recipes or make some soup.

I wanted to sit around the table and enjoy a meal with friends.

Especially during winter, when our little peninsula can be very quiet. And with this year’s snow and cold temps forcing many of us into hibernation.

While those of us who have chosen this quiet life are generally okay with that, I think we needed to gather for some lively conversation, good food, and laughter.

So Sunday evening, a group of us did just that.

And today I am sharing the recipes with all of you!

Be sure to check out the links at the end of this post to see what the other ladies cooked!

Cozy Dinner Menu

March here in Maine is still very much winter, but of course I am starting to dream of spring.

Accordingly, my menu was mostly winter, with just a few bright notes holding the promise spring.

Comforting bean and orzo soup with fresh herbs and a zesty bite of lemon.

A salad of hearty winter radicchio and mandarin oranges adding cheery color to contrast with the creamy white soup.

Chewy focaccia topped with fragrant rosemary and lemon slices.

And for dessert, the most decadent (and easiest) chocolate pudding cake, which cooks in the microwave in less than 7 minutes.

Of course everything is vegetarian. (But you won’t miss the meat!)

Soup

The soup and salad are both from cook, author, and food television personality Eden Grinshpan’s website, Eden Eats.

The base of the soup is super simple — canned cannellini beans, shallots, garlic, celery, orzo, and plain old water. Chopped fresh sage and a bit of turmeric are the only aromatics.

In fact, as I was cooking it, I was wondering how it would come out. It just looked like a pot of water with a few things floating around in it.

They say to never serve guests something you are cooking for the first time, but I do it all the time. Fortunately it has pretty much always worked out for me.

And this was no exception. When I added the orzo, the soup started to thicken up. And the juice of two lemons added at the end definitely brightened the flavor.

But it was the generous dollop of intensely-flavored gremolata (olive oil, garlic, lemon zest, and chopped fresh parsley and dill) which topped each bowl of soup that brought this soup to the next level. Freshly grated parm was the icing on the proverbial cake.

For more bean recipes, check out my post Healthy Bean Recipes for a Nutritious Start to the New Year.

NOTES:

Don’t skip the parm rind in the soup. It adds needed depth to the broth.

Season well with salt and freshly ground pepper at the end.

I used a stick blender to purée part of the soup in the pot instead of transferring it to a full-size blender.

I chopped all the veggies and made the gremolata in a mini food processor.

Add additional water to leftovers and then reheat! I tossed in a handful of baby spinach before reheating when I didn’t have salad. Delicious!

Lemon Orzo Bean Soup with Lemon Herb Gremolata

Eden Grinshpan, Eden Eats
5 from 2 votes
Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

Soup

  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil EVOO
  • 4 shallots chopped
  • 6 garlic cloves chopped
  • 3 celery stalks chopped
  • 2 tbsp fresh sage chopped
  • ½ tsp turmeric
  • 2 cans cannellini beans drained
  • 1 parmesan rind
  • 1 1/2 cups orzo
  • 2 lemons juice for the soup, zest reserved for gremolata
  • Salt and fresh black pepper to taste
  • Freshly grated parmesan to serve

Gremolata

  • ⅓ cup fresh parsley chopped
  • ⅓ cup fresh dill chopped
  • Zest of 2 lemons reserved from the soup
  • 1 garlic clove minced
  • Salt to taste
  • ⅔ cup extra virgin olive oil

Instructions
 

  • Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.
  • Add shallots and celery and sauté until softened, about 4-5 minutes.
  • Add garlic, sage, and turmeric. Cook for another 2 minutes until fragrant.
  • Stir in the drained cannellini beans and season with salt and fresh black pepper.
  • Add 10-12 cups of water and the parmesan rind. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for 15 minutes.
  • Partially purée the soup either with a stick blender or by scooping 4 cups of the soup with lots of beans into a high-speed blender. Blend until smooth (this brings some thickness and creaminess to the broth). Simmer soup for another 10 min
  • Check for seasoning before adding in the orzo and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally (it can stick to the bottom so be sure to do this) until the orzo is al-dente.
  • Squeeze in the juice of 2 lemons. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
  • In a small bowl, combine the parsley, dill, reserved lemon zest, minced garlic, and salt. Pour in the olive oil and stir to combine. (I made this all in a mini food processor.)
  • Ladle the soup into bowls. Top each bowl with a generous spoonful of the gremolata and freshly grated parmesan. Serve with crusty bread or focaccia on the side for dipping.
  • Enjoy, preferably with family or friends!

Salad

I love a robust winter lettuce like radicchio. And I thought its bold flavor and bright crimson color would pair nicely with the mild flavor and creamy hue of the soup.

Add some tangy mandarin oranges, crunchy nuts, and salty cheese, and I am all in!

NOTES:

Eden’s recipe calls for hazelnuts, which would have been delicious. However, M&C pulled my hazelnuts from the grocery bag and ate them in the car when I was picking up flowers from a different store…. I used pistachios instead, which worked nicely too!

Radicchio is a sturdy lettuce, so while the salad was definitely best the day of, I enjoyed the leftovers for two days.

I did not serve the salad the way Eden recommends. I find salad on a platter difficult to dish up, and I like it when the dressing is evenly distributed over the lettuce. So instead, I tossed the radicchio with the dressing (I did not use it all) in a wide, low-sided wooden salad bowl. Then I sprinkled the mandarins, nuts, and cheese on top. I thought it made for a lovely presentation.

Radicchio Salad With Honey Shallot Vinaigrette

Eden Grinshpan, Eden Eats
5 from 2 votes
Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

Salad

  • 2 heads radicchio halved and peeled into large pieces
  • 1 cup toasted hazelnuts
  • 2 mandarins
  • kosher or sea salt
  • fresh black pepper
  • a LOT of manchego for serving

Vinaigrette

  • 1 shallot minced
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Instructions
 

  • Prepare the radicchio by slicing it in half and peeling it into large pieces. Then submerge it in bowls of ice water to soak (10 mins) – this helps reduce the bitterness and also keeps it crisp.
  • Make the vinaigrette by combining the minced shallot, honey, red wine vinegar, a generous seasoning of salt and pepper, and olive oil in a mason jar. Seal the jar tightly and shake vigorously until the dressing is well emulsified.
  • Prepare the mandarins by slicing off their tops and bottoms, then remove the peel. Cut them into thin rounds.
  • Toast the hazelnuts. Let them cool slightly before roughly chopping.
  • Remove the radicchio from its ice bath and dry the leaves with either a clean kitchen towel or a salad spinner.
  • To serve, arrange a layer of dried radicchio leaves on a platter (starting with the bigger ones on the bottom), drizzle generously with the honey shallot vinaigrette, then layer in the mandarin rounds, manchego, and chopped hazelnuts.
  • Continue layering until you run out of ingredients. f
  • Finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a sprinkle of sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper and a GENEROUS amount of manchego.
  • If you wish, serve with extra dressing on the side for dipping and dunking. Enjoy!

Focaccia

I am not a bread baker.

Probably because I am not much of a bread eater either.

I do love a veggie sandwich on whole wheat. And every Saturday morning I make myself a bagel and egg sandwich. Sunday breakfast is also eggs with some kind of bread side. But that is pretty much it for me.

But for this cozy dinner, I thought focaccia would be a nice addition.

If you haven’t made your own focaccia before, it is pretty easy and quite forgiving.

And it lends itself nicely to toppings.

I continued the citrus and herb theme and made a Saveur recipe for Lemon Rosemary Focaccia.

Like most yeast recipes, it does need time to rise, so I made it the day before.

This meant I was able to enjoy a piece on Sunday morning, sliced in half and toasted to make a sandwich with scrambled eggs, goat cheese, and greens. Yum!

Dessert

I am generally a fruit dessert gal. Crisps, cobblers, and pie are what I tend to bake.

But every once in a while I crave a decadent chocolate treat.

And Sunday was one of those times.

It might have had something to do with the fact that NYT Cooking recently shared a recipe for Microwave Chocolate Pudding Cake.

I have to admit, I was as much intrigued by the cooking technique — stir together the quick and easy cake batter and spread in a pan, top with a mixture of brown sugar and cocoa powder, then pour boiling water on top, and pop it in the microwave for around 7 minutes — as I was allured by the promise of a “warm gooey pudding-like dessert”.

But was it just a gimmicky recipe that would yield, at best mediocre results, and at worst a big fat flop?

I trusted NYT Cooking would not steer me wrong, though, so I decided to give it a try.

Since it is not a make-ahead recipe, I warned my friends that dessert could be a disaster.

As they sat at the table and chatted, I quickly pulled the batter and topping together and boiled the water. Just 6 1/2 minutes in the microwave, and it was done!

Topped with salted vanilla toffee ice cream, this dessert was everything it was billed as — warm, gooey, chocolatey, and delicious!

Definitely recommend!

As always, I am sorry if you are unable to view the NYT Cooking recipe without a paid subscription. Here is a similar recipe from Food.com. (It calls for butter in the topping, not the cake and has you microwave the topping separately first.) And one for a single serving size. (It calls for oil instead of butter…)

If you try this cake (or any of the recipes really), I would love to know what you think!

Join My Friends + Shopping Links

That does it for me today!

Please head over to visit my friends for their cozy dinner recipes!

Annie: Most Lovely Things

Mary Anne: Classic Casual Home

Cindy: Cindy Hattersley Design

SHOP SOME OF THE KITCHEN ITEMS I USED:

I will be back on Saturday with my usual Saturday post, when I will be joining my good friend Ann from Dabbling & Decorating to share our springy table settings. Plus, thoughts on how to get through that winter exercise slump, whether classic silk scarves are making a comeback (hint: I say yes!), and more!

For today, bon appetit!

Molly

Highlighting coastal decor and lifestyle, Maddie and Cisco, and the way life should be...

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