An inspiration from Julia Child saves dinner

Sometimes Kitten and Schatz cook together, but other times, they have completely different cravings, and thus make their own separate meals.  Tonight was going to be one of those nights, as Schatz had decided to make pasta and meat sauce, and Kitten was making a Quorn roast with itty bitty potatoes and baby carrots.  (Tip for couples with different dietary requirements - separate meals can be prepared nicely when one person makes something requiring only the oven, and the other uses the stove top, etc.)

Schatz got sidetracked with some vacuuming and floor-scrubbing (he is a much better housekeeper than Kitten), and whilst Kitten's meal was roasting in the oven, it was already 9 pm and Schatz hadn't even started browning the meat.

Kitten made a quick inventory of the fridge - eggs, Chinese-style haricots verts, shallots, mozzarella cheese...  Since it's been French week at theKitchn.com, she decided to make a very improvised Niçoise salad.

With 7 minutes remaining before the roast Quorn was done, she sautéed the Chinese-style haricots verts and sliced shallots in a bit of margarine, and seasoned the pan with a pinch of garlic, 1/2 tsp basil, and salt and pepper to taste.  Since there was no time to hard-boil the eggs, Kitten decided to make an omelette filled with aged mozzarella.  A few Dutch Yellow baby potatoes hot out of the oven from the vegetarian roast completed the dinner.  (There would've been more salad for the Niçoise salad, except Schatz ate the last of the salad at lunch...)

Making a vegetarian roast delayed the availability of the oven, so the Lemon Ricotta Cake wasn't finished until 10:30 pm.  And now Kitten and Schatz have a pound of ground chuck in the fridge, waiting for someone to make pasta sauce.  And the vegetarian roast, while delicious, was not nearly so photogenic as the improvised Niçoise salad...