Summer BBQ Party

Sorry, this will have to be a picture-less post, but at least you'll get lots of links!

So, my boyfriend is an architecture professor at MIT, and his students had their final reviews a couple of weeks ago. Because their project was in Palermo, I got to know them all a bit when we all went over for the class field trip in January. I was therefore more excited than usual about having an end-of-the year party.

Main Dish
Typically when he's hosted parties for his students, Mike will just order a bunch of Chinese or Thai take-out, but this year I suggested something a little different. Although he has no desire to actually live there again, Mike is fairly proud of being a native Texan, and in particular is a huge fan - and promoter - of Texas barbecue. So I suggested we order up some real Texas BBQ from one of his favorite Austin (or outer-Austin) places, the Salt Lick. We've done this a couple times before; they ship the meat frozen in a styrofoam box, and it arrives usually still frozen or very cold. Give it a day or so to defrost, and either heat it in the oven or on a charcoal grill. Because the weather has finally gotten spring-like, we opted for the grill (the extra flavor is definitely worth the extra trouble). We ordered two racks of ribs, a brisket, and sausage. One of the fantastic things about Salt Lick BBQ is the sauce - it's somewhat Asian-inspired (ok, a slight departure from the traditional Texas formula, but tasty), and has a nice but unusual kick to it.


But of course you can't only serve meat at a party, so while we left the main course to the Salt Lick, Christie got to take control of the rest of the menu......and went a little bit overboard - not so much in terms of the quantity of food, but in regards to the quantity of work involved.

First off, we needed a non-meat main dish for the non-carnivores among us, so I made up and froze several veggie enchiladas. I got into making enchiladas when I bought a Cook's Illustrated the other week - an entire issue devoted to make-ahead food, including a recipe for chicken enchiladas. This inspired me to check out vegetarian-friendly options, and led me to this recipe for "Two Cheese Enchiladas" which in addition to the aforementioned cheeses include pinto beans, corn, and cilantro. I made the recipe pretty much according to directions, except substituting Cook's Illustrated's enchilada sauce (sorry no link - you have to subscribe to their webpage), and freezing according to CI's directions. It's an amazing system in that you cook the enchiladas directly from the freezer - no defrosting required (aside from the sauce) - and they turn out amazingly well.

Salads
So now we had a main course for both the vegetarians and the carnivores, now for some sides! First something starchy, this fabulous potato salad recipe from the My Recipes site: Potato Salad with Artichokes and Asparagus*. I've made this salad before with great success. This time, sadly, I had limited success - mainly because I underboiled the potatoes and stupidly didn't notice until I had mixed them up with the vegetables and dressing. Another issue was that I used spicy brown mustard instead of the coarse-grain mustard the recipe calls for. You wouldn't think this would be a big deal, but the dressing lacked the kick it normally has. This was a disappointment, but I could live with it. What I could not live with was undercooked-potato salad. I tried microwaving to remedy the problem, but this just seemed to make the vegetables blander, paler, and still (in the case of the potatoes) underdone. I ultimately decided to pour the whole thing into a baking pan and roast it in the oven just before dinnertime - about half an hour at 400, and then another hour at 200 (we had to turn the oven temp down so we could keep the brisket warm while the ribs were on the grill). This seemed to solve the problem, but I wouldn't say it was one of those great discoveries like penicillin or Reese's cups or something. Next time, I will check the potatoes (by taste, not just pricking them with a fork) before I mix up the salad - and preferably before I pour out the boiling water.

The second salad came out perfectly, as always. This is a fabulous Southern Living recipe that goes really well with barbecue or hamburgers or just about anything: Toasted Pecan and Broccoli Salad**. I have never served this salad without receiving rave reviews. It's simply delicious. A couple of notes, though. First, the recipe calls for only 1/3 cup of cranberries. I start with at least double that, and add more until I get a nice balance, visually. The other thing is to make extra dressing. I've doubled it in the past and had a lot leftover. This time I made an extra half recipe, and used most of it. I guess it's a matter of taste, but I don't like a dry salad. (Now that I've actually written this out, it occurs to me that perhaps the reason I always get rave reviews on this salad is because I double the tastiest ingredient and use lots of extra dressing. I guess that would yield rave reviews for just about any salad.)

I chose the recipe for salad number three to compliment the enchiladas, knowing it would also be a nice match for barbecue. I got this recipe from epicurious: Cucumber and Chayote Slaw. I first made this a few weeks back for Cinco de Mayo (paired with enchiladas, along with rice and beans). It's incredibly refreshing and tasty. To thin slices of cucumber and chayote, you add diced pineapple (in fact, I don't know why they don't call it "Cucumber, Chayote, and Pineapple Slaw", because the pineapple is just as important), and toss everything with a slightly spicy dressing. One nice thing about this recipe for my purposes is that it needs to sit for 8 hours or overnight - one less thing to do on party-day.

Bread
Finally for the "meal" portion of the party, we needed a bread. And what better bread to have with barbecue than cornbread? OK, some places in Texas just give you several slices of white sandwich bread, but what works in Lockhart, TX doesn't necessarily go over as well in Cambridge, MA. The last time we did barbecue I just made up a Jiffy cornbread mix, but I didn't think it had a great flavor. This time I wanted to make something "from scratch". I found this Golden Sweet Cornbread recipe at All Recipes.com, and poured the batter into mini muffin tins. It was a very easy recipe, but the quest for the perfect cornbread recipe continues. I just didn't think the flavor was all it could have been - certainly not as good as what I've had at barbecue joints.

Dessert
If I had stopped at making the above, party-day would have been busy, but evenly paced. But once I start thinking about cooking, I have a hard time stopping myself. For one thing, we needed a dessert, and mid-May seemed to me a perfect time to bring back Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. I'll take just about any excuse to make this pie, it's so delicious, especially right out of the oven. Because we had about a dozen people coming I obviously had to make two pies. I briefly toyed with making a different second pie (leaning towards Key Lime), but we decided things were complicated enough as is. I've graduated to a better pie crust than the method I posted about last summer - Julia Child's Pâte Brisée. I don't really know why I said I "graduated" to this recipe because in fact it's very simple. It just feels more grown up, I guess, to do things Julia's way. The dough goes together very quickly - no food processor required - and after chilling, rolls out very nicely. This occasion was not, however, my finest attempt at this pie crust. The kitchen was warm, and because I had forgotten to buy shortening the day before, I didn't end up rolling out the dough and assembling the pies until 20 minutes to party time, so I was more rushed than I should have been. This meant I ended up leaving the bottom crust a little thicker than the desired 1/8", my top lattice was a little skimpy and messy, and the edges were dreadful-looking. The best moment, though, in making these pies was when I went to mix up the filling and discovered we were low on sugar. I had bought extra flour in anticipation of making the crust, but completely forgot about sugar! To make a double recipe I needed 2 cups of sugar. The sugar cannister contained about 1 1/2. Pondering whether there was time to run to the store, or whether we could get by with a tangier pie, I looked up and saw the Alessi sugar bowl that sits,unused, decoratively on the counter. I tentatively lifted the lid to - Hooray! - discover plenty of sugar for my final half cup, with plenty leftover for spinkling on top of my inferior lattice. The pies were trouble, and stressful, but they were also a huge hit. Authentic Texas BBQ and homemade Strawberry Rhubarb Pie? Killer party, every time.

Snacks
Finally, I turned to a couple of what-have-come-to-be-standbys for pre-dinner snacks. First, the always-delicious, always easy Goat Cheese Stuffed Peppers, peppadew version. The self-contained nature of the peppadews is too good a bonus to ignore, so they've pretty much become my standard pepper of choice when it comes to goat cheese fill-ability. The only down-side of the peppadews is they tend to be a bit sticky to handle, due I suppose to the brine in which they're packed. This time I therefore drained the peppers into a collander, rinsed them thoroughly with water, and set them upside-down on a paper towel for about half-an-hour to dry. I bought and filled two jars of peppadews, and all but about 3 were eaten by the end of the evening. The pre-rinse seemed to take care of the stickiness factor.

The other standby for us is Ana Sortun's amazing Whipped Feta with Roasted Red Peppers. If you don't live in the Boston/Cambridge area, or if you do but have other things to think about than eastern-Mediterranean restaurants, Ana Sortun is the proprietor and chef at Oleana, an amazing Cambridge restaurant. (Watch out for that link - it comes with startling background music.) The Whipped Feta is one of the restaurant's pret à manger items, and it's incredible. The recipe is included in Sortun's cookbook Spice. Not sure what the protocol is on reprinting cookbook recipes, but since, by comparison to the Whipped Feta, all the other recipes I've tried from this book are extremely complicated, time-consuming, and failure-prone, I don't feel too bad giving out the ingredients for one little starter dish:

1 lb sheep's or goat's milk French feta, drained and broken into rough 1/2-inch pieces or crumbled

2 medium red bell peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded, and roughly chopped, and drained of excess juice

2 tsp. Aleppo chilies plus a pinch for garnish

1 tsp. Urfa chilies plus a pinch for garnish

1/2 tsp. smoked Spanish paprika plus a pinch for garnish

1 tsp. lemon juice

1/4 cup olive oil

Place all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and combine so that the sweet and hot peppers coat the cheese.

Purée the mixture in a food processor for about 2 minutes, until very smooth and creamy. The mixture will be quite loose, but will set when chilled (at least 30 minutes).

Sprinkle with a pinch of all three chilies to garnish.

I've found that a half recipe is plenty for pre-party snacking. Although I've tried oven-roasting bell peppers, the only successful method I have found for roasting them - sufficient to allow for peeling off the skin - is to set them directly on a (gas) stovetop flame and allow them to char for several minutes on all sides. (This also makes your house smell very nice and spicy.) When blackened on all sides, place the pepper(s) in a bowl, cover with plastic, and allow to steam for about 5 minutes. Remove from bowl, and peel/rub off skin.

I lucked into a very good spice shop in Inman Square where I can usually find both Urfa and Aleppo chilies - not sure about their availability elsewhere. The feta has almost a pimento-cheese flavor about it, but it's so much more. It's deliciuos on bread, but can also be served with celery, endive, or fennel. (I've personally never tried the fennel and wonder if it mightn't be too strong - not sure.)

So, that's the story - that's our party. (Leaving out the customary olives, cheese, chips and salsa, etc.) Very good food - a little too much work to try to take on in one day, but each of the above recipes is perfectly doable on its own, delicious, and highly recommended. And don't forget Salt Lick next time you want a unique main dish for a big group.

Lessons Learned:

#1 Better to have slightly overcooked potatoes than slightly undercooked - pretty much in all cases, but certainly for potato salad. Check the potatoes - with your teeth - before taking them off the stove.

#2 Less is probably more, but if you can't resist making up all your favorite recipes, at least plan ahead enough so that you can make, or start, a few things the night before.

#3 Always check your sugar - and flour - cannisters. Everyone thinks to buy strawberries, or apples, or what-have-you when making a pie, but when was the last time you checked your sugar supply?

*The recipe calls for bacon, but I substitued soy bacon to make it vegetarian-friendly. I'm sure it's better with real bacon, but oh well.


**I left the bacon out altogether for this one.

Super-Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

Just a quickie post about yet another very simple but satisfying recipe.

Last summer when I was moving, I promised a coworker of mine cookies in exchange for his box- and furniture-lifting skills. But not just any cookies, for this particular coworker is very finicky about what makes for a good cookie: not too sweet, not too doughy, no chocolate, etc.. Since I didn't want to be wasting my time making something he would scoff at, I asked him to bring me his mother's cookie recipes - his particular standard for what all cookies should be. He gave me three recipes: molasses, oatmeal raisin, and peanut butter. This recipe is for the latter, which is probably the easiest cookie recipe I've ever made. In fact, when I first saw the ingredient list I thought there must have been a mistake - that is, an omission - in the ingredient list.

Here's what you need for one batch of cookies (makes about two dozen):

1 cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter (your choice as to smooth or chunky)

1 egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Only four ingredients! For cookies! No flour, no butter, no nuts, no chips. So simple!

Can this possibly produce something edible? Keep reading...

The only sort of un-fun part of this recipe is what comes next:

Mix.

As we all know, peanut butter is a uniquely sticky, stubborn substance. It doesn't mix particularly well with our own saliva - a phenomenon I once tried to capture in song with a catchy little number called Peanut Butter Stuff Me* - let alone with sugar, egg, and vanilla. If you have the initiative to involve your mixer, then you're home-free. Personally, I hate to drag out the Kitchen Aid for a four-ingredient recipe. What's the point of simplicity if I have to wash my mixer when I'm done? So I opt for good ol' elbow grease.

When you've got the ingredients reasonably well combined, roll the mixture into 1 1/2" balls, and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. (Leave sufficient space between cookie-balls for the cookies to spread as they bake.)

At this point the recipe just says to press with a fork, but if you don't mind getting another dish dirty, my Mom and I recommend pouring a little sugar onto a dish and first dipping your fork in that (you may have to press one cookie first to accumulate enough grease for the sugar to stick to the fork). With your fork nicely sugared-up, press each cookie-ball with your fork in the traditional criss/cross pattern.

Place the cookie sheet in a preheated 350-degree oven, and bake for approximately 10 to 12 minutes, depending on degree on desired crispness, and keeping in mind that cookies will continue to bake (and therefore harden) after they're removed from the oven. I generally start checking them at about eight minutes, because an overdone cookie is not a particularly appealing cookie - to me, at least.

And there you have it. Taste one. They're very yummy - not too sweet - pretty much just solid peanut butter, with a little sugar so you know it's a cookie, and a little egg to hold it all together.

* This was followed by the lesser-known but slightly more tuneful Eatin' Jelly with Mom and Dad. I'll readily admit that at age 5 (or 6?) my song compositions weren't especially complex or clever, but both are catchier, if less didactic, than the annoying Peanut, Peanut Butter - And Jelly song. (Although one of my nephews used to love that song as a little kid, so I hold no grudge against its having made the big-time while my humble offerings remain in virtual obscurity...)

Pralines

Well, Mardi Gras is just a couple days away. I've never been to the various parades and festivities in New Orleans myself, but my Mom being from New Orleans, I grew up playing with boxes of Mardi Gras beads and dubloons. It's probably just as well that my family stopped going down for the parades before I was born, or I could have ended up in a picture like this, but at any rate, an appreciation for this particular holiday has always stuck with me.

When my old roomie Julie and I moved to the Northeast many years back, we were shocked and dismayed to discover that no local bars or restaurants seemed to acknowledge the event. So we began hosting our own mini-Mardi Gras, festooning our dumpy little apartment in purple, green, and gold, and serving up Central Grocery-style muffalettas, crab dip, King Cake, and other Southern delicacies to mildly bewildered coworkers. We got more creative as we went along, at our apex serving up color-coordinated pre-mixed cocktails (margaritas for gold, "leapin' lizards" for green, and I believe hurricanes for purple).

Without an equally-enthused cohost these days, and with considerably less energy myself, I can't say I'm up to all the effort of putting on a whole party, but I like to continue the festivities on a smaller scale. This recipe is from my Mom, and I think it's a safe assumption that she got it from her mom - above, far right - or from her wonderful aunts - above, far left and second (adult) from right. Praline recipes vary considerably - some are hard, some are sticky. These are the kind I grew up with and are therefore just right as far as I'm concerned. I love to break off a piece and let it slowly disintegrate on my tongue into sweet, buttery goodness. They're heavenly, and they bring back fabulous memories, if not of New Orleans, then certainly of our old house in Arkansas.

The best thing about this recipe is how little time it takes, start to finish. Mom used to go into the kitchen and emerge 10 minutes later with a fresh plate of pralines. And when they were gone, she would (sometimes) pop back in and make another batch just as quickly.

The second best thing about this recipe is how basic the ingredients are. If you have a reasonably well-stocked kitchen, you can probably make them right now. Probably at most all you need to go buy is some pecans.

Before we proceed, however, it is vitally important that you know exactly what you're making - which is to say, that you know how to pronounce it. Repeat after me: "PRAH - LEENS". Can you say that? Very good. Make sure, too, to get the accent on the second syllable. You may have heard others refer to a Southern candy called "PRAY - LEENS." I have no idea what this could possibly be, but it sounds dreadful to me. Alright? All set to make some prahleens? Let's get going.

To make approximately 16 pralines, you will need:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup milk

1 T. butter

1 cup pecan pieces

1 tsp. vanilla

I like the pecan pieces to be fairly large - I break them by hand into the measuring cup, breaking each pecan half once at most, and leaving a few unbroken.

Combine sugars, milk, butter, and pecans in a heavy saucepan.

Bring to a boil.

Boil for 1 1/2 minutes.

Remove from heat.

Add 1 tsp. vanilla.

Beat to a cream, about 3 minutes.

Drop in spoonfulls onto greased wax paper and allow to cool.

Once the process gets going, it moves quickly, so it's important to prepare your wax (or parchment) paper before you start cooking. For a candy recipe this is pretty simple (no exact temperature requirements); however, it's important to time things exactly according to the directions. For me this means resisting the urge to start tidying up while the candy is boiling.As you beat the mixture to a cream, you'll notice - probably after about 2 minutes - that it will start to thicken up quite quickly. The exact moment at which to stop beating and begin dropping is difficult to describe, but in general it's better to guess a bit early (when it still seems runny) than late (when you could end up with one giant praline stuck to the inside of your pan). The best thing to do is to test-drop when it starts to thicken and see whether the candy runs all over the counter or whether it sets up.

The longer the mixture stays in the pan, the more rough & sugary the consistency will be. This means the final pralines you drop may not be the prettiest. I like to drop the last dregs in small, coin-size pieces in between the larger pralines. These make great "tester" pieces for the cook or other "helpers" who happen to be standing by.

If you end up waiting too long to start dropping and the mixture is un-droppable, no worries. Run some water in the pan, wash it out, and start again. Chances are you have enough ingredients to make another batch, right?

Finally, I can't resist telling my personal Praline Disaster Story. Everything was going smoothly; I timed the candy boiling perfectly, and added my teaspoon of vanilla just as I was supposed to. Except, at this point I noticed that the candy suddenly had a less buttery-sugary smell and more of a harsh-minty smell. What happened? As I continued to beat my mixture to a cream, I glanced down at my bottle of vanilla. Except it wasn't a bottle of vanilla. It was a bottle of peppermint extract. What else could I do but continue to beat the candy and eventually drop my weird praline mints onto the paper? Take it from me, this is was not one of those peanut butter/chocolate collision moments.

However, if you do have interest in trying some variations on the classic praline flavor, there's an old Southern Living article - no longer, alas, on their website - with several different flavor possibilities using a slightly different recipe. Some helpful person has transcribed the original article at post #15 on this page.

Italian Wedding Soup

Let's pretend that this whole months-long blogging hiatus never happened and just dive back in, shall we?

















When my boyfriend had an unexpected dentist issue/visit the other day, I embarked on a quest to find a new soup recipe for dinner. My existing soup repertoire consisting of vegetarian chili, which isn't really soup, and one semi-failed attempt at potage parmentiere, perhaps this was a worthwhile endeavor regardless of the dental situation. As it was, the potage didn't seem filling enough on its own, and the chili had troubling spiciness issues. (It's also a bit time-consuming, or is if you do all the chopping by hand - something I always do with that recipe because the texture comes out much better that way. Sometime I should post that recipe, I guess.)

Seeking something simple yet filling, I somehow landed on the idea of Italian Wedding Soup. My first go-to recipe site is usually epicurious because its recipes come from both Gourmet and bon appetit, which I consider to be pretty reliable and kind of more upscale, which I like. Oddly, however, there were no IWS recipes to be found there. Next I checked My Recipes, which accesses recipes from Southern Living, Cooking Light, and Sunset, among others. Again no results that had anything to do with what I consider to be Italian Wedding Soup. Finally, I hit on a recipe from Giada de Laurentiis over at the Food Network site. Now, Giada doesn't look like she's ever eaten so much as one meatball, let alone a bowl-full of them, but who says being a good cook has to go along with being a big eater? Anyway, in her case I assume she inherited a trunk-full of recipes from a healthy-looking nonna-type who's not afraid of a little butter.

This recipe is much closer to the type of soup I had in mind: broth-based (chicken), with leafy greens, meatballs, and a little parmesan.

Ingredients - meatballs
1 small onion, grated
1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 large egg
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1 slice fresh white bread, crust trimmed, bread torn into small pieces
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
8 ounces ground beef
8 ounces ground pork
Freshly ground black pepper

Ingredients - soup
12 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 pound curly endive, coarsely chopped (1 pound of escarole would be a good substitution)
2 large eggs
2 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for garnish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions
To make the meatballs: Stir the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl to blend. Stir in the cheese, beef and pork. Using 1 1/2 teaspoons for each, shape the meat mixture into 1-inch-diameter meatballs. Place on a baking sheet.
To make the soup: Bring the broth to a boil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and curly endive and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through and the curly endive is tender, about 8 minutes. Whisk the eggs and cheese in a medium bowl to blend. Stir the soup in a circular motion. Gradually drizzle the egg mixture into the moving broth, stirring gently with a fork to form thin stands of egg, about 1 minute. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper.
Ladle the soup into bowls and serve. Finish soup with parmesan cheese if desired.

A few things were unexpected. I hadn't heard of including egg, and I was expecting some sort of pasta. Also, whereas she uses curly endive for her veg, I'm more used to seeing something like kale or spinach. I guess because of these issues, I clicked over to the Comments page that accompanies the recipe. If you're willing to suffer through bad grammar and folksy parlance such as "Hun this is the BEST !!", there's a lot of useful information to be gleaned from the comments page.

For starters, many people seem to have substitued spinach for the curly endive. I had been willing to try for endive or - her suggested substitution - escarole; however, Whole Foods let me down on this one, so I too opted for spinach. Another main comment was using sweet Italian sausage in place of some or all of the recommended ground beef and pork. Again I was willing to follow the recipe here, but finding no ground pork at the store I was happy to know I would be safe using Italian sausage instead. Also regarding the meatballs, many people said they had first browned them before adding them to the broth. I didn't read back through the entire comment log, but I'm guessing that if people are doing this, it's because unbrowned meatballs either fell apart in the broth or were undercooked. Either way, I was happy to take the time to brown them. (In fact, Mike browned them while I got the broth going. He was also helpful rolling the meatballs, which I believe would otherwise be the most time-consuming part of the whole recipe.)

The one change - addition, I guess - I knew I wanted to make was adding some pasta. Not only does this increase the filling-ness factor, but it also jibes better with what I think of as classic IWS. Several commenters recommended a pasta called acini de pepe. I had to wikipedia the name to determine that it was a type of pasta (as opposed to some type of Italian pepper?), but it's apparently a very small, pepperc0rn-size pasta that's often used in soups. Many other people, however, had used orzo, with which I was familiar. I was all set to go with the acini de pepe but, not finding it at the store, went with the orzo. Given the opportunity I think I'd prefer the acini etc., as its texture would be kind of fun in the soup and it somehow feels more Italian. One of the downsides of adding something extra to a recipe is you don't know exactly when and how to do it. One commenter said she'd used a cup of orzo so, making a half-recipe, I put in a half-cup right after the broth came to a boil and pretty much immediately added the meatballs and spinach. I don't know if this was really a mistake or not. It's definitely true that the orzo was not fully cooked within the 8 minute cooking time for the meatballs and spinach; however, I don't think the meatballs and spinach were particularly hurt by hanging out another 5 minutes waiting for the orzo to cook. I suppose, to do it over again, I could cook the pasta separately and add it at the end, but that creates another pan to clean (you're already adding one for browning the meatballs) and another burner to focus on. I think instead I would let the pasta cook a bit longer next time before adding the rest of the ingredients, although even here you have to be careful, because you certainly don't want to come out with mushy pasta.

As for the egg, I think I could take it or leave it. We happened to have eggs at home, so I didn't mind adding them, but I don't know that I'd buy a carton of eggs purely for their inclusion in the soup.

But, to get to the important thing, this soup was absolutely delicious and also very easy and relatively quick to make! We had enough for leftovers the next day, and it was equally good, if not better. To coin a phrase, Hun this is the best! I definitely plan to make this recipe a few more times while the weather stays chilly up here. However, my modified take on the recipe will be as follows:

Ingredients - meatballs
1 small onion, grated
1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 large egg
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1 slice fresh white bread, crust trimmed, bread torn into small pieces
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
8 ounces ground beef
8 ounces ground sweet Italian sausage
Freshly ground black pepper

Ingredients - soup
12 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 pound fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
2 large eggs (optional)
2 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for garnish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup orzo, acini de pepe, or other small pasta

Directions
To make the meatballs: Stir the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl to blend. Stir in the cheese, beef and Italian sausage. Using 1 1/2 teaspoons for each, shape the meat mixture into 1-inch-diameter meatballs.
Heat 2 T oil in a large skillet. Add 2-3 T butter. When fat has melted to coat the pan, add meatballs to pan in a single layer (do half at a time if necessary). Cook until lightly browned, turning as necessary. Remove from pan and set aside.
To make the soup: Bring the broth to a boil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the pasta and cook one or two minutes, depending on recommended cooking time. Add the meatballs and spinach and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through, the spinach is tender, and the pasta is cooked to desired consistency, about 8 minutes. Whisk the eggs (if desired) and cheese in a medium bowl to blend. Stir the soup in a circular motion. Gradually drizzle the egg mixture into the moving broth, stirring gently with a fork to form thin stands of egg, about 1 minute. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve. Finish soup with parmesan cheese if desired.

Say Goodbye to Summer with This Simple Summery Pie

Yes, some kids have been in school for a month already. Yes, I've been wearing a jacket to work for the past week. Yes, the sun is gone by the time I get home at night. But the official first day of fall is still a few days away, believe it or not.

It might not be beach weather anymore, but you still have time to whip up a delicious, summery pie before those turning leaves turn you to thoughts of apple, pumpkin, and pecans.

I got this recipe from Mom (actually her entry in an old Union County Cookbook), and it's almost too simple to be believed. Here's what you will need: 3 egg yolks, one can of sweetened condensed milk, and 1/2 cup key lime juice, plus a graham cracker crust and whipped cream. Now maybe this makes me lazy, but I think any ingredient list that I can count on ONE HAND should win some sort of award.

And the directions are just as simple: beat the yolks, stir in the sweetened condensed milk and lime juice, and pour into the crust. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees, cool, and refrigerate for a couple of hours. Serve with whipped cream. The result is a smooth, tart, summery burst of flavor.

I was inspired to make this pie for the first time a couple weeks ago. Because my local grocery is Whole Foods, I wasn't able to buy a prepared crust, so I pulled out the iphone and quickly found a simple recipe for that as well: 1 1/2 cups crushed graham crackers, 6 tablespoons melted butter, and 1/4 cup sugar. Mix these together and press into a pie plate, then bake 8 to 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Making your own crust adds a nice homey texture to the pie and only adds about 15 minutes to the process. (Always assuming you're working with cooperative grahams; my first attempt involved some frighteningly resilient ones - considering how hard they were to break with a mallet, I don't want to know what they'd do to teeth.)

pre-baked crust, ready for filling

I baked my first pie conventionally - that is, in a conventional oven - but for pie #2 (about a week later - what else are you supposed to do with the rest of that lime juice?) I decided to test out our fabulous countertop oven. Originally I bought the oven for heating up party foods, which it does quite well, but this was my first attempt at using it as a real "oven" oven. The pie came out perfectly - not noticeably different from the first one - and without having to heat up the house by turning on the big oven. Too bad I learned this trick so late into the summer - would've saved some AC bills. Stay tuned for additional tests of the Delonghi oven...

Postscript: To me there is no greater testament to the simplicity of this pie than that, after reading a boastful email from me about pie #1, my friend Russ - admittedly talented at many things but not exactly known as a baker - was inspired to go home and make one of his own, and had made yet another one within a week (again, the leftover lime juice...). If you like lime-y-ness, and you like pie, there's no excuse not to try this yourself.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Peppers, Round Two

Round Two of my quest for the perfect goat cheese stuffed pepper, or rather for the perfect recreation of the bite-size stuffed peppers I had my last night in Barcelona at the excellent El Xampanyet, took place a few weeks back. To refresh your memory, the first round of peppers was tasty but was too heavy on the garlic and, due to the use of peppadews instead of bell peppers, a little too peppery to pair with the subtle goat cheese flavor.

So, with Carrie coincidentally in town to help out with my next attempt, I next opted for a jar of fire roasted red peppers, also packed in brine (not necessarily the brand depicted here, but something similar).

I was delighted to find that the jar contained several whole, peeled bell peppers (I was prepared for pieces); soon after removing and draining the peppers, however, Carrie and I realized that filling these peppers whole and intact would result in an alarmingly large quantity of goat cheese per pepper - much more than any mouth would want to take on. (Just think of what a ripe bell pepper looks like, and imagine the interior capacity - quite a mouthful!) Instead, I ended up halving each of the roasted peppers lengthwise.

I used the same ingredients, in roughly the same quantities, as before: about 7 ounces of goat cheese, a minced garlic clove (minced by hand this time rather than with a press), and several finely chopped black olives (despite the fact that Carrie's not an olive fan, she actually didn't mind these once they were safely masked in the goat cheese), plus salt and pepper. Because I knew I'd be using the Ziploc trick to fill the peppers, this time I went ahead and put my ingredients directly into the bag for mixing. This requires significantly more kneading/mixing than does the deviled-egg filling (you don't want anyone getting a huge chunk of garlic in a single bite), but is achievable, and it saves washing a bowl. Then, as before, I snipped a corner off the Ziploc. With the halved pepper lying open on the plate, I squeezed about a 3/4" diameter log of the goat cheese mixture along its length, then folded, or rolled, the edges of pepper half up around the goat cheese. After doing this for each pepper half, I put the plate in the refrigerator to chill until dinner - about two hours.

When it was time to serve, I sliced each pepper/goat cheese log into pieces of about 1 1/2" in length. If serving these as hors d'oeuvres, you might want to secure each segment with a pick; this would ensure that the pepper remains secured around the cheese but would also allow guests to avoid handling the slightly slimy peppers. For our casual dinner, though, I left them as is. We thought they were delicious. The goat cheese mixture stood up well against the more subtle red pepper flavor, and the balance of garlic against goat cheese was just right as well. I think this may have had to do with avoiding the garlic press; the slightly larger, and less juicy, bits of hand-chopped garlic result in a subtler flavor (in my opinion at least).

The pepper strips were a bit messier looking and messier to eat than the tidily self-contained peppadews, but in general we were happy. I would say if you're looking for more goat cheese flavor than pepper flavor, this is your best option so far.

Lesson learned:

#1 Mixing the goat cheese mixture in a Ziploc bag works well and saves washing a bowl. (Apologies to the environment for the whole disposable plastic bag thing.)

#2 Hand-minced garlic results in a subtle garlic flavor that provides a better balance with goat cheese than does pressed garlic.

Midsummer Madness: A Birthday in Middle Earth

As noted in this space before, I come by my slight creative insanity honestly. This was clearly in evidence on my recent trip home to Georgia. One of my nephews (we’ll refer to him as “Legolas”) had just turned twelve, and my visit coincided with his party, to be attended by two friends of approximately the same age, his brothers and sister, and several of his cousins, ranging in age from two to sixteen. These kids have celebrated each other’s birthdays for years, and it’s always fun to see them have a good time together. Last year, Legolas’s parents put together an incredibly elaborate and fun Harry Potter party, which featured various activities related to Hogwarts classes, etc.; this year, he wanted a Lord of the Rings theme. (What can I say? The kid has good literary taste.) Over the course of several weeks, and making ingenious use of dollar store finds, my Mom and sister set about planning a range of activities that could see the kids through the major highlights of the saga. (My own contributions to the party were minimal [insert link], but the party as a whole is worth posting about, so due credit will be given as appropriate.) I have to say, too, that one of the things which really made this party work is the fabulously diverse nature of my parents’ lot, which provided amazingly convincing settings for many Middle Earth locales.

Before I get to the activities, I should mention that several of the party-goers were in costume: Legolas complete with pointy prosthetic ears, Aragorn, Éomer, and others in mail shirts with shields, etc., boy Hobbits in tunics (Frodo with a gold ring on a chain around his neck), girl Hobbits in cheerful vests and skirts, Éowyn in a more Rohan-esque vest, blouse, and skirt, and of course Galadriel in white gown with golden crown (crafted from a dollar store windchime). Nearly all of this was made by Mom in the days leading up to the party.

First stop for the group was The Prancing Pony, otherwise known as my parents’ back patio, where Barliman Butterber (the cleverly disguised father of the birthday boy) served the guests salty snacks with beer (that would be IBC for some, barrel-shaped HUGS for others) while local fiddlers, possibly recognizable to their party-going children as two of my violin-playing sisters, provided entertainment.

When all had had their fill, Barliman escorted the group around the side of the house to the front yard, where (possibly transformed into another character?) he instructed them on the basics of fencing, before leading them up to meet Gandalf (another brother-in-law, complete with cloak and staff) at Weathertop – conveniently located on the hill in front of the house. Here, the fencing lessons proved life-saving, as two terrifying Ringwraiths – papier-mâché masks, spray painted black, suspended on coat hangers with flowing, weblike black fabric – were awaiting them amidst the trees. Each member of the group, including the two-year-old, got a turn fighting off these fearsome baddies.

After Weathertop, the party proceeded through a creepy patch of woods, where they were ambushed by four gruesome orcs [read here about orc fabrication]. These they fought off with bows and arrows (of the suction-cup variety). Safe at last, the group continued around the other side of the house and down a steep incline to Lothlorien, the (spray-painted) golden wood. (Yeah, we skipped the Mines of Moria. This way Gandalf didn’t have to go anywhere.) Here our lovely Galadriel was put to work, presiding over her silver mirror and testing each of the other guests’ knowledge of Tolkien lore with LOTR trivia questions . Upon a correct answer (younger ones were given assistance), guests were presented with a bag of lembas, a popsicle (maybe not canon, but very appropriate considering the Georgia midsummer climate), and of course a green cloak with an attached leaf brooch (cloaks made by Mom from dollar a yard Wal-Mart fabric, with my sister and I on brooch assembly: silk leaves, stripped from their plastic veins, ironed onto a sturdy fabric backing, and highlighted with gold paint).

On around to the swingset frame, where none other than Shelob – papier-mâché piñata courtesy of Mom, with wiggly hairy legs of doubled-up pipe cleaners and eerie bulging yellow eyes – awaited the group for yet another challenge. Each guest took a blindfolded turn at defeating the horrible spider, armed only with courage and of course Sting, one of many plastic swords in my parents’ grandchildren-friendly collection.

The spider proved so formidable that our initial Sting actually broke from its hilt and had to be replaced. Mom had cleverly given Shelob a segmented body, with two separate balloon-formed cavities. The nice thing about this was there were actually two piñata-bashing victories, and two candy spillages. When at last the beast was bested, its sugary sweet insides collected by the assembly, the group proceeded inside for the final challenge.

The front hall may not look like Mordor, but there at the foot of the stairs rose the fiery Mount Doom, another of Mom’s papier-mâché creations. Each guest was given ten gold rings, and standing above the mountain, took his turn at destroying the Ring of Power (or actually, getting the highest out of ten into its opening). (The rings were a dollar-store deal: 100 for $1.)

Next, all gathered round the table to celebrate by feasting on Mount Doom cakes – mini chocolate bundt cakes drizzled with fire-colored frosting and bedecked with more of the gold rings (made by Mom) – along with miniature Ents – made from pretzel rods and green-tinted chocolate (courtesy of my sister).

That's our lovely Éowyn with an Ent in hand, partially obscured Mount Doom on her plate, with Legolas besider her (note the Vulcan - er...Elvish ears).Desert plates were then whisked away and replaced by cards for a special LOTR version of Bingo (my sister’s creation), with L-O-T-R across the top of the card and various characters arranged below each letter. As characters were randomly drawn and called out (eg., “R-Treebeard”), players marked off their scorecards with precious gems (er…dollar-store green glass tiles). Adults were amused that each round of the game was won by one of the very youngest party guests, but that’s the lovely, equalizing nature of Bingo.
Finally it was time to depart Into the West – that is, about five minutes away to the home of Legolas – where presents were opened and Hobbit-hole cake (made and decorated by my sister) was served. Then, exhausted with knife, sting, and a long burden (or something like that), the adults crashed while the older kids stayed up watching The Return of the King and younger folk watched the much shorter Lord of the Beans. A fitting, restful ending to a truly fun and memorable day.

Lessons Learned:

#1 Kids' birthday parties ought to include cake and ice cream, but that's not to say you can't also introduce a little bit of culture into the festivities.

#2 Never underestimate the potential of papier-mâché: from piñatas to fearsome creatures to fiery mountains, newsprint and glue can be a great friend.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Peppers

Naturally, I couldn't spend ten days in Spain without developing an interest in Spanish cuisine. I'm not about to undertake paella anytime soon; however, so many of the little tapas that we had left such delicious memories that I've been anxious to try to replicate them at home. As part of his birthday present I therefore bought a copy of 1080 Recipes for my boyfriend last month. It's referred to as the Spanish Joy of Cooking, and it's a beautiful book, but that many recipes can be a bit overwhelming. More importantly, it doesn't include a recipe for our favorite of the various little goodies we had in Barcelona: small peppers stuffed with goat cheese.

Happily I recently came across two different tapas cookbooks for $3 apiece (thank you, Marshalls). Since each had a variation on the stuffed peppers, I decided to buy both. Last night I made my first attempt - the general consensus was that they were very yummy, although I still don't think they're quite the same as what we had in Barcelona.

The recipe calls for pimentos (in other words, red peppers cooked, seeded, and skinned) packed in oil. I immediately diverged from the recipe and bought peppadews instead, as these are closer sizewise to what we remembered from Barcelona. Unfortunately they were packed in brine rather than oil, which I think gave them a stronger pickled flavor that fights a bit with the subtler goat cheese flavor.

The recipe gives three different filling options: one tuna-based, one cottage cheese-based, and one goat cheese-based. Obviously I went for the goat cheese. To 7 ounces of soft goat cheese, you're supposed to add one clove of minced garlic, a third cup of finely chopped black olives, and one tablespoon of the oil in which the peppers are packed, plus salt and pepper to taste. Those quantities are supposed to fill about 36 peppers. Since I decided to make only 12 peppers, I cut back on each ingredient more or less accordingly. I started with approximately 2.5 ounces of goat cheese and with my garlic press added the smallest clove I had - instantly I realized this was too much garlic, so I added probably another ounce of the cheese to compensate. Because my peppers came in brine rather than oil, I just added about a teaspoon of olive oil, then about 5 or 6 pitted kalamata olives, chopped as finely as I was able. (I'm not too handy with a chef's knife.) I had left my cheese out for about a half hour to soften, which made mixing the ingredients pretty easy.

Now for filling the peppers. That little Ziploc bag trick is too good to reserve only for deviled eggs, I thought, so at this point I scooped my cheese mixture into a Ziploc, snipped off a corner, and began filling. Words cannot express my level of satisfaction with how well this worked. Holding the pepper in one hand and the bag in another, I could actually feel the pepper swelling up as the cheese made its way into each crevice of the cavity; it felt, and looked, a bit like filling a wall cavity with spray foam insulation - in a good way, of course. Not that I actually tried the filling-with-a-teaspoon method, but I cannot imagine the results would be as satisfactory.The peppers are supposed to chill in the refrigerator for two hours before serving; since I wanted them ready sooner, I stuck mine in the freezer for an initial twenty minutes or so.

So, that's round one for the stuffed peppers. These were pretty tasty, but I still think I got too much garlic in the filling and that the briney flavor of the peppers was too strong against the goat cheese. Watch this space for subsequent attempts.

Sorry for not having a real presentation-style photo - I guess I became too interested in eating them to worry about photographing them.

While I just made these as a pre-dinner plate, I think they would be wonderful for a party food. If you use the Ziploc trick they are very quick and easy to make (and next time I might even go ahead and mix my filling in the bag, as with the deviled eggs, therefore eliminating even the cleaning of the mixing bowl), and since they need to chill anyway, they could be made several hours ahead. (I'm always on the lookout for good, easy, make-ahead party foods.)

Lesson Learned: Next time try peppers in oil, rather than in brine.

Fourth of July Pie

Alright, so technically this is not my very first pie. That would be the so-so apple pie that Carrie and I made for Thanksgiving last year – so-so not because of the filling (my Mom’s recipe that has been a Thanksgiving staple for me since time immemorial) but because of the pre-made Pillsbury crust that was okay the first day but almost inedible on day two. And everyone knows the whole point of apple pie for Thanksgiving is breakfast for Black Friday.

Thus, when I was inspired to make a strawberry-rhubarb pie for the Fourth of July, I knew that the crust would have to be from scratch. I found this recipe for the pie from Southern Living’s very useful My Recipes site, and this simple food processor crust recipe from MSL.

The hardest part of making a strawberry-rhubarb pie, it turns out, is acquiring rhubarb. Whole Foods? Star Market? Broadway Marketplace? Formaggio Kitchen? No, no, no, and no. I had almost resigned myself to making a plain-old strawberry pie, but at the second Star Market – or is it called Shaw’s now? – it occurred to Mike to actually ask someone in the produce department, who returned from the back minutes later with several stalks of rhubarb.

The crust recipe couldn’t be simpler – I mixed the dough, divided it into two flattened disks (for ease in rolling out later; thanks for the tip, Martha!) and put them in the fridge to chill while I made the filling.

Because of the holiday, I selected a grand old American legend for my baking music. So while Sinatra crooned away about unrequited love, I began slicing up my fruit and veg. The recipe calls for 2 ½ cups each of sliced strawberries and sliced rhubarb. But who ever knows what that translates to in pints/pounds? I had bought two pounds of strawberries, which turned out to be about twice what I needed, and two bunches of rhubarb – again, about double what I needed. In the bowl with the sugar/cornstarch/lemon mixture, it looked like way too much filling for one pie crust, but the recipe writers know their stuff. It was the perfect amount.
The MSL recipe says to use a floured surface and rolling pin to roll out the crust, but after a couple minutes of this I switched to the old reliable method of sandwiching the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap – this is much easier and keeps the dough (and kitchen) from getting too flour-y. (Oddly, that’s also a Martha method; she recommends it for roll-out cookies, but it seemed to work nearly as well for pie crust.)

Here’s my bottom crust, with imperfectly-crimped edges. The recipe suggests using a fork for crimping, but I prefer the irregularity of thumb-crimping.

My lattice came out about like you’d expect a first-ever pie crust lattice to turn out, partly I think because the dough was getting too warm from its proximity to the preheating oven. In any case, I had to piece together several shorter strips in some places. Oh, and I also nearly forgot to put in my little dots of butter under the top crust – they had to be sort of wedged in under the lattice after the fact. Still, I was relatively pleased with the nearly-final product as I slid it into the oven – a moment that amusingly coincided with the climatic finale of My Way. (Although this did raise concerns as to whether any eating-up-and-spitting-out would be associated with my beautiful pie.)

Here it is, before and after baking. You can see all the little butter dots that wouldn't fit under the lattice. While the Pops and fireworks blared from the TV, we sat down to a lovely, summery July 4th dinner of lobster, corn on the cob, deviled eggs, and potato salad, then dished up two healthy pieces of pie with ice cream for Mike and frozen yogurt for me. (Don’t worry – the lobsters were pretty small; we’re not total pigs.) The result? A lovely sweet-and-sour flavor in a not-too-bad, flavorful, flaky crust. The tanginess of the rhubarb really does pair nicely with the sweet strawberry flavor. Wish I could say I’d come up with the idea of putting the two together (could it possibly have been a "Hey, you got your rhubarb in my strawberries!" "Yeah? Well you got your strawberries in my rhubarb!" kind of moment?), but if I can't claim credit for its invention, at least I may now confidently stand with those who can make a strawberry-rhubarb pie, which is something.
And on day #2? I preferred it hot from the oven, but it was still pretty good cold. The crust was a bit soggier, but everything was still quite tasty. The only problem now is that I have sufficient strawberry and rhubarb left over to make a second pie. I guess this will give me a chance to improve my lattice-work.

Lessons Learned:

#1 Always confirm you can acquire rhubarb before committing to a pie.

#2 Always ask if you don’t see anything in the produce department – you never know what they have tucked away in the back.

#3 Homemade pie crust is definitely worth the extra time and effort.

That Was Easy: Deviled Eggs

This tip came from my Mom, who got it from a friend who got it from her granddaughter. In other words, nothing original here, but if you don’t yet know about it and do make deviled eggs occasionally, you’ll thank me. I used to love deviled eggs when I was young, partly I think because they were something I could help with, but partly because there’s something simple and squishy and very appealing about these unlikely delicacies to a kid. My five-year-old nephew was once heard to say: “I was born … to eat … stuffed eggs!” My sentiments exactly. I can’t say I make deviled, or stuffed, eggs all that frequently these days, but I happened to get this tip on the Fourth of July, which seemed like an appropriately festive, homey occasion to try it out.

Hard-boil your eggs, as usual. (Incredible how many variations there are on hard-boiling eggs. I like the method where you put them in water, bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and let them sit, covered, for about 12 – 15 minutes. This results in beautifully bright-yellow yolks – especially nice for something like stuffed eggs where the yolks play such an important visual role in the final product.)

Immediately after the eggs have cooked, immerse them in ice water. This causes the whites to pull away from the shell and greatly speeds up the peeling process. After several minutes in their ice-water bath, the eggs are ready to be dried and peeled. Slice each egg in half lengthwise, and pop out the beautiful sunny yolks.

Now comes the trick: rather than mixing the filling in a bowl, drop the yolks into a small Ziploc bag. Add to the yolks whatever you choose – variations on deviled egg fillings abound, but I grew up doing them with just egg yolk, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper. Then zip up the bag and smush away, mixing everything thoroughly, and opening occasionally to taste and adjust.

When the filling is properly mixed and seasoned, keep the bag closed but snip off one of the bottom corners. Holding the Ziploc like an icing bag, carefully squeeze equal amounts of filling into each of your egg whites. Obviously, the clean-up is now a snap, but what’s really great about this method is how much easier it is to neatly fill each egg cavity without residual filling on the plate, smeared on the rest of the egg, etc..
Sprinkle with paprika, or whatever garnish you prefer, and they’re ready to serve. I used Spanish Hot Paprika, which gave them a nice kick. They were delicious, as always. You wouldn't want to eat them all the time, but a deviled egg now and then is reassuringly tasty and familiar.

Lesson Learned: Well, the Ziploc trick, obviously.

Double-skewered Potatoes

One of my favorite things about summertime is grilling out. Back in our Somerville days, Julie and I used to grill practically all our evening meals on a little propane camp-stove in our meager but fabulous backyard (about which one of us should post someday). We tried, and loved, just about everything on the grill: pizza, cake, fruit, stuffed onions, halloumi, leeks, broccolini, etc..

When I moved to a downtown Boston studio, I sadly said goodbye to summer grilling. Happily, though, I can now grill vicariously through my boyfriend, whose condo has a little deck just big enough for a table, two chairs, and a Weber charcoal grill. I’ll admit that I still haven’t mastered the art of charcoal grilling (so much more work than lighting that camp stove), but I do enjoy the slightly less experimental, more traditional meals he prepares out there, with my occasional help.

One of Julie’s and my great grill discoveries was the tastiness of grilled fingerling potatoes. So the other night when Mike was grilling babyback ribs, I suggested potatoes for a side dish instead of corn on the cob. When I’ve done this in the past, I’ve strung the little potatoes on bamboo skewers (soaked for several minutes in water to minimize charring). The problem with this method – and the same applies more or less with metal skewers – is the difficulty of turning the potatoes. The little guys just want to spin around on the skewers, so that one side ends up over-grilled and the other underdone.

So here’s the trick: skewer your potatoes onto not one but two bamboo skewers. This keeps them in line so they flip uniformly when you turn them rather than the maddening rotation associated with the single skewer. I found, though, that stabbing the bamboo skewers through the potatoes was tricky. After some frustration (and some fear of stabbing myself with the bamboo), I took out a metal skewer which was much more effective for the initial potato punctures, which I spaced about ¾ of an inch apart (working on a large wooden chopping board). Then it was a snap to string each potato easily onto a pair of bamboo skewers.

I brushed each set of potatoes generously with olive oil, sprinkled them with salt and pepper, and they were ready for the grill.

Even small potatoes take awhile to cook thoroughly. We had these on the grill for about forty-five minutes, turning periodically (and easily!) for even cooking. The result was delicious. The potatoes slid off the skewers onto our plates, and were soft and moist on the inside, and deliciously salty and crusty on the outside. A delectable, simple summer side dish.

Lesson learned: Never send a bamboo skewer in to do a metal skewer’s job.

Sunday Sunset Soiree

Hey everyone!

So last night I put together a little soiree for my apartment building in order for the tenants to all kind of hang out on our fabulous deck. It was fun. Almost everyone made it but one couple, who had a previous commitment.

Because it is summer, I wanted to go with a cold finger food sort of theme. I knew that my people limit would be 7, so I knew I wouldn't have to make enough food for an army, which I did anyway because I always imagine myself eating all the food. I also wanted to have some fruity summer cocktails as it would still be light outside and a bit warm on our deck.

The first appetizer I made were these baby blts. They were really good, but for some reason (the tomato scare?) I was the only one to make a considerable dent in them. Oops! I would definitely make them again though, but preferably at an indoor party because, although they didn't go bad, the mayo in them turned a little darker than normal after a very short time.

The second little snack was a spinach dip (cold) served with an array of fresh veggies. This spinach dip is super easy to make but a bit bland. I would definitely add a little somethin' somethin' to it, although I'm not really sure what...I would have added that dry Italian seasoning stuff, but you'll see that my next finger food already had that in them. Anyway, I also served bite size tortillas with the spinach dip and that was as fantastic as dipping the veggies in the dip.

Lastly, I made cucumber toasties. These little treats are tasty! I did NOT add the dried dill to the top of them because I forgot! Doh! But they were gobbled up by everyone. I first made these in the summer of 2004. Yup. I remember. Silly. I haven't made them but once since that summer (I took them to three parties...yeah back when I went to parties!!).

Along with the three recipes I gave you, I also sliced a fresh pineapple (Man, it was so good!), fresh watermelon (not so good - not very ripe), and chips and salsa.

For my summer themed cocktail, I made slushy watermelon mojitos. These drinks are just darn right yummy. Everyone loved them, including myself. They were very fruity (although not so much as they could have been due to the underripe watermelon) and just had an overall nice balance of tastes. A most excellent, refreshing summer drink!

Although I took ZERO pictures of the party, I could post the aftermath of the kitchen, but I don't feel like showing you all my dirty laundry just yet...maybe a few posts from now!