Snow Storm Spaghetti (& Meatballs)!

The plan was perfected a month ago: a few hours at the spa followed by a fantastic dinner at a restaurant we had wanted to go to since it opened a few years ago - my gift to Peanut for his birthday.

Then, this happened:



16 inches of snow!!! In 24 hours!

Driving was restricted, so both reservations were canceled!

Now, Gourmet magazine folded a month-or-so ago, and my subscription is now replaced with one to bon appetit. The cover, sitting on our coffee table for a few weeks, had a picture of succulent meatballs on its cover. "Can you make it, please?" Peanut asked. Spaghetti and meatballs with bacon tomato sauce: how could I refuse a birthday boy's request?

So while it snowed, and in between shoveling our sidewalk and uncovering our car, I...

Chopped:



Fried:



... and Peanut and I devoured!



And before you call me lame for not cooking a holiday meal, I will tell you- I DID! Birthday dinner for Pit of devil's chicken thighs on braised leeks, a repeat of my meal for Mountie. And for dessert, Suzanne Goin's chocolate cinnamon bread pudding from the same cookbook.

Spanish style.... Tapas at 10!

Attendees: Javier, Ozzie, and Peanut
Cocktail: Cosmopolitans!
Tapas: (1) Garlic Pan-Fried Bread and Chorizo; (2) Tortilla Espanola; (3) Chicken in Lemon and Garlic (4) Sauteed Garlic Mushrooms; (5) Green Beans with Pine Nuts
Dessert: Root Beer Bundt Cake

When Javier's plans to take Ozzie away for his birthday were delayed, I decided to step in (because that's what friends are for!) and offered to prepare them a celebratory dinner myself. I was then informed that Ozzie wouldn't be available until 8:30 Friday evening, so that "unless I wanted to do it Spanish style..."- inspiration, indeed (not to mention that we didn't sit down to eat until 10 pm)!

And now, in no particular order I present to you the tapas of the evening:

(1) Garlic Pan-Fried Bread and Chorizo.
When making tapas, it's good to have some help in the kitchen. Javier brought over some bread and helped me pan fry it, along with the chorizo. I served this dish informally with toothpicks while we finished preparing the other dishes.



2. Tortilla Espanola
A classic- how could i not at least attempt it? (And I was pretty impressed with the results)!



3. Chicken with lemon and garlic
I HATED the lemon rind that garnished this dish, but everyone else seemed to like it! I guess I'm my own harshest critic.



4. Sauteed garlic mushrooms
I am really developing a deep appreciation and fondness of mushrooms, particularly when they are cooked simply. This was, I think, my favorite dish of the night.



5. Green beans with pine nuts
When I decided that the meal needed something green.



So, Spanish desserts are pretty bad (right?) and I had been dying to try the Root Beer Bundt Cake from BAKED. The cake itself was good and you could DEFINITELY taste the root beer. The chocolate fudge frosting wasn't that good, though, and I can't seem to figure out why, nor can I really decide what type of frosting would taste better. Any suggestions?

Oh yeah, it was also really hard to get a good picture (a fault of the cake, the lighting, or the wine?)



But at least I got one of the birthday boy cutting his birthday cake!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OZZIE!!!

We've Come A Long Way, Baby!

It seems like forever ago that Shobhaa and I lived in a run-down apartment on Dorchester Avenue where our kitchen was lined with cereal boxes and "cooking" for me involved heating up microwavable chicken wings (Shobhaa was a tad more adventurous with smoothies and, on at least one occassion, potato leek soup). She and Dre surprised Peanut and I with a last minute trip to DC this weekend, and I was more than happy to cook them a lacto-vegetarian (no eggs, but dairy is ok!) meal. Of course, I recruited Shobhaa, who has her own fabulous baking blog, to help:



Attendees: Dre, Shobhaa, and Peanut
Cocktail(s): Fresh margaritas and non-alcoholic peachy-keens
Appetizer: Fresh guacamole
Main Course: Vegetable enchiladas
Side: Jicama and Mango salad with a chili lime dressing/Rice
Dessert: "Boy, you better make her" Almond raspberry swirl!

The night called for two cocktails: One non-alcoholic, and one for Peanut and me. Peanut requested one of his favorites: fresh margaritas. Shobhaa and Dre enjoyed my newly named "Peachy Keens" - a homemade concoction of freshly squeezed orange juice, peach nectar, and a dash of some freshly squeezed lemon juice.



Really, how can you go wrong with homemade guacamole? I ran out of Tobasco, as did Whole Foods, so I used Cholula Chili Garlic Hot Sauce. Consider me converted.



I had been craving enchiladas for some unknown reason, so I spent around an hour Saturday morning looking for the recipe that looked best (and easiest). Like always, when needed, Martha Stewart is there for you. For real, such amazing enchiladas stuffed with corn, black beans, spinach, and cheese with a simple homemade enchilada sauce of tomato paste, vegetable broth and cumin. I liked these so much, in fact, that I have decided to post the recipe after this entry: only the second recipe ever to be posted on RSVP!



The enchiladas were accompanied by a jicama, mango, and cucumber salad with a chili lime dressing.



And you can't have a Mexican-inspired meal without a little bit of rice on the side.



Dinner is served!



I didn't have much time to prepare an eggless dessert, so I decided to try Ina's Almond Raspberry Swirl. Basically, it's greek yogurt with some orange zest, peach nectar, vanilla, and honey swirled with toasted almonds, rasperries, and diced peaches. The crowd seemed to like it, but I think it's more of a breakfast/brunch dish than it is a dessert. It does look somewhat elegant, though!



Martha Stewart's Vegetable Enchiladas

Ingredients
2 T olive oil
2 (ok, i used 3) t cumin
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 can (14.5 oz) vegetable broth
salt and pepper
3 cups grated pepper Jack cheese (I used "Fiesta Blend, which includes pepper Jack")!
1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
10 oz frozen corn kernels, thawed
6 scallions, thinly sliced
Tortillas (I used 12- the recipe called for corn tortillas, but i used flour ones instead)

1 . Make Sauce. In medium saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add 1 teaspoon (I added 2) cumin, the flour, and tomato paste; cook, whisking, for 1 minute (for me, it formed a ball). Whisk in vegetable broth and 3/4 cup water (it took a while for me to fully incorporate the clumpy ball of flour and spices into the liquid). Bring to boil. Reduce to simmer, and cook slightly until slightly thickened, 5-8 minutes (um.... I kind of got distracted and it went for 10-15 minutes). Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

2. Make Filling. In large boal, combine 2 cups cheese, spinach, corn, scallion whites, 1 teaspoon cumin, salt, pepper. Mix well.

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Oil two baking dishes (she says to use 8-inch squares, but I used the 9*12 glass ones that I use make lasagna).

4. Stack tortillas on plate and wrap in damp paper towels. Heat on high for 1 minute.

5. Top each tortilla with 1 and 1/2 standard ice cream scoops of filling, roll them up tightly, and arrange (seam side down) in dishes.

6. Sprinkle enchiladas with remaining cup cheese, and top with sauce.

7. Bake uncovered for 15-20 minutes, until hot and bubbly. Cool 5 minutes, garnish with green scallions (if you remember) and serve.

Next thing you know, you'll have some pretty happy dinner guests (Dre, Shobhaa, and me)!

Shobhaa & Dre: Come back soon!!!

Dog Sitting Dinner

Attendees: Peanut, Debbie, & Vixen
Appetizer: Spinach Dip Duo with Pumpernickel
Entree: Tomato and Corn Pie
Side: Mixed greens with Parmesan Crisps
Dessert: Peaches in Sauternes

We suspected that the "adult reception" immediately following the ceremony meant that puppies weren't allowed, so we were pressed to decide what to do with little Bindi for the night? Luckily we've got friends like Vixen, who enthusiastically agreed to spend the night and look after our little girl. To show her the ropes, and offer our thanks, we had her over for a vegetarian feast. And since I was making a veg dinner, I invited Debbie to join our soiree.



You can't, and don't need to, make everything you serve at a dinner party! Peanut bought a pumpernickel loaf from Firehook and two kinds of spinach dip from Whole Foods. I went 70's suburban (my favorite genre) and carved two holes in the loaf to create a fun way to serve.



My very simple salad: mixed greens with red onion and cucumber served on a homemade Parmesan crisp ....



Since I was so busy at work, I was a bit trepidatious about making the tomato corn pie from August's Gourmet. But when Deb said it was easy, I decided "why not?"! Now, I'm a beginner so I did try to do as told and rolled out the biscuit pie crust between two sheets of plastic. The top and bottom plastic wrap stuck to each other, so for the top half of the pie I took Deb's advice and simply rolled it out on a floured surface, which was much easier.



Mine did not look nearly as pretty as Deb's, but I imagine it tasted just as good. YUM!



And given that it was a biscuit pie crust, I thought it best to keep it on the light and juicy side for dessert. I served peaches in Sauternes, one of Peanut's favorites.

Another Summer Birthday Cupcake!

One thing that I have learned since teaching myself how to cook is that you don't always have to try new things. Experimenting with variations on something you know works is usually a good idea. So when I decided to take cupcakes to Mariah's birthday party, I stuck with what I knew: Ina's chocolate cupcakes topped with Sprinkle's strawberry frosting. I have previously substituted the "strawberry" with "raspberry", though for Mariah it was organic cherry! (Thousands of miles away, it looks like Rosie and I were in the same frame of mind.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARIAH!!!

Fire Island: Part II

Just to recap: Threebs and Little Bird invited us to spend the weekend on Fire Island!!!



Meal Number Four: Saturday Evening Dinner
Conceived by: Rajeev

I had planned to grill Portabella Mushroom burgers, but to our dismay we discovered that the grill was out of gas by Saturday night. Ever resourceful though a tad disappointed, we decided to just fry up the portabellas 'em. Threebs decided that ketchup was an unworthy condiment so whipped up some homemade aioli.



Which we ate with some oven-roasted potatoes (not shown) and, as an ode to my mother, some Panzanella.



I knew that I didn't want to bake at the beach, so for dessert I served ginger spiced cookies I had baked on Thursday night before we left.



Meal Number Five: Sunday Morning Breakfast
Conceived by: Threebs

Threebs had planned a delicious breakfast plate for Sunday with some protein to counteract the carb-loaded meals in my repertoire. We woke up to enjoy dressed-up scrambled eggs served with a fire-y tomato chutney. OK, fine- we couldn't keep it completely carb-free: we had toast and some leftover potatoes, too.



Oh, yeah.... and that blueberry coffee cake I made. Whoops!



Meal Number Six: Sunday Lunch
Conceived by: Threebs

Threebs made a delicious salad trio: Three bean salad, beat & mint, and tomato & peach. Unfortunately, we were too depressed about leaving Fire Island to remember to take pictures! So we ate as we cleaned, and soon enough we were on the ferry back to the main land.

A weekend with amazing food... not the main point of the weekend away, but definitely an added plus to spending quality time with people (and pets!) you love!!!

Fire Island: Part I

Threebs and Little Bird invited Peanut and me to spend the weekend with them on Fire Island! We left Friday morning and came back Sunday afternoon... which means, that Threebs and I had to plan out a total of six meals! And not (an affordable) grocery store on the island. So we planned, we prepped, and got ourselves on the ferry!



Meal Number One: Friday Night Dinner
Conceived by: Threebs

She was a bit nervous about grilling pizzas but Threebs is never one to be intimidated by a challenge, especially one that's culinary. Peanut was beside her to offer help or just help boost confidence at the grill.



First up: Manchego, truffle oil, and cremini mushrooms.



Next: Margherita (Tomato, garlic, and mozzarella)



And finally: Caprese with pesto, mozzarella, and her own home-grown tomatoes!!!



She served the pizzas with a fennel and arugula salad, and some sauteed broccolini. A delicious start to the weekend!



Meal Number Two: Saturday Morning Breakfast
Conceived by: Rajeev

Peanut and I overloaded on blueberries at two separate farmer's markets, so I decided to keep it simple and delicious with some homemade blueberry muffins. (Threebs even prepared some blueberry smoothies to accompany them).

And we were off to the beach!

Meal Number Three: Saturday Lunch, on the beach
Conceived by: Rajeev

Light, fresh, and delicious was my inspiration. Add some Bulgar wheat, lemon juice, scallions, mint, parsley, and feta and you have yourself a perfect tabbouleh for lunch, served with pita. (Threebs, of course, had the perfect accompaniment: baby carrots, hummus, and olives).



Saturday Afternoon Cocktail Conceived by: Threebs

The girl can do no wrong! What better way to end the day on the beach then with some fresh cucumber, mint, and lemon to accent the perfect Pimm's Cup. I kid you not: the entire beach was jealous.

Stay Tuned for the remainder of the weekend's fabulous meals!!!