My Very First Dinner Party!

[Laura B]

Well, I threw my very first dinner party last night (it was also a housewarming party), and it was a huge success!!

I made Grilled Prosciutto-Wrapped Shrimp on skewers with olive oil and lemon juice drizzled over them before serving. Everyone LOVED them and they were so easy to do and SO impressive. However, we need to buy some metal skewers because the wooden ones burned up (despite a 3 hour soak).

Dinner was Grilled Marinated Ribeye Steaks with homemade steak sauce. I served a Baby Romaine Salad with a homemade dressing from The French Laundry cookbook and Balsamic Roasted New Potatoes and Red Onions, a recipe I adapted from a Food & Wine recipe.

Dessert was Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream (from Ben & Jerry's cookbook) and Lemon Cake from Barefoot Contessa Parties! .

Everyone raved about everything, and it made me feel so proud! (Insert grinning, bouncing smilie here.) Two of our guests are spending the weekend with us, and they were telling me again this morning how great everything was. The cake and ice cream were deemed "phenomenal."

OK. I am done beaming. My husband just doesn't understand my excitement, but I know y'all will!

And, of course, all recipes are available upon request. ;)

[Missi]

Good for you, Laura!!!! Your menu sounds soooooo yummy!

I can't wait to have a dinner party when I move into a house (still in a very tiny apartment!)

Would you mind posting the Basalmic Roasted New Potatoes and Red Onions recipe with your modifications? TIA!

[Laura B]

Here you go, Missi:

Balsamic Roasted New Potatoes and Red Onions

2 pounds small unpeeled new potatoes, quartered
2 red onions, cut into wedges
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 400º. In a large bowl, gently toss the potatoes, onion wedges, balsamic vinegar and olive oil and season lightly with salt and pepper. Spread the vegetables in a large nonstick roasting pan and roast for about 40 minutes, stirring once, until tender and browned.

**My modification was to sub red onions for spanish onions. Also, I don't measure the vinegar; I just pour it all over until I have as much as I want.

This dish is SO SO good and it goes very well with red meat.

[Beth]

Sounds yummy! Congrats on your success and making your house a home.

[lindrusso]

Wow - that menu sounds fabulous. Do you have a recipe for the shrimp or did your description pretty much tell it all?

I'm always looking for new and tasty ways to prepare shrimp!

[Laura B]

lindrusso, the description pretty much said it all. I just wrapped the shrimp (the prosciutto stuck nicely without any help) and skwered them. When they came off the grill, I put them on a platter and squeezed lemon juice over them, then drizzled the oil and passed the platter around. Very simple but so yummy. I put two shrimp per skewer and one skewer per person, and I found it to be the perfect amount in light of the fact that such a huge meal was soon to follow.

[Laura B]

By the way, any ideas on what to do with about a pound and half of leftover cooked steak? The steaks we bought were huge and several of us did not finish them, so I have lots left over today!

[jazzcat]

Laura, would you mind posting your homemade steak sauce? Is this what you marinated your steaks in? Thanks. Ditto, the menu sounds great. Wish I was there!

[Alisa]

Congratulations on your dinner party!

I would think the steak would make excellent fahitas (sp?)

[RobinC]

What about a nice steak salad. I just had an awsome steak salad at the Earth & Ocean restaurant at the W Seattle hotel. It was called the "Better-than-Cobb" salad. It was basically a Cobb salad with steak rather than chicken and had a light vinaigrette dressing.

[Little Bit]

Congratulations on your successful dinner party.
It sounds as though you worked really hard to make it tasty! Yum!
As for leftover steak, send some over to my house, heh, heh, heh.
Seriously, though, leftover steak makes great sandwiches, salads and soups, if you can keep from snacking on the leftovers til it's time to prepare a meal. :) I freely admit that I like it with a bit of worcestershire sauce, cold on a plate. Not very fancy, but tasty.
I still shudder to think of the yucky stodge I served at my 'first dinner for friends in my first apartment.' LOL!!! It's a wonder they ever came back!

[Laura B]

Thanks for the ideas on the leftover steaks! I just had some plain for lunch, but still have plenty left to use in a dish.

Jazzcat, I didn't marinate the steaks in the steak sauce - I simply gave them about 30 minutes with some salt/pepper and worcestershire sauce. That's the way my dad makes steaks, and I love it. The steak sauce (which is really great for anything - fries, onion rings, even diluted and used for salad dressing would probably be yummy) is very simple. It is equal parts mayo and sour cream, then some chili sauce (about half the amount you used of mayo and s.cream) and cayenne pepper to taste. I found it online and I think it is called Spicy Chili Sauce or something, but ever since we tried it with steak we call it steak sauce! (I think it is actually from copycat recipes and is supposed to be the sauce for bloomin onions at Outback.) It makes a really thick sauce and we just dipped our steaks into it.

So, roughly, the recipe would be:
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup chili sauce
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Mix well! All of the ingredients can be adjusted to taste. I have always used light mayo with this, and so far have used regular sour cream. But, I bet low fat sour cream would work well, too.

[BetsyF]

LauraB,

I hate to ask, but could you please post the Lemon Cake recipe from Barefoot Contessa Parties? I have yet to buy the cookbook, although I love her first cookbook, but I had the lemon cake at a party and have been dying to make it! Thanks so much,

Betsy

[Mamasue]

http://mamasue52.homestead.com/files/smile_with_crown.jpg

Here you go Laura.....a nice smiley with a crown for your wonderful success. You are queen for the day! Your menu sounded wonderful......and doesn't it make you feel real good inside when the people you cook for appreciate and enjoy it. Their compliments also makes up for all the hard work that was involved in making your first dinner a success.

[jazzcat]

Thanks Laura for sharing your steak sauce recipe. BTW, I love your avatar. (cat lover that I am) I'll be looking for the Lemon Cake as well. See, you did such a super job we want all your recipes.:D

Mamasue did you justice!!!!!!!

[Laura B]

Thanks, Mamasue! :D

Barefoot Contessa's Lemon Cake

Makes two eight-inch loaves

1/2 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 extra-large eggs at room temperature
1/3 cup grated lemon zest (6 to 8 lemons)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
3/4 cup buttermilk at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the glaze:
2 cups confectioner's sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2-inch loaf pans.

Cream the butter and 2 cups granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. With the mixer on meduim speed, add the eggs, one at a time, and the lemon zest.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, combine 1/4 cup lemon juice, the buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour. Divide the batter evenly between the pans, smooth the tops, andbake for 45 minutes to an hour, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Combine 1/2 cup granulated sugar with 1/2 cup lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves.

When the cakes are done, let them cool for 10 minutes, then invert them onto a rack set over the tray, and spoon the lemon syrup over the cakes. Allow the cakes to cool completely.

For the glaze, combine the confectioner's sugar and lemon juice in a bowl, mixing with a wire whisk until smooth. Pour over the top of the cakes and allow the glaze to drizzle down the sides.

Laura's Notes:

1. I looked up extra-large eggs on Cook's Thesaurus and found that 4 large can sub for 4 extra-large. My cakes turned out fine.

2. I think the cakes are much better served chilled from the fridge as opposed to room temperature because of the syrup. At room temp, it was a bit soggy. But cold, they were incredible! (They were still good at room temp, but I think they were exponentially better the next day from the fridge.)

3. I could not find info in the book about whether the author uses dip-and-sweep or spoon-and-sweep for measuring flour. So, I used dip-and-sweep. The cakes were fine. Next time I will try spooning and see if it makes a difference. I hate when a cookbook doesn't specify which method to use.

[BetsyF]

Thank you LauraB! Betsy

[gabbyh]

Laura, thanks for posting the recipe, along with your "personal" notes...I love when recipes are followed by notes from the cook!...and Betsy, thanks for asking...I also have the Barefoot Contessa's other CB...looks like I may have to get this one also...

Laura, have you tried any other recipes from this book?

[Peggy C.]

Congratulations on you party!

There is not higher praise than from full tummies!

[Laura B]

Gabby,

I have only made the roasted fruit in the same book that the cake came from. I made it to along with the cake, but I burned it a little in the final step. It tasted OK, but I opted not to serve it at the party. Having ice cream with the cake was enough!

There are tons of recipes in the two books that I would like to try. I will post when I try some more! Have you made anything from the first Barefoot Contessa?

[gabbyh]

Laura,
Here's a link re: the first Contessa CB that I printed out...look at "weekendcooks" posting...lots of goodies to try!
http://www.cookinglight.com/vbb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8912&highlight=Barefoot+Contessa

[Laura B]

Thanks, Gabby! I missed that thread the first time around. I probably didn't pay any attention to it because I didn't have the books then.