LesleyD
11-03-2001, 07:50 PM
This review is posted by a Supper Club in Ventura County, California. We all met through the CL Bulletin Board and enjoyed our first cooking experience together, which was the "On the Edge" menu from the September 2001 issue of CL. Unfortunately, the one thing none of us were too crazy about was the item I made. Alas! Read on...
Appetizer: Spice-Crusted Shrimp with Remoulade Sauce. We all agreed that this is a keeper. How can you miss with seasonings of cumin, paprika, et al., coated on the shrimp, cooked in olive oil and served with a zesty Remoulade sauce?
Salad: Thai Bell Pepper, Cucumber, and Peanut Salad. You may look at the recipe and see that the dressing contains "Thai fish sauce," and say, "No thanks." Don't let it scare you! Our hostess, who made the salad, was concerned about the sauce as it does smell like, well...FISH! But once you mix the dressing together and combine it with the salad, the fish sauce is greatly toned down. In fact, I doubt most people would know the dressing had fish sauce. This is a very light, crunchy and refreshing salad. It is also very pretty to serve as it is colorful. We recommend it.
Vegetable: Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Browned Butter. You don't need to be an asparagus fan to love this recipe. The combination of soy sauce and balsamic vinegar poured over the asparagus, then cooked in the oven, made this a very tasty and easy to make side dish. We all liked the idea of cooking the asparagus in the oven also. Recommended.
Entree: Citrus Chicken Tagine. Mmmmm...you must venture out and try this one. Yes, this did take some work, but the wonderful blend of flavors is well worth every moment in the kitchen. It is such a pretty dish, featuring chicken, red bell pepper, orange sections, kalamata olives and lemon sections, combined with some really great seasonings and served on top a bed of couscous. Your guests will thank you for your hard work.
Side: Green-Onion Pancakes. I warned you earlier that we just were not crazy at all over what I made. This was it. For starters, making these pancakes is a lot of work and a bit time consuming. The finished product is okay to look at but it is pretty bland. Perhaps more seasonings would bring them to the land of the living! I'm thinking possibly some garlic and a touch of cayenne pepper. We do not recommend this recipe without some fairly major enhancements.
Dessert: Star Anise Bread Pudding. We really did enjoy this dessert. It was spiced just right and very tasty; however, our member who cooked it up for us felt that it was not all that different from other bread puddings and that it didn't warrant the costly ingredients (star anise and crystallized ginger).
For it being the first time we all cooked together, we had so much fun and greatly enjoyed the meal. Our hostess did a wonderful job of decorating her table and treating us like VIP's.;)
Appetizer: Spice-Crusted Shrimp with Remoulade Sauce. We all agreed that this is a keeper. How can you miss with seasonings of cumin, paprika, et al., coated on the shrimp, cooked in olive oil and served with a zesty Remoulade sauce?
Salad: Thai Bell Pepper, Cucumber, and Peanut Salad. You may look at the recipe and see that the dressing contains "Thai fish sauce," and say, "No thanks." Don't let it scare you! Our hostess, who made the salad, was concerned about the sauce as it does smell like, well...FISH! But once you mix the dressing together and combine it with the salad, the fish sauce is greatly toned down. In fact, I doubt most people would know the dressing had fish sauce. This is a very light, crunchy and refreshing salad. It is also very pretty to serve as it is colorful. We recommend it.
Vegetable: Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Browned Butter. You don't need to be an asparagus fan to love this recipe. The combination of soy sauce and balsamic vinegar poured over the asparagus, then cooked in the oven, made this a very tasty and easy to make side dish. We all liked the idea of cooking the asparagus in the oven also. Recommended.
Entree: Citrus Chicken Tagine. Mmmmm...you must venture out and try this one. Yes, this did take some work, but the wonderful blend of flavors is well worth every moment in the kitchen. It is such a pretty dish, featuring chicken, red bell pepper, orange sections, kalamata olives and lemon sections, combined with some really great seasonings and served on top a bed of couscous. Your guests will thank you for your hard work.
Side: Green-Onion Pancakes. I warned you earlier that we just were not crazy at all over what I made. This was it. For starters, making these pancakes is a lot of work and a bit time consuming. The finished product is okay to look at but it is pretty bland. Perhaps more seasonings would bring them to the land of the living! I'm thinking possibly some garlic and a touch of cayenne pepper. We do not recommend this recipe without some fairly major enhancements.
Dessert: Star Anise Bread Pudding. We really did enjoy this dessert. It was spiced just right and very tasty; however, our member who cooked it up for us felt that it was not all that different from other bread puddings and that it didn't warrant the costly ingredients (star anise and crystallized ginger).
For it being the first time we all cooked together, we had so much fun and greatly enjoyed the meal. Our hostess did a wonderful job of decorating her table and treating us like VIP's.;)