Peggy
05-26-2005, 11:23 PM
While reading Jessica's Supper Club review I was reminded that I have neglected to post our May menu and reviews.:o For shame!
Our May dinner was a very special one for us because we had a CLBB celebrity come to visit. Our special guest was Canice from San Francisco!!:D She braved some very lousy rainy and windy weather to drive up from the Bay Area to be with us. Canice is an absolutely delightful person! Though we had never met IRL before, I felt like we were already good friends. She fit in easily with our group and was a willing and expert chopper and shrimp deveiner in the kitchen, as we quickly found out. A prep chef extraordinaire!!
For our May dinner, we wanted to do something different so we selected most of the Happy Hour menu from the April issue. We had a retro-style cocktail party just like our parents used to have! We served several appetizers and experimented with cocktails in the living room and then retired to the dining room for the remainder of the menu. Below is our menu and recipe reviews:
Eggplant Caponata (CL - 4/05) - We served this appetizer on toasted pita bread triangles. I believe this was the surprise hit of the evening. We have several members that aren't crazy about eggplant, but everyone loved this. The combination of flavors was outstanding yet many of the ingredients seemed unusual together: golden raisins, eggplant, garlic, kalamata olives, capers. It was pungent, sweet, aromatic and delicious!
Marinated Shrimp (CL - 4/05) - These shrimp were wonderfully seasoned. They were easy to eat in a cocktail setting and very flavorful.
Creamy Mushroom Phyllo Triangles (CL - 4/05) - This appetizer was also well liked by our group. We had a bit of a preparation mix-up on the cutting and wrapping of the phyllo and our first batch of triangles ended up being twice the size they should have been, but heh - they still tasted great!:o We ended up using the entire 8-oz package of 1/3-less fat cream cheese instead of the 6-oz specified in the recipe. What would we do with the remaining 2oz portion?! We are nothing if we aren't practical!!;) Alittle extra fat never hurt anyone... We liked the delicately flavored stuffing but felt they would have been improved if they were brushed with some melted butter before going into the oven. (But then I guess they wouldn't be considered "light".)
Sundried Tomato Pate (cookbook with recipe for English Teas) - This wasn't Cooking Light but I had some leftovers that I had made for a wine tasting we had attended earlier in the week so I put it out with the other appetizers. We served it with water crackers and everyone enjoyed it, even Canice. Apparently she has an aversion to sundried tomatoes but she found herself surprisingly addicted to this recipe. :)
Classic Dry Martini (CL - 4/05) - One of our mixed drink experts pointed out that this was an atypical martini because it called for vodka instead of gin. Clueless me didn't know the difference. This was my first true martini ever and apparently it was a fake!;) But I just trusted the CL recipe in my April issue! The martinis were very popular with the group.
Old-Fashioned (CL - 4/05) - Another first for me and several others in the group. These seemed a bit strong but after the first few sips you kind of got used to the flavor. We discovered that several of us had parents that had enjoyed Old-Fashioneds over the years. I served them with a maraschino cherry in them because that's how my Dad always drank them. We all used to fight over who got the cherry when he was finished!:D
Pineapple Margarita (CL - 4/05) - This drink was more contraversial in our group. A few liked it, but most didn't. I think we are all used to blended margaritas, not the shaken variety. Several thought the drink would have been better with blended fresh fruit instead of canned pineapple juice. Some thought it was too sweet, others thought it needed more sweetness. It depended on everyone's personal preferences.
This combination of appetizers and cocktails in the living room created a different atmosphere than we have had at our other dinners. This relaxed, unstructured time gave everyone a chance to really visit and conversations were numerous and more lively than at the dinner table. Of course, you might be able to attribute some of this additional animation to the mixed drinks versus our usual light-weight glass of wine before dinner!:o ;)
We then moved into the dining room for dinner. At this point we switched to sit-down food and wine.
Cognac-Marinated Beef Tenderloin Sandwiches with Horseradish Cream (CL - 4/05) - These small sandwiches were nothing short of excellent! The combination of rare beef, horseradish cream and a roll was fabulous. We preassembled them but some thought it might be better to let each person make their own sandwich so they could add as much of the horseradish mixture as they wanted. One of our DHs ate #5!!
Mixed Vegetable Salad (CL - 4/05) - This salad was a great accompaniment to the sandwiches. The white wine/white wine vinegar based dressing didn't overpower the natural flavors of the vegetables. The fennel in the salad was a big flavor surprise but it worked. Overall, everyone was pleased with the salad.
Coconut Biscotti (CL - 4/05) - We served these biscotti with coffee after dinner. One person commented, "I'm running right home and making these immediately!" They were that good! We chose not to dip them in chocolate, but to leave them unadulterated and they certainly were able to stand on their own. Yummy!
Meyer Lemon and Rosemary Brulees (CL - 4/05) - We did experience some difficulties preparing these, but this was mainly due to too many things in the oven at once which affected the cooking time. They took over twice as long to bake but that's hardly surprising since we were opening and closing the oven the entire time putting appetizers in and out.:o We all really enjoyed this light and pleasant dessert. The rosemary and lemon flavors blended nicely and it was a perfect end to another great evening of food.
That wraps up the summary of our evening. If you are still reading this, bless you, because I know it is very long!!!:o A special thank to Canice for coming to celebrate the evening with us. It was a pleasure to have her join our group!
Peggy
Our May dinner was a very special one for us because we had a CLBB celebrity come to visit. Our special guest was Canice from San Francisco!!:D She braved some very lousy rainy and windy weather to drive up from the Bay Area to be with us. Canice is an absolutely delightful person! Though we had never met IRL before, I felt like we were already good friends. She fit in easily with our group and was a willing and expert chopper and shrimp deveiner in the kitchen, as we quickly found out. A prep chef extraordinaire!!
For our May dinner, we wanted to do something different so we selected most of the Happy Hour menu from the April issue. We had a retro-style cocktail party just like our parents used to have! We served several appetizers and experimented with cocktails in the living room and then retired to the dining room for the remainder of the menu. Below is our menu and recipe reviews:
Eggplant Caponata (CL - 4/05) - We served this appetizer on toasted pita bread triangles. I believe this was the surprise hit of the evening. We have several members that aren't crazy about eggplant, but everyone loved this. The combination of flavors was outstanding yet many of the ingredients seemed unusual together: golden raisins, eggplant, garlic, kalamata olives, capers. It was pungent, sweet, aromatic and delicious!
Marinated Shrimp (CL - 4/05) - These shrimp were wonderfully seasoned. They were easy to eat in a cocktail setting and very flavorful.
Creamy Mushroom Phyllo Triangles (CL - 4/05) - This appetizer was also well liked by our group. We had a bit of a preparation mix-up on the cutting and wrapping of the phyllo and our first batch of triangles ended up being twice the size they should have been, but heh - they still tasted great!:o We ended up using the entire 8-oz package of 1/3-less fat cream cheese instead of the 6-oz specified in the recipe. What would we do with the remaining 2oz portion?! We are nothing if we aren't practical!!;) Alittle extra fat never hurt anyone... We liked the delicately flavored stuffing but felt they would have been improved if they were brushed with some melted butter before going into the oven. (But then I guess they wouldn't be considered "light".)
Sundried Tomato Pate (cookbook with recipe for English Teas) - This wasn't Cooking Light but I had some leftovers that I had made for a wine tasting we had attended earlier in the week so I put it out with the other appetizers. We served it with water crackers and everyone enjoyed it, even Canice. Apparently she has an aversion to sundried tomatoes but she found herself surprisingly addicted to this recipe. :)
Classic Dry Martini (CL - 4/05) - One of our mixed drink experts pointed out that this was an atypical martini because it called for vodka instead of gin. Clueless me didn't know the difference. This was my first true martini ever and apparently it was a fake!;) But I just trusted the CL recipe in my April issue! The martinis were very popular with the group.
Old-Fashioned (CL - 4/05) - Another first for me and several others in the group. These seemed a bit strong but after the first few sips you kind of got used to the flavor. We discovered that several of us had parents that had enjoyed Old-Fashioneds over the years. I served them with a maraschino cherry in them because that's how my Dad always drank them. We all used to fight over who got the cherry when he was finished!:D
Pineapple Margarita (CL - 4/05) - This drink was more contraversial in our group. A few liked it, but most didn't. I think we are all used to blended margaritas, not the shaken variety. Several thought the drink would have been better with blended fresh fruit instead of canned pineapple juice. Some thought it was too sweet, others thought it needed more sweetness. It depended on everyone's personal preferences.
This combination of appetizers and cocktails in the living room created a different atmosphere than we have had at our other dinners. This relaxed, unstructured time gave everyone a chance to really visit and conversations were numerous and more lively than at the dinner table. Of course, you might be able to attribute some of this additional animation to the mixed drinks versus our usual light-weight glass of wine before dinner!:o ;)
We then moved into the dining room for dinner. At this point we switched to sit-down food and wine.
Cognac-Marinated Beef Tenderloin Sandwiches with Horseradish Cream (CL - 4/05) - These small sandwiches were nothing short of excellent! The combination of rare beef, horseradish cream and a roll was fabulous. We preassembled them but some thought it might be better to let each person make their own sandwich so they could add as much of the horseradish mixture as they wanted. One of our DHs ate #5!!
Mixed Vegetable Salad (CL - 4/05) - This salad was a great accompaniment to the sandwiches. The white wine/white wine vinegar based dressing didn't overpower the natural flavors of the vegetables. The fennel in the salad was a big flavor surprise but it worked. Overall, everyone was pleased with the salad.
Coconut Biscotti (CL - 4/05) - We served these biscotti with coffee after dinner. One person commented, "I'm running right home and making these immediately!" They were that good! We chose not to dip them in chocolate, but to leave them unadulterated and they certainly were able to stand on their own. Yummy!
Meyer Lemon and Rosemary Brulees (CL - 4/05) - We did experience some difficulties preparing these, but this was mainly due to too many things in the oven at once which affected the cooking time. They took over twice as long to bake but that's hardly surprising since we were opening and closing the oven the entire time putting appetizers in and out.:o We all really enjoyed this light and pleasant dessert. The rosemary and lemon flavors blended nicely and it was a perfect end to another great evening of food.
That wraps up the summary of our evening. If you are still reading this, bless you, because I know it is very long!!!:o A special thank to Canice for coming to celebrate the evening with us. It was a pleasure to have her join our group!
Peggy