Best get together yet! We had 4 of our steady members along with 5 new friends in attendance. A lot of talk and laughter, eating, and drinking. Beautiful weather.
This menu was perfect. Really nothing was un-repeatable! So here are my reviews:
Chipotle Soy Bean Dip with Garlic Pita Crisps, August 2003
Absolutely delicious. I made this one. I love recipes that pretty much have one step. Put the ingredients in the food processor and mix! That's it. The pita crisps took 5-10 minutes of hands on work. The aroma of roasted garlic is delicious in itself. I had trouble finding black soybeans. I did find the white version. So I subbed one can white soybeans and one can black beans (I doubled the recipe) and it was great. Maybe would cut down a little on the garlic in the recipe since there is already PLENTY on the pita crisps. Repeater for sure.
Antipasto Italian Roll-ups, July 2003
Good. Dru sliced them into 1-1/2 pieces and we had them as an appetizer along with the dip. She had some trouble locating sun-dried tomato spread. One guest even dipped the roll-up into the bean dip! I liked these as an appetizer. Good, basic, party food.
Beer-Can Chicken with Cola Barbecue Sauce, August 2003
Donna had intended on making the beer can chicken as directed, but realized they wouldn't fit in her grill. She used all of the ingredients and just improvised with the method a little and created a yummy, juicy chicken on the grill.
Rainbow Salad with Vietnamese Dressing, August 2003
From the Inspired Vegetarian column. Phillip made this one and tossed it all together as opposed to leaving it "composed". It says in the magazine that the "simplicity and freshness of this salad are addictive." That's true. It has a really nice kick from the red pepper. And there's no substitute for fresh Cilantro. Wonderful. Visually a very pretty dish.
Fresh Corn Bread Pudding, August 2003
And that's not Cornbread Pudding, it's Corn BreadPudding if that makes sense. Fresh corn really makes this. Alison commented on the ease of preparation as well as the fact that it was just as good the next day. Again, another repeater. It would make a great Thanksgiving side. Again, the corn definitely needs to be fresh though.
Raspberry Sorbet and Meringue Sandwiches, July 2003
What a fantastic contrast of tastes and textures in this dessert. He went so far as to actually make the sorbet himself as well. Looks just like the photo except his sorbet was a little deeper in color. Very refreshing. I would have never made this myself so I'm very glad he did. I would possibly try this one myself it was that goof. Great summer treat. Melts very fast though. A couple of folks felt it was too tart. I liked the contrast.
Reply With Quote
