Dinner Party Time!

Friday night, our friends Brooke and Alan came over for dinner! Brooke and I have known each other since elementary school and I am so lucky that her boyfriend, Alan, got a job here in the desert so Brooke and I have been able to reconnect. There is no one better to reminisce with about High School with or laugh about funny things we hear about High School peops than Brooke! We talk about other things also of course, but one thing is for sure...it is always a good time with lots of laughing!

Lately, I have been obsessed with my new cookbook from Ina Garten (you may have noticed from my recent posts this week) and I was so excited to see this Salmon recipe.
I really like simple, fresh flavors so this seemed perfect!

As usual, I was coming home from work to prepare for this so I had to chose something that I could make quickly and still enjoy my company. I also wanted to make a roasted vegetable platter, but it is so time consuming washing and chopping all the vegetables. I decided to wash and chop everything the night before and store them in Tupperware so I was ready to go with that when I got home. My plan worked out perfectly; I was very calm and able to have a great time with my guests...the ultimate goal of a dinner party!

In five minutes I already had all the vegetables on the cookie sheets seasoned with salt, pepper, olive oil, crushed garlic and tarragon ready to go in the 375 degree oven for 20 minutes

These Roasted Tomatoes with Pesto were amazing...and amazingly easy! Even though 2 out of the 4 of us claim to dislike tomatoes, everyone loved them!

Roasted Tomatoes with Pesto
2-2.5 lb Red Tomatoes big enough for roasting (I used Roma)
2 teaspoons dried oregano
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
1/2 cup Store Bought Pesto
1/2 cup Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Wash and slice tomatoes. Gently squeeze out the "guts". Lightly drizzle with Olive Oil and place in glass roasting dish face up. Season with Salt and Pepper. Place in oven for 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and spread tomatoes with pesto. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Return to oven for 7-10 minutes or until cheese has become bubbly and slightly browned.
May serve hot, warm or at room temperature. Enjoy!

Brookie and me

My bread basket I put together with some fresh breads from Trader Joe's

Ta Da! Roasted Vegetable Platter! Something for everyone here...

Roasted Salmon (and Chicken) with Green Herbs
2-2.5 lbs Salmon
1/2 cup Minced Fresh Parsley
1/2 cup Minced Fresh Dill
1/2 cup Minced Fresh Scallions (white and green parts)
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
Salt and Pepper

Preheat Oven to 425 degrees. Place salmon in glass roasting dish and season well with salt and pepper. Whisk oil and lemon juice in a small bowl and drizzle evenly over salmon.
Let rest at room temperature for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine herbs in a small bowl. Coat salmon with herbs liberally and spread on sides and bottom as well. Pour the wine around the fish filet.
Place salmon in oven for 15 minutes till just still pink inside. Remove from oven and cover tightly with foil for 10 minutes to finish the cooking and rest. Serve.

Guests at the dinner table

Brooke's beautiful dessert she brought from her Club. Red Velvet Cake with Pomegranate Seeds and Toasted Almond Slivers. Also, the Syrah they brought was so smooth and yummy! I don't even like wine and I loved it!!

Thank you Brookie and Alan for coming and having so much fun with Bri and I! We had the best time and can't wait to do it again!

Happy Hanukkah!!

As I was looking through the new Holiday Cooking Light magazine a couple weeks ago, I had a revelation I wanted to have a small Hanukkah Party and try out some of these new recipes! I prepared my grocery list and planned all week, and I got so excited about my little party on Sunday. Unfortunately, the more excited I got, the more my throat started to hurt and the more my sinuses were plugging up. As much as I kept fighting it, this terrible flu/cold/whatever is going around was making a nice home in my body.

Sunday morning I woke up so sick, but still hell bent on having this party because I already had all the food, prepared all week, and was excited!! If it weren't for my amazing husband, I wouldn't have been able to have done everything to prepare. He really helped me in the kitchen when he saw me starting to feel really yucky and lose my energy. He fried all the potato latkes and helped me clean as I went along cooking. The mess he made frying the latkes is another story all together...potato EVERYWHERE!

By the time my guests came, I was totally exhausted and was ready to get in bed, but was so happy to see everyone! My menu was as follows:

Cheese and Chive Challa
Beer Braised Brisket with Honey Lime Glaze
Roasted Vegetables
Traditional Potato Latkes
Curried Butternut Squash Potato Latkes with Apple Salsa

Brisket and all the goodies. It is amazing how all of it literally MELTED
into the meat after 4 hours of baking!

I don't know how you make this big of a mess, but I didn't complain because I was able to rest a little before everyone came over


Even on the toaster!!

Cambert, Goat Cheese, Grapes and Crackers

Sweet Raisin Crackers and Mixed Olives

My Table

My Challah (I forgot to take a picture of it, but it was really beautiful!)

Menorah on the 5th night

Roasted Vegetables

Potato Latkes

Apple Salsa

Brisket


Me and My Sis


My sister's beautiful desserts...she is the best baker!!



Whew! It was so fun cooking for my friends and having a party with my wonderful husband! What are your plans for the holidays?

My First Dinner Party

For a wedding gift Brian's grandpa, better known as "Red Levy", gave us a grill for our tiny patio/laundry area. This was in June, it is now late November and my husband, the BIGGEST procrastinator, finally hooked it up. In honor of this momentous occasion we decided to have a dinner party with my family to celebrate the unveiling of the WeberQ120.

I have been wanting to try this recipe from Giada for months now for Couscous-Stuffed Peppers with Basil Sauce. I saw it on her show a while ago when I was home sick with Strep Throat and I just have never had the right menu to compliment them. They just looked so delicious and beautiful...they did not disappoint. I love mixing all sorts of random things I have in my refrigerator and pantry in rice and couscous, so I knew I would just love the mix of dried fruit, spinach, feta cheese and garbanzo beans. The recipe calls for dried currants, but they are so hard to find (sometimes I get lucky), so I chopped up some dried cherries instead. I also substituted the regular feta for fat free because that is all I had on hand, tasted just as good with a fraction of the fat and calories! Same with the Creme Fraiche, I used reduced fat Sour Cream. This was a huge hit and I will be making this again soon!

I also made Bloody Mary Flank Steak for a little break from the normal flank steak marinades you see all the time. Classic recipes are wonderful, but sometimes I am in the mood for something a little more interesting. Nothing says interesting like Vodka and Hot Sauce!

Slicing my Flank Steak with my fabulous Shun Knives

The new master griller!

My sister's unbelievable Carrot Cake that is Cooking Light (tasted like the real thing)!

Our Meal (Still looking for a better way of taking pictures of food, my current strategy does not do it justice!)

Our Appetizer Dips with my cute new Anthropology Bowls (I am sure you will be seeing a lot of them. I am obsessed with tiny bowls)

Brian and his guacamole! He insisted on making it and it actually turned out great, very different from his "famous salmon". I will save that story for another post...

Whats your favorite flank steak recipe?