Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Kristin's Small Plates Menu 8/16/08















My best friend is engaged! For her engagement party I’m responsible for the appetizers. I thought it would be a great idea to try them out prior to the big date- and also a fun idea for dinner night! All the recipes I chose were appetizers and could be eaten by hand. I tried to pick out recipes that not only tasted good, but also looked super cute. We made a wide variety of cuisines which made me very nervous that it wouldn’t all come together. There were a few things I had been dying to use that I incorporated into our meal- utensils to make sushi from a cooking class I took at Sur La Table and champagne glasses I got for my Birthday. Combine this with the other genres of food and it made for an interesting but delicious night. I definitely found some winners for the party.

Bellini Cocktail- Kristin
Recipe was super simple. 2 peaches per bottle of champagne. We blended the peaches into a puree and then added them to the drinks. I thought the peaches didn’t mix well and ended up sitting at the bottom of the glass. I liked it- but only because it was champagne. Next time I’ll leave out the fruit.
K: Thumbs down
N: Thumbs down – I love champagne, but for some reason this combo did not taste quite right.
R: Thumbs down - not a huge champagne person, and did not like how the fruit sat at the bottom.
H – Thumbs down – It really didn’t taste like a Bellini to me.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus (Courtesy of AllRecipes.com)
Nicole
This recipe was also very easy to make, and I was excited to do it because I had always wanted to learn how to make hummus. I echo Kristin’s request to add olive oil (isn’t that a staple of hummus?), and would also add a bit more garlic and salt for additional flavor.
Kristin- Thumbs up. Could use some olive oil though.
Nicole – Thumbs up.
Rissa - thumbs sideways. I like hummus more room temperature, and with a little olive oil. I think doing these things to the recipe would improve it for me.
Heather – Thumbs sideways. I’m not a huge hummus fan in general. This was just ok for me.




Caprese sticks – Kristin
This recipe comes from Rachel Ray. The thing I loved about this one was that you actually could make it in less than 30 minutes! Very simple- yet great presentation. I couldn’t find the mini balls of mozzarella so instead I used one big piece of fresh mozzarella. I also added in balsamic vinegar since I thought it would add taste. In the end, I thought the dish was ok. I didn’t like the grape tomatoes as much as normal slices but I thought the presentation made up for it.
K: Thumbs Up
N: Thumbs up.
R: Thumbs up. I liked the grape tomatoes! Thought it worked well and kept it neat.
H: Thumbs up. I have made these before and I’m a big believer in the tomato-basil-mozzarella combo!


CA Roll – Nicole
I love Japanese food, but somehow had never made rolls before. It took up until the third roll before we figured out the proper rolling technique, but regardless of the way they looked they all tasted great. We modified the recipe slightly to use “krab” (aka artificial crab), and instead of using logs of crab and avocado we just mixed the crab chunks, avocado pieces, and mayo in a bowl. It turned into a bit of crab guacamole that we spread onto the rolls, and worked out very well.
K: Thumbs up- Surprisingly DELICIOUS!
N: Thumbs up.
R: Thumbs up. Very professional and I loved the avocado in it!
H: Thumbs sideways: These looked very professional and actually tasted pretty good. I’m just not a huge lover of sushi these days which is why it didn’t get a thumbs up from me.

Bacon wrapped scallops Rissa
I don’t know if it’s fair for me to judge this one because I had never tried scallops before this night. I can’t say I like them…not my estilo, and they really didn’t have much taste. The bacon around it worked though because I love bacon! But it was painful to actually toothpick the bacon around each scallop when it was piping hot. That’s more of a technique issue obviously. Also, it seems difficult to tell when scallops are done!
K: Thumbs down.
N: Thumbs sideways – I think that this one has potential, and that we just need to learn the proper technique to make it.
R: Thumbs down.
H: Big fat thumbs down – Sorry but due to the burns I have on my leg from the bacon grease and the fact that the scallops tasted mushy to me, I would not make these again.


Chicken Italiano- Rissa
This recipe was so neat to make. A few chopped veggies combined with chicken and mayo. The spices that Heather cooked into the chicken helped make it even tastier. I’m not huge on mayo, but it worked well and the recipe tasted great. It held together well inside two wonton wrappers. Someone mentioned maybe just using one wrapper, but I liked two…put a nice “crust” on it. Perfect party recipe as it can really be eaten by hand without a mess!
K: Thumbs up- I’ll be making this for the party.
N: Thumbs up.
R: Thumbs up.
H: Thumbs up – These were delicious and beautiful…like little flowers.


Brie with Strawberries – This was an interesting recipe. I was very skeptical about this recipe as a dessert because I’m used to full-on cakes, cookies, pies, etc. for dessert. Also, I like brie but chives in dessert just didn’t sound right. This recipe was easy to put together and it actually ended up tasting quite good. The savory of the brie paired well with the sweetness of the cream cheese. I don’t think I would serve this for dessert, per se, but it is definitely an option for an appetizer in the future!

K: Thumbs down.
N: Thumbs up.
R: Thumbs up - Surprisingly, I liked this! I might add a weebit of sugar to the cream cheese though.
H: Thumbs up.

Nicole's Summertime Fruit-inspired menu 6/9/08


After last-minute menu planning for dinner nights the past few years, I wanted to put in a bit more effort now that I am done with grad school. I actually had most of the recipes picked out a month in advance (shocking!), and wanted to utilize the "Burgers" cookbook that Rissa had given me since my parents have a grill at their house. The drink recipe was a recommendation from Rissa, I got the salad recipe from a friend after trying it at a recent potluck that I went to, the mango gazpacho recipe was posted on our internal website at work (and was used even though Rissa's coworker had given it a bad review), and I found the peach ice-cream cake recipe on a MarthaStewart.com e-mail that I received. I didn't intentionally search out fruity recipes, although with my sweet tooth and a summertime theme they tended to gravitate towards there naturally.

Peaches and Mixed Greens Salad (Cooking Light, July 2006)
Preparer: All

This was quite a tasty salad. It was fun putting the dressing together, too (sort of the “little bit of this and little bit of that” routine). I didn’t know if I’d like raspberries and peaches in my salad, but I thought it was soooo tasty! The dressing was very good. The salad bowl was empty once we were done with it. I learned after that the feta cheese was an addition to the ingredients, and to me it’s a MUST when making this again. It offset the sweetness of the fruit quite well. (Rissa)

R: Thumbs up!
H: Thumbs sideways – however, I would probably not make it again. It was a little too fruity for my liking.
N: Thumbs up – yum!

Caribbean Pork Burgers (Burger cookbook)
Preparer: Rissa



I made the actual burgers for this one. Heather made the sauce and salsa. We used chicken sausage with mango in it and ground turkey. I found a great way to actually crumble up the chicken sausage...pulse it a few times in the blender! It was overall quite easy (at least for my part), and I wondered what the mango would taste like in the sausage, but I couldn’t taste it much. I really liked the sauce on the burgers, too. (Rissa)

R: Thumbs up! This was good - I would use regular white bread buns and put a big piece of cheese on top! I liked the sauce a lot on this one.
H: Thumbs sideways – It was okay - there was too much going on in this burger for me to give it a good rating. I like my burgers a little more simple.
N: Thumbs up – very savory!

Mango Harvest Gazpacho (nestle.com)
Preparer: Heather



This was really easy to put together – simply, adding all the ingredients and blending. However, I was skeptical in the beginning and my gut feeling ended up being right. The soup turned out really sweet and it was almost as if we were drinking juice that had cucumbers and red onion in it. I think it would have worked better if it was a traditional gazpacho that had chunks of mango in it rather than a mango-based gazpacho. (Heather)


R: Thumbs down. Not a cold soup fan.
H: Thumbs down.
N: Thumbs up - I was probably the only person at the table who liked this, but I am a huge fan of cilantro, red onion, and fruit. I can see why most people would not like this though.

Peaches-and-Cream Ice Cream Cake (marthastewart.com)
Preparer: Nicole


The ingredients and materials for this recipe were not necessarily standard (that’s Martha for you!), so my many substitutions obviously affected the outcome of this dish. It called for an 8x12-inch cake pan, and I have multiple 9x13 pans but had never heard of an 8x12. Instead of making one large cake and cutting to size I actually made two smaller rectangular cakes in standard loaf pans, and then leveled them off (I made two cakes instead of the one prescribed in the recipe, so the ratio of ice cream:cake was slightly lower). Substitution number two occurred with the peach sorbet, which I was not able to find after trips to two different grocery stores. I substituted extra vanilla ice cream for the peach sorbet, and then made a peach sauce concoction to mix in with the ice cream and peach pieces to make it fruitier. I combined a pureed peach, a few tablespoons sugar, and a tablespoon of Crème de Cassis (I figured that I used it in the salad dressing, why not use a little in the dessert?), and simmered it in a small pan over the stove. The cakes sat in the freezer an hour longer than the minimum two hours, but the ice cream was still not completely set when the cake was sliced (although the peach pieces were frozen solid). I was perplexed by this, and then my mom pointed out that liquor doesn’t freeze, and I had used a small amount with the peaches – oops! Lesson learned for next time. My only other comment would be making sure to use very ripe peaches for the peach pieces; I had to use what was available at the store since I bought them the day before, and had they ripened a couple more days it would have made the cake sweeter and tastier. (Nicole)

R: Thumbs sideways. I liked the cake part, but I’m not a huge ice cream fan (though a little bit, combined with peach bits and the cake was tasty). I wouldn’t make it again, but it wasn’t bad either!
H: Thumbs sideways – It was just alright in my book. I probably wouldn’t make it again.
N: Thumbs sideways with the potential to be a thumbs up.

Bikini Martini (allrecipes.com)
Preparer: Nicole


The somewhat intentional fruit theme of the meal was carried out through the drink, which had pineapple juice and coconut rum in it. This drink was delicious and very easy to make, and complemented the flavors in the other dishes nicely. A perfect summertime cocktail! (Nicole)

R: Thumbs way up! It was nice and strong, too.
H: Thumbs down. A little too strong for my taste.
N: I agree with Rissa – thumbs way up!