Taste of Italy April 29, 2010

Last night Carol and I attended this and had a wonderful time. We were able to get a table on the upstairs patio and it was a beautiful evening (first rule of wine tastings at HEB.. get a table first and then guard it with your life!)

Savoring the World Series

This "walk around" style allows you to taste foods and wine from one of our favorite countries - Italy! Both the Head Wino and Chef have outdone themselves with this one. Martin has new wines in from Italy and Chef Curtis has come up with a phenomenal menu.

The menu is:

• Antipaso – Mortadella, Salami, Prosciutto with Tomato Confit; Marinated Olives, & Grilled Bread
• Tomato Salad with Fresh Mozzarella, Basil Seeds & Basil
• Heirloom Tomato Soup with Parmesan Crackers, Basil Oil, & Lemon Yogurt
• Seared Salmon with a Leek Risotto & Grilled Lemon Butter
• Beef Short Rib Canelloni with Bolognese & Basil
• Cheeses from Italy with Nuts, Dried Fruits, Honey & Ciabatta
• Traditional Italian Rice Pudding
• Strawberry Salad with Balsamic Syrup & Malted Whipped Cream
• Biscotti & Amaretti
• Pana Cotta

The wines are (may vary depending on availability):

• Riondo Prosecco
• Tiamo Pinot Grigio Veneto
• Farnese Trebbianno d'Abbruzo
• Bastianich Rosato Venezia
• Palma Arc Salici Salentine
• Primaterra Primitivo Sicilia
• Tenuta di Montecucco Canaiolo Maremma
• Il Santo Baroncini Tuscany

Salmon and berries (but not at the same time)

I went through my "to be cooked" files and found Salmon with Hoisin, Orange and Bok Choy. It is from Bon Appetit magazine and the first recipe I have made from the magazine. This recipe was so easy and so good! And I think very versatile as you could probably also use spinach rather than bok choy. And who does not love the ease of a foil packet?? I used parsley rather than cilantro but otherwise followed the recipe as is.

With summer here, I want to make desserts with fresh fruit. I found Very Berry Pie through the Tasty Kitchen blog. It was delicious! I used a pre-made pie crust and was happy I did. The "stars" of the recipe are the crumble top and the fruit and I did not even notice the bottom crust. There are no fresh cherries yet, and I could not find frozen ones, so I used strawberries, blueberries and blackberries. I also ended up using half fresh and half frozen fruit (I had frozen blueberries from last year's picking) and you could not tell at all.

April 2010

This month's gathering was at Tonya's. I was not there (so sad!) but I wanted to post what the group cooked ! We are all getting older and our memories sometimes fail us....


Main Dish: North African Meatballs

Side Dish:

Couscous with Dried Dates

1 cup water
1 cup chicken stock or broth
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped dried dates
1 cup quick-cooking couscous
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bring the water, stock, and oil to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the dates followed by the couscous. Cover the pan tightly with a lid, remove from the heat, and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Transfer to a serving bowl and serve.

Yield: 4 servings

Mary = appetizer

Carol = salad

Teresa = bread and wine

Spring is in the air...

I am trying to be more seasonal in the desserts I am making now, so I pulled out all my recipes with fresh fruits and berries (peaches, blackberries, blue berries and strawberries).

This Free-form strawberry Cheesecake was super easy, tasty and refreshing. I had never used the ready-to-eat cheesecake filling and it was very good!

I also made these White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal cookies. I only baked a few and froze the rest of the dough for anytime, fresh from the oven cookies! They are very good and with the oatmeal and pecans, I think some what healthy!

French Apple Tarts

I made this French Apple Tart this weekend and it was very tasty. And my mom thought it looked pretty with the apples, though I was a bit hasty and did not arrange them as pretty as I could have. I also did not make individual tarts, but just covered the entire pastry with apples. I used 3 tbs butter and some of the dough stayed too "doughy". Next time I will start with 1 tbs as you only need enough to wet the apples so the sugar sticks. I used 3 tbs because I thought it was a flavoring, or made the crust flakier, but now I realize its function.

Also, I recommend following the directions where it says to use a pan with sides. If you do not, butter will drip to the bottom of the oven, which may or may not catch on fire when you increase the oven temperature to 500 degrees in an attempt to "burn" off the butter. Then you may or may not have a heart attack while you wonder if you are about to catch your house on fire. Fortunately, I did not catch anything other than the butter on fire.

t'afia

We celebrated on March 26, 2010 at t'afia for our special dinner that normally takes place in December. All attended, except for Mary.

When I arrived, wondering if I would see famous chef Monica Pope, I was pleasantly surprised to see Monica taking part in what looked like a photo shoot for The Houston Press. I will keep a look out for her in a future publication!

I started out with a ratafia with strawberries. Very yummy. I also had an endive salad (which was so good!), pistachio crusted salmon with an orange drizzle and the best spinach I have ever had and creme brulee for dessert. Janet also had the salmon, Tonya and Teresa had scallops with a chile sauce and quinoa and Carol had the veal. I think between the 5 of us we had every dessert and all were tasty. Carol liked my creme brulee the best, but I thought the chocolate brownies and mouse were very good.

Pineapple Pie

My dad loves pineapple pie, so I decided to find a recipe for him. I found an awesome one off The Pioneer Woman's new cooking site, Tasty Kitchen. These are real recipes, submitted by real people with real feedback. How can you go wrong?

The pie was excellent. Creamy with very little fat and quite simple. I did not even scramble the eggs while heating up the filling! Grandma Inez's Pineapple Pie will be made again!