Dinner Parties!

One of the few cooking magazines I can't get via Texture (aka Next Issue) on my ipad is Kraft Food and Family.  I know.  Pretty much the last cooking magazine you'd expect me to subscribe to.  But I do because on occasion I find a gem.  It's easy to read through too.  This month I've found two gems thus far.  It seems that they've gotten on board the bandwagon of fresh ingredients, which is good. 

The first recipe we tried was for spicy grilled potato salad.  We left the office during a torrential rainstorm. It wasn't much better when we got home.  And, then poor Connie had to head off to the grocery in the same.  I stayed home and started cleaning up and prepping for a dinner party.  I'd read this recipe and another for blackberry glazed bbq chicken thighs on the way to work.  Let's just say that we give VERY few 2's out.  The chicken deserved that rating.  We also give out very few 5's.  The potato salad was a 4 pushing a 5.  It's super easy and super good.  And great leftover too.  I will note the recipe was to pop the potatoes in foil and grill them.  I decided to skip that and save time.  I don't think it made much difference since the potatoes were tossed with the dressing when very hot so they should have absorbed an equal amount of the dressing...

Then, the next evening it was time to get the rosemary roasted chicken ready to go and to keep getting ready for Saturday.  One of my very favorite bloggers and her delightful husband are coming over along with two of their best friends - one of whom happens to be a good friend of mine from high school and the other happens to be his incredibly wonderful wife.  Life gets in the way all too often so the six of us are behind on getting together.  Here's what the chicken looked like as I prepped it:

I was going through all the recipes I'd printed off looking for the gingered iceberg salad recipe when I ran across a recipe that'd be perfect for dinner.  Dean Fearings Texas Smoked Salmon Tartare.  It's a dish that's been inhaled at parties.  We had a couple of bags of smoked salmon.  And, I had all the other ingredients.  The night before I'd made the quinoa radish and snow pea salad.  All I needed to do was make a Greek dressing. Of course, in the magazine the recipe was written to use a Kraft Greek dressing.  I really prefer to make my own.  Usually the only store-bought dressings I'll use are a robust or zesty Italian as a marinade or a poppyseed.  It's so wonderful to have fresh herbs on hand again.  I headed to the herb garden and got a handful of oregano and basil and headed back in to make a dressing.  While I was doing everything else, I'd been using up the crepe batter from Mother's Day with the intention of freezing the crepes.   Then, inspiration struck.  What if I served the smoked salmon tartare with a couple of the crepes?  Perfect!  As was the quinoa salad.  I added a bit of chopped red onion on top but you could add pretty much any vegetable you'd like.  Or, for that matter, shrimp or chicken would be great in it. 

Now, I have to add in that the herb crepes were originally served with grated gruyere and thinly slice ham then napped with hollandaise sauce.  They're incredible that way.  But, they're also VERY versatile and would be perfect with many other fillings...  Mushrooms, chicken, shrimp, beef, eggplant...  And, you can use just about any sauce you'd like.

Well, now, since I've been gabbing about all these wonderful dishes it's probably time to share them...

Spicy Grilled Potato Salad

Ingredients:

2 lbs small red potatoes, halved (I cut mine into 1/2" chunks)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c Zesty Italian dressing
1/3 c mayonnaise (the recipe called for Hot and Spicy so I added Tabasco Chipotle)
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
4 green onions, sliced

Directions (the way I actually made the recipe)

Cook the potatoes over medium heat until they're done.  Have a mixing bowl ready with the garlic and half of the Italian dressing.  As soon as the potatoes are done, drain them then toss them with the dressing mix.  In another bowl, combine the rest of the Italian dressing, the mayo and the Tabasco.  Toss that with the potatoes, bacon and green onions



Texas Smoked Salmon Tartare

Ingredients:

2 oil-packed anchovies, drained and coarsely chopped
2 t roasted garlic paste (I just used crushed garlic)
1 t ground cumin
1 T extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 c sour cream
2 t fresh lime juice
one 1/2 lb piece of skinless smoked salmon cut into 1/4" dice
1 small jalapeno, seeded and minced
1/4 c finely chopped red onion
1 T capers, drained and coarsely chopped
1 T finely chopped cilantro
salt and pepper
4 dozen sturdy corn tortilla chips

Directions:

In a medium sized mixing bowl, mash the anchovies and garlic.  Add in the cumin, olive oil, sour cream and lime juice and mix well.  Fold in the other ingredients.

Snow Pea and Radish Quinoa Salad
makes 12 servings
photo is up top

Ingredients:

3 c cooked quinoa (one cup of uncooked)
1 c snow peas, cut into thin slices
4 green onions, sliced
6 radishes, quartered then sliced thinly
4 oz feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 c Greek dressing
2 T finely chopped fresh mint (I omitted this and added finely chopped red onion)

Directions:

Toss the ingredients together and serve.


Herb Crepes
makes 12 crepes

Ingredients:
1 3/4 c flour
3 eggs
1 1 /4 c milk
1/2 c water
1/2 t salt
1/4 c chopped mixed herbs (parsley, thyme oregano, tarragon)
4 T unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

Add the flour and eggs to your food processor.  Process just until the dough comes together.  Slowly add in the milk water and butter.  Pour the batter into a bowl and mix in the herbs and salt.  Make crepes using 1/4 cup of batter per crepe.  If you don't have a crepe pan, a small skillet with sloped sides will work well.