Mmmmm, Dinner

Well, we brought in the New Year with a bang. Aside from the leaking dining room, I had two accidents in the kitchen in two hours. The first, I was peeling a squash and jammed the veggie peeler into my finger. That was the first time I drew blood in the kitchen. It hurt, it was bloody, it sucked.

Two hours later, while chopping an onion, I slipped with the knife and took off a large part of my left middle finger. While there was A LOT of blood, I didn't need stitches. I did get very gun shy around the knives and didn't finish my last dish.

But, New Year's Eve went well. We had a small gathering at our house. We thought CJ was to work the next day, but find out at the last minute that he didn't have. That was great news.

I started with a couple apps, Chicken Liver Pate and Fingerling Potatoes with Caviar.



The pate came from the new Martha Stewart New Classics cookbook. The cookbook is totally messed up and so was the recipe. I had to improvise because the recipe doesn't make sense, but it came out really well. We have been eating it since (it made a lot).

I stole the idea for the potatoes from Emily at a birthday party she threw. Thank God for Ikea and Asian supermarkets for low cost caviar.

Well, in all the excitement, I forgot to take pictures of the rest of what I made. We had a carrot soup that was very good, but like all carrot soups, reminded me of baby food. I made a large batch of roasted veggies, always easy and delicious. Finally, I made goulash. I base it on this recipe. Usually it is very good, but served on egg noodles, it just wasn't that great.

In addition to this, our fine guest brought delicious and awesome food. We had a red pepper spread to die for and an awesome chocolate and peanut butter pie. CJ made Kir Royales and there was lots of wine and champagne.

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One more thing, CJ and I finally finished the living room. That means for the first time in almost a year we are eating dinner at a table, a dining room table.

Tonight it was trout and risotto. Tasty.

Labels: appetizer, caviar, fish, pate, potatoes, risotto, trout

I guess this was last week. I'm a little slow getting the pics up.

As you can see, we have a four item dinner here. The steak, was half of a New York Strip. It was a new brand that our all natural and local meat market was selling. It was very plain. I don't think I would get it again.

CJ loved the Risotto. It was adapted from Barbara Kafka's Vegetable Love cookbook, an awesome cookbook. It was very basic, just the rice, tomatoes, stock, salt, and some basil, topped with some grated Parmesan cheese. It tasted a little plain to me, but CJ thought it tasted like lasagna. I will try to improve on this recipe for sure.

The bread was from the farmer's market. It was a hazelnut rye bread, and I thought it was wonderful.

The peas, in my opinion, were the star of the night. Also from Kafka's book, basic frozen peas, butter, mint, and lettuce sauteed together, basically. They were fresh and light and wonderfully minty. I think this is going to be a go to recipe around here.

Labels: bread, farmer's market, peas, risotto, steak