This post will wrap up the party food and I’ll be back to our regularly featured programming. I have an exciting plan to recreate an appetizer I had at The Porch Restaurant [1] tomorrow, so tune back in for that.
The end of the party preparation had me totally feeling like the Iron Chef. There was a point when I was actually running from the kitchen to the grill and back again. The clock was winding down, the chicken was on the grill, the crostini were in the oven, I was whipping cream for my sauces and had pasta on the stove. I was flying. It was really fun. Intense, but I loved it. Kind of like that two hour power yoga class I took yesterday in an 85 degree room, standing next to the world’s toughest lady, over 40 weeks pregnant Darcie! Intense, but I loved it.
This Bruschetta [2] recipe came from one of those grocery store checkout aisle recipe pamphlet things. The ones that are sort of like a magazine, but with no articles and the pamphlet covers some bizarre theme, like Church Potluck meals or the entirely crock-pot pamphlet or such. Well this one’s theme was all recipes involving 7 ingredients or less, but every recipe involved Dijon mustard. I’ve long since lost the pamphlet, but I found the exact recipe on the Kraft [2] website, (Kraft owns Grey Poupon). I’ve taken this to several parties and people always ask me for the recipe. It’s extremely solid and very easy. I brush my cut up baguette slices with olive oil, then toast them in a 425 degree oven. I made double this recipe for the party and used two whole baguettes and everything was gone. Click through to the Kraft recipe [2] here, it’s delicious fresh tomatoes, green onions, olives and classic vinaigrette.
The herbed pasta salad is adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe, I swapped the ratios on the herbs and changed a few things. Below is the recipe as I made it. The garlic infused olive oil was very nice and this would be a great process for making chili oil as well. This salad can be made the day before.
Herbed Pasta Salad
1000 g. (2.2 lbs) Casarecci pasta
2/3 c. olive oil
9 large cloves garlic, sliced
1/2 c. chopped basil
1 bunch parley, finely chopped
Murray River Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp of salt, and pasta. Cook 9 minutes or until al dente. Drain.
In a small saucepan, cook olive oil and garlic over medium heat to sizzling then cook a minute to two more. Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes.
Pour oil through a strainer onto pasta to remove garlic pieces. Add chopped herbs, stir then season to taste.