As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, I received several coupons from Fresh Express redeemable for one free bag of salad each and the challenge to create a recipe featuring the salad.  I jumped at the chance as we already eat a lot of Fresh Express Salads around here.  My favorites include the Baby Spinach, the 50/50, and the Fresh Herb Salad.  Any of those three would create a terrific base for this crab cake salad, but can you think of anything more tender than a 1/4 pound of lump crab meat?  A cake like that deserves a bed of pillows provided by tender baby spinach leaves.  If you’d like to give this salad a shot, or come up with a fresh salad creation of your own, post a comment and I’ll mail you a coupon for a free bag salad, compliments of Fresh Express.

Did you read that right? Yes, 1/4 pound of lump crab meat.  I use the super lump crab meat from Costco.  It’s $13.99 a pound compared to the fishmonger’s $25 a pound.  There are almost never shell pieces mixed in and it tastes and smells delicious, sweet, and delicate.  I cooked these in about 2 teaspoons of olive oil in my Calphalon Unison Slide Non-Stick Griddle.  Crab meat is so tender, frying crab cakes in loads of oil is blasphemous.  This non-stick griddle has such a slippery surface, you can use very little oil when browning, but not run into any sticking or falling apart issues, just be sure not to flip before your first side is completely browned.  As an added bonus, the Unison line is dishwasher safe!

Crab Cake Salad

1 pound super lump crabmeat

1/2 a large white onion, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp olive oil

1 egg

2 tbsp mayonnaise

2 tbsp capers

3 tbsp Italian Parsley, chopped

3 tbsp panko

1 tsp Old Bay Seasoning

cayenne pepper

1 tsp kosher salt

12 turns fresh ground pepper

panko for coating

olive oil

1 bag Fresh Express Baby Spinach

In a large bowl, pick through crab meat and remove any shells you find.  In a saute pan over medium heat, add olive oil, then onions.  Cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add garlic.  Cook one more minute, then add mixture to the crab.  Add egg, mayonnaise, capers, parsley, and panko to crab mixture.  Add old bay, 3 dashes of cayenne from shaker top, salt, and pepper.  Mix all together, then divide mixture into four equal portions.  Form each portion into a round disk about 1 inch tall.

Preheat oven to 300.  Cover the bottom of a rimmed plate with panko.  Place crab cakes one at a time on panko, then coat completely in panko crust.  Heat a non-stick griddle over medium high heat.  Add two teaspoons of olive oil and swirl to coat.  Brown the crab cakes on one side for about 4-5 minutes until lightly browned.   Turn, then brown the second side for 3 minutes.  Add small bits of additional olive oil if pan looks dry.  Move pan to oven and bake 5 more minutes.  Serve over a bed of Fresh Express Baby Spinach, top with blue cheese and Sherry Vinaigrette.

Sherry Vinaigrette

4 tbsp sherry vinegar

6 tbsp olive oil

4 tbsp water

2 tbsp honey

1 tsp kosher salt

12 turns fresh ground pepper

Combine all ingredients and whisk like crazy.  Serve.

Even after breaking out the cloth napkins and my festive Longhorn napkin rings, my football team failed to perform.  With all of this jinxing, you’d think I’d be more frustrated.  The thing is, I Love A Party.  Top to bottom, the whole event.  And this party, created as a contest entrance, represents my very favorite style of party and my style in general.  I’m calling it China and Jeans.  Because though I broke out the china and crystal, polished the silver, and created a luxurious menu, I fully expect you to arrive in jeans.  I know I’ll be wearing jeans, probably paired with flip flops.  Because they’re comfortable.  And don’t give you blisters.  But that doesn’t mean I can’t use my china.

I want to encourage you to break out your china and use it.  There is no point to having beautiful things if they just sit in a cabinet.  And you don’t have to throw a dinner party to do it.  You can eat a hot dog on china all by yourself on a Tuesday if you want.  Life is meant to be enjoyed.

Luxury Dinner Party Menu

Hors d’Oeuvre

Skewered Mushrooms with Fresh Basil Pesto Cream Sauce

Soup

Spinach Soup with Madeira Cream

Entree

Fried Avocado Stuffed with West Indies Crab Salad or Chicken and Cotija Cheese

Lemon Basil Quinoa

Dessert

Cheesecake Tartlet

Beverages

San Pelligrino

Bodega Norton Malbec Reserve 2007

Bodega Sottano Reserva Malbec 2007

Girard Suavingnon Blanc 2008

The contest requirements called for creating a luxurious dinner party menu using new and exotic flavors.  I’m more of a classic flavors cook, but I have a few things that I consider new and exotic in my repertoire.  In home entertaining the soup course has largely been lost.  I love a soup course, and what better medium to deliver your vegetables than soup?  My recipe for spinach soup was written up last August.  I think my fried avocados make a powerful presentation so I offered a choice of fillings with a version of my West Indies Crab Salad or a slightly spicy shredded chicken and cotija cheese.  Quinoa is a relatively new food trend, and I love the crunch it offers in place of a traditional rice or pasta.  I’m still deciding what flavors marry best with the quinoa, but it always seems exotic.

Argentina is quickly becoming one of the world’s up-and-coming wine regions.  I picked 3 selections from Costco all rated 90 points by Wine Enthusiast or Wine Spectator.  I’ve never been a fan of traditional pairing, I prefer to drink what tastes good – not what matches the food.  In red wines, I look for descriptions using the words blackberry, dark fruit, and vanilla – even though my brain doesn’t associate these flavors with wines I enjoy.  Sometimes I think wine educators just grab words out of a hat and then start throwing it around with wild abandon.  Like jammy.  Really?  What does that mean?  No thank you, I would not like a wine glass full of jam.  I don’t even eat jelly with my peanut butter.  In white wine I know I like dry and citrus, while I do not like buttery or sweet.  I just loved the Wine Enthusiast quote on this one, so I picked it, even though it didn’t taste like any pink grapefruit or green apple I’ve ever eaten.

“Bone dry and zesty in acidity, with pink grapefruit, lemongrass and green apple flavors that have a honeyed edge despite the dryness. Vibrant and clean. Nice with a salad of bitter greens and chevre and whatever else you want to add, in a simple vinaigrette. ”

90 Points

Wine Enthusiast

I still haven’t photographed my cheese cake tartlets, so I’ll post the recipe and pictures for that later this week.  Cheers to my sweet friends for dropping plans and joining me with nearly zero notice.  Especially baby Vivian.  Onward and upward to new challenges I go.

To start my background information, I went to the best source I could find.  My dear college friend, Christina, married a man of Lebanese descent.  Last fall, when I embarked on my homemade pita experiment, the best recipe by far was adapted from their staple cookbook.  They lent me their copy of Lebanese Cuisine, which has had 13 editions and is largely considered one of the classics for this region.  There aren’t any pictures, but thank goodness for bloggers, right?  In the next five years everything ever created in food to date surely will have been prepared, reviewed, photographed and covered by a food blogger.  (wink)

The first challenge in the project was locating the grape leaves.  I found them at Central Market, though I’ll admit it did take me two trips through the store.  They were located in the pickles and olives section, next to some canned dolmas.  Dolma is a word of Turkish etymology meaning stuffed vegetable – frequently grape leaves.  The Lebanese name for this dish is Mihshi Waraq Inab, but the dish is made similarly under many names in the entire region, from Greece to Egypt to Iran to Armenia and everywhere in between.   The origination of this dish is muddy at best, likely due to it’s birth in a region known as the cradle of civilization.

I like to think of stuffed grape leaves like Middle Eastern Sushi.  I thought the filling had a fabulous flavor, slightly citrus, slightly salty, and was blown away by the delicate texture of the lamb.  Somehow combining ground lamb with rice and a few seasonings, wrapping and covering with water, then cooking for a short time, didn’t seem possible to create such a flavorful dish.  I do think my wrapping skills could use a little practice to gain a tighter, more compact roll, and possibly they could have been cooked longer to yield a slightly more tender leaf.  Next time, I’d probably try to seek out fresh grape leaves just to taste the difference.

Lamb and Rice Stuffed Grape Leaves Recipe – Mihshi Waraq Inab

adapted from Lebanese Cuisine by Madelain Farah

1 jar grape leaves

1 c. uncooked rice

1 lb. ground lamb

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp allspice

kosher salt

fresh ground pepper

1/4 c. lemon juice

Pour rice in a strainer, then rinse until water runs clear.  Drain then pour rice into bowl.  Add lamb, cinnamon, allspice, 1 tsp kosher salt and  12 turns pepper, then use hands to thoroughly combine.

In a 3 qt sauce pan, use a few of the torn grape leaves to cover the bottom of the pan.  This will prevent the stuffed leaves from sticking.  In a large bowl of hot water, rinse grape leaves and soak for a few seconds before filling.  Spread a grape leaf flat with the shiny side facing down.

Then place a small amount of filling in the center bottom of the leaf.  Roll the bottom leaves up, then roll the side leaves in to create a packet.   Continue rolling towards the top of your board to create a tight cylinder.

The notes in the recipe I was referring to indicated that if you just covered your stuffed grape leaves with water, all the water would be absorbed when ready.  This was definitely not the case for me, even with extra cooking time, so I’m going to note the next picture – as how *NOT* to place your stuffed grape leaves.  I’d advise trying to line the whole edge in a ring – with a base of each cylinder touching the outside of your saucepan.  The key here being to have as many stuffed grape leaves as possible with as little room for water to go.

After you’ve placed all the stuffed leaves, sprinkle the surface with a little kosher salt, then place a plate on top to hold them in tight rolls. Cover, heat on medium for 15 minutes, then add lemon juice.  Cover again, then continue heating another 25 minutes.  Serve Warm.

Happy Eating!

What these really make me want to create is some sort of double chocolate eclair.  Do those exist already?  What I’m dreaming of is an eclair with a dark chocolate dipped top, then filled with a dark chocolate pastry cream.  Because why would you bother with regular pastry cream when it could be chocolate?  I don’t even want to eat these alleged eclairs, I just want to photograph them because in my head, they are beautiful.  So it’s another give away Tuesday.  Do you want a double chocolate eclair?  If so, post a comment and you might be the lucky winner.  Unfortunately, it’s August and I live in Texas, so I don’t think I can mail chocolate without creating a giant mess.  You’ll have to be in the DFW area to win or willing to drive to me to pick them up.

As for beautiful gougerès, I went ahead and made some with just an egg wash and some with grated Gruyère over the egg wash.  I think the ones without the additional grated cheese turned out so much prettier since they are so glossy, but weigh in, and let me know your thoughts.  Or try out the recipe and let me know what your taste buds tell you.  Here’s a picture of the gougerès with the additional grated cheese topping. 

Gougères Recipe

adapted from Recipe in Barefoot in Paris

1 c. 1% milk

1 stick salted butter

1 tsp kosher salt

5 turns fresh ground pepper

2 shakes cayenne pepper

1 c. all purpose flour

5 large eggs

1/2 c. fresh grated Gruyère cheese

1/4 c. fresh grated Parmesan Reggiano

1 egg

1 tsp water

This goes very quickly – so make sure you have your cheese grated and your eggs out, then preheat oven to 425.  In a medium saucepan, add milk, butter, salt, and peppers over medium heat.  Stir continuously with a wooden spatula, until mixture just begins to bubble.  Add flour and stir continuously with wooden spatula until combined, then keep stirring, reduce heat to low and cook another 2 and 1/2 minutes.  Remove from heat and place in food processor with blade attachment.

Add all five eggs and cheeses, then use pulse button to incorporate.  Use spatula to stuff your dough in a ziplock bag, squeezing out as much air as you can, then sealing the bag.  I’m partial to the slider lock bags, myself.  Use your hands to work dough into one of the bottom corners, then clip the end to just open the corner.  Squish into spheres just slightly larger than a quarter spaced evenly on a cookie sheet.  Wet your index finger under the faucet, then push down any pointed peaks to make a smooth sphere.  In a small bowl, beat remaining egg with the teaspoon of water.  Use a brush to gently coat the tops of each sphere. Bake 15 minutes.

Cheers!

The children certainly had a fabulous time as did the adults.  I just love a family backyard party.  Part of my entry response to the contest was detailing how much I love home entertaining and preparing food for guests to enjoy and celebrate together.  I love watching children have a fantastic time, while the grownups get to imbibe an adult beverage and spend time mingling and simply enjoying the moment.

Menu

Appetizers

Crostini with Goat Cheese and ‘wichcraft Tomato Relish

Caprese Salad Crostini with Garlic Balsamic Vinaigrette

Frozen Green Grapes

Mains

Seared Pork Tenderloin with Lime-Cumin-Corriander Marindade

Citrus Marinated Grilled Chicken with Fresh Herb Sauce

Ripe Watermelon Balls

Strawberries and Raspberries with Fresh Mint Garnish

Sugar Snap Peas with Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Sauce

Sliced and Seasoned Kirby Cucumbers

Spinach Salad with Strawberries, Goat Cheese, and Almond Slivers

Dessert

Chocolate Cake with Espresso Buttercream and Dark Chocolate Ganache

Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

The items with links have already been featured on dinnerandconversation.com and helped make this party great.  Those with out, barring the raw foods, will be featured over the next week or so.  Part of home entertaining, especially in the summer in Texas, requires cold raw foods, so that’s part of why those were included.  The other reason is in my personal food philosophy.  Blessedly, I have children who will eat darn near anything.  I don’t prepare separate children’s meals, partly of course because we don’t have toddler food wars, so I wanted to include a variety of fruits that I thought even picky preschoolers could enjoy before indulging in a dessert sugar high.

All in all, I’d call it a grand success.  As I individually break down the recipes, I’ll give some tips on how I go about planning quantities and portion sizes for large gatherings.  Salud to the home party!

My fresh mozzarella came from the Dallas Mozzarella Company, a local factory making fresh handmade cheeses of truly exceptional quality.  I’ve been meaning to take their Hands on Cheese Making class for at least five years and just haven’t made it happen yet.  Trust me, I look hot in a hair net.  And the class includes a factory tour, a wine and cheese tasting, and take home samples of your own creations.  I think that’s a description of about my perfect day!  I’ve had a fascination with factories ever since I worked in a service company who sold things via service, but didn’t actually produce anything.  Apparently, the grass is always greener.  It’s a shame I never managed to tour 3M in college when I had the chance.  At that point, of course, endless lectures on the processes, software, and plants involved in making Scotch tape were hideously boring to me.  In any case, the Hands on Cheese Making Class is on my Bucket List.  I can knock out a factory tour and food creation in one fell swoop!

Caprese Salad Crostini

Baguette

1 clove garlic

olive oil

1 /2 lb ball fresh mozzarella

3 vine ripened tomatoes

12-15 basil leaves, halved

Garlic Balsamic Vinagrette

Preheat oven to 425.  Cut baguette into half-inch slices – or approx 25-30 pieces.  Smash garlic with a large knife, peel and break into two halves.  Rub top of each baguette slice with one of the pieces of garlic, as it disintegrates, switch to the other piece.  Using a brush, paint the top of each slice with olive oil.  Place each slice on a cookie sheet and bake 5-7 minutes until your crostini are lightly browned.

Slice mozzarella into 1/4 inch slices, then half or quarter as necessary to fit onto crostini.  Slice tomatoes into 1/4 inch slices, then quarter.  Top crostinis with mozzarella, then basil, then tomato, then drizzle with Garlic Balsamic Vinaigrette.

Garlic Balsamic Vinaigrette

1/4 c. balsamic vinegar

1/2 c. olive oil

1/4 c. water

1.5 tbsp fresh garlic, minced

1/2 tsp Murray River salt

8 turns fresh ground pepper

For the vinaigrette, combine vinegar, oil, water, garlic, salt and pepper.  Whisk together then let rest for at least 30 minutes for the flavors to combine.  Whisk again before serving.  Keep remainder in fridge for up to two weeks.

So this is what I came up with as my interpretation.  Tabouleh traditionally consists of parsley, mint, bulgur wheat, some veggie type things in a citrus vinaigrette.  Incidentally, can every Arabic word be spelled like 1,000 different ways?  Between trying to decide how to correctly spell Tabouleh and Baba Ghanoush, my brain feels like it’s been put in a washing machine.  Bulgur wheat is a whole grain which is high in fiber with a low-ish glycemic index for a grain.  I love tabouleh and love that it adds such nice color to appetizer plates!  Proper tabouleh production ensures only the leaves of the parsley are used and no stem pieces as a key element, albeit labor intensive and seriously time consuming.  This is a good time to let your preschooler practice those scissors skills.  Feel free to add more mint, I was using up what I had on hand, but would have been happy to add additional!

Tabouleh (makes about a quart)

4 c. parsley, leaves only, minced

1/2 c. fresh mint, leaves only, minced

2 tomatoes, finely chopped

1 english cucumber ( 1 c. finely chopped)

3/4 c. minced yellow onion

1 and 1/2 tsp chopped garlic

1/2 c. bulgur wheat

8 tbsp lemon juice plus 2 tbsp lemon juice

4 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp kosher salt

12 turns pepper

Use scissors to trim only leaves from parsley, discarding any stem pieces.  Mince leaves to accumulate 4 cups.  Use a similar method to mince mint leaves.  Combine with tomatoes, cucumber, onions, and garlic.  In a saucepan, bring 3/4 of a cup of water and 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice to a boil.  Add bulgur, remove from heat and let sit for 30 minutes.  Drain, then squish with  a clean towel to pull out any extra moisture.  Add to salad mixture.  In a small bowl, whisk to combine remaining 8 tbsps lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, then pour mixture over salad.  Cover and refrigerate at least two hours, stirring part way through.

Baba Ghanoush is an eggplant dip with an intimidating name, and a truly phenomenal flavor.  For some reason, I always thought it was yogurt based which is just totally wrong.  This dip is not that labor intensive, your active cooking time is maybe only 15-20 minutes?  So you’ll still have to go to the gym to get your exercise.  I seriously might start making this once a week, and can’t believe I haven’t been making it for years!  If you’re making this for a party or for several servings, go ahead and buy as many eggplants as you can carry.  You won’t regret it!  It seems like they’re giant in the store, but your yield quantity after cooking is really quite low.

A note of interest on the preparation, I accidentally failed to poke holes into one of my eggplants before roasting on the gas flame.  I did poke the holes before I put it in the oven though.  It could be a coincidence, but that eggplant cooked very differently than the others, and it was much more challenging to remove the seeds from the inside.  They were swimming everywhere in the flesh versus the firmer version remaining intact in long strands for easy removal.  So be sure to poke the holes in advance of any prep!

Baba Ganoush Recipe (makes about 1 and 1/2 cups)

3 small eggplant

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tbsp tahini

4 tbsp lemon juice

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp parsley, chopped

1/2 tsp salt

8 turns pepper

Preheat the oven to 400.  Use a fork to pierce several holes in each eggplant.  Place the eggplant over the flame from the gas stove top, letting it rest directly on the grates.  Turn every minute or two using tongs, until the skins surface is black and charred.  Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, and roast eggplant in oven for 40 minutes.

Let eggplant rest on counter for 10 minutes, then slice in half.  Use a spoon to remove the strings of seeds, don’t kill yourself trying if you leave a few in the flesh.  Scoop the remaining flesh from the skins and place in a blender.  Add remaining ingredients, then pulse until combined.  Stir to make sure the blade is free, then blend on low until you have a smooth consistency.  Serve with pita bread or chips.