The title may be a tad bit misleading, as I’d guess most people wouldn’t call this party an “easy” menu for a child’s 5th birthday party, but I’d say it was certainly elegant.  Since I’m just rolling from one party straight into the next, LE’s Fifth birthday party was a combination of two events in one.  Earlier in the year, I entered a Williams-Sonoma-Calphalon-HouseParty.com Easy and Elegant Dinner Party contest.  When I entered, I had no idea we’d be moving that week or that any of our other life chaos would be occurring.  I simply had to commit to finding 15-25 guests to come over for a dinner party and try out some cookware and a few encouraged recipes.  I’d say we had over 50 people, at least 25 children and 35+ adults.  My sister, Amelia, was an enormous help, being my photographer, Vice-President of Food Presentation, Director of Floral Arrangements, sous-chef, all around super helper and last man standing.  LE’s Dallas Godparents handled the entertainment, going above and beyond providing the world’s most amazing waterslide bounce house contraption, as well as helping me with all the heavy lifting since Cory was in Europe the 10 days prior to the event, coasting in just as the party started as one parent aptly described looking straight out of Miami Vice.  Williams-Sonoma, Calphalon, and HouseParty.com underwrote part of the event by supplying cookware, some funding, and recipe ideas.

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!

In the last three weeks, I’ve moved.  My husband started a new job.  I lived without cable, internet, or home phone service for 16 days.  I’ve registered my baby for kindergarten, watched and participated in two kids learning to swim, fretted and nested over the impending birth of our best friends’ new baby, celebrated my mother’s birthday, my parents’ move to Texas, breathed a huge sigh of relief for all the miracles that have occurred, took two baths my *brand new* bathtub, grown my food business, served as a single parent for 9 days due to European business travel, and planned a birthday party for my super amazing 5 year old.  Plus I’m sure I’m missing a few things.  Whew.  So what did I do in response?  I learned to drink Chardonnay.  Yep, an odd reaction.  I get it.  Did I really need to learn to take on another form of alcohol?  Probably not.  But I’ve ranked Chardonnay right up there with mayonnaise.  At a luncheon someone might serve me a chicken salad sandwich.  And being a polite and well meaning guest, I’ve had to learn to refrain from acting like a 5 year old, umm… can you cut the crusts off, too?  On the upside, Chardonnay turns out to be less painful than mayonnaise.  So, Go Me.  Maybe next year bananas and I will finally come to terms.

Frankly, I haven’t felt this elated, happy, and on the right path since I had L.E. five years ago.  I’m crazy superstitious and always petrified to jinx my good fortune, but I don’t want for a moment anyone to think I’m not glowing super happy at the moment.  To my Austin friends and readers, I’m Sorry.  I Tried.  We tried.  Again and Again.  In the end, the powers that be stuck a glowing, 24-7, huge neon billboard in our life and said – YOU Belong here.  In Dallas.  Right now.  In this moment.  So we’re here, happy, and pursuing options with a vigor that has been totally inaccessible since having two teeny tinys so close together.

As for food, if you’re in Dallas this weekend, you’re in luck.  Williams-Sonoma, Calphalon, and Houseparty.com picked me and sent me a marvelous party kit to further the message of home parties.  If you’re here and you’re wondering, what the heck is she talking about?  Send me a note, and I’ll send you an invite.  I love parties.  Attending them, Hosting them, Working them.  Yep that’s right, I’ve altered my former life motto, you never want to work the party.  As always, I’ll have great food and drinks.  When your mama’s in the food business, you get some crazy birthdays.  It’s just how we roll.  If you’re not available this weekend or you’re not in Dallas, send me a note.  Entertaining at home is an awesome and sometimes lost art.  I’ll give a full spread with photos and recipes next week, but if you’re craving, check out the food at L.E.’s last birthday here, here, here and here.

Some potatoes au gratin recipes are cheeseless – simply potatoes made in a cream sauce.  When I hear potatoes au gratin, I really hear melted cheese disguised as a vegetable.  I always feel robbed if I order them, and the cheese is mysteriously absent.  This recipe is adapted from my mac and cheese recipe, which my kids have been requesting for weeks, but we’re moving, and I’m out of pasta.  I had potatoes, though, so here’s my substitution.

Life is a little crazy right now in our casa between the impending move and growing my chef business and catering services.  So if recipe postings are slim in the next few days, please know it’s because I’m either moving boxes, chasing children away from unpacking boxes, or I’ve discovered something crazy, like say, Cory packed my hard drive in an unmarked box and I have no. idea. where it is.  On the upside, I’ve safely packed away a stack of 20 old Gourmet magazines, which I plan to work through and feature this summer.

Potatoes Au Gratin Recipe serves 6

3 c. milk (I use 1%)

1/2 yellow or white onion

8-10 red new potatoes, peeled and sliced in 1/4 inch discs

3 tbsp butter

3 tbsp flour

1/2 tsp kosher salt

8 turns fresh ground pepper

3 c. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

3/4 c. fresh grated parmesan reggiano

In a saucepan over medium heat, warm milk and the half an onion to a simmer.  Remove from heat and let stand 15 minutes.

Heat oven to 325.  Grease casserole dish and arrange potato slices in rows in a single layer on the bottom.  In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat.  Add flour and stir with a wooden spatula for two minutes to form a paste.  Remove onion from milk and discard.  Pour milk into paste and stir continuously, when integrated, increase heat to medium high and cook for around five minutes until sauce has thickened substantially, stirring to prevent scorching.  Add 1 and a 1/2 cups of the shredded cheddar and stir to integrate.  Pour cheese sauce over the potatoes, then top with the remaining cheddar and parmesan.  Bake in oven for 30 minutes, then increase heat to 400 and cook for an additional 10 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.

You strawberry souffle, are my nemesis.  Damn it.  I’ve been attempting to make strawberry souffles as a custom dessert order for Kari.  I can count on one hand the things I’ve cooked in the last five years that have been inedible and strawberry souffles count for two of them.  Technically, John and Kari ate these souffles, but I think it was purely out of pity.  I have never seen such a hideous dessert in my entire life!  I can’t figure out what in the heck went wrong, so I’m blaming the recipe.  It simply must be faulty.  They appeared to be perfectly on target, beautiful, puffed, lightly golden, but then pouf.  Classic. Souffle. Failure.  Within 30 seconds out of the oven they turned into the disaster shown here.  Flat, mushy, ugly.

My egg whites were perfectly stiff.  My strawberry puree was gently folded.  The resulting mixture was airy and light and then.  FAIL.  Sometimes these things happen.  I’m not sure whether to quit and never attempt a dang strawberry souffle again, or just keep trying until I master it.  Either way, enjoy my train wreck and have a chuckle at my failed dessert.  Whatever you do, DON”T cook this recipe.

The $100+panini maker is one specialty appliance I refuse to own.  I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t own one if you so choose, but I am applianced out and a good grill pan will work just fine.  Between the stand mixer, the blender, the food processor, the waffle iron, the coffee grinder, the coffee pot, and the number of specialty pans I own, I might explode with another single product appliance!  A good grill pan is a necessity for any kitchen and will present delectable paninis.  If you want to go crazy you could use a bacon press to weigh down your sandwiches or some foiled bricks, or just your arm and a spatula.  How’s that for simplicity?  Not often I recommend you *not* purchasing cookware.  The trickiest part of paninis on a griddle is turning them without spilling your sandwich.  The aforementioned squishing with a spatula will help the cheese to contain the ingredients, and you can do it with a spatula on bottom and a fork on top or two spatulas, but a good set of tongs provides me with the most control.

These delicious summery sandwiches were a perfect weeknight dinner.  With crops of tomatoes (not mine but other people’s) right around the corner, here’s a great way to highlight your seasonal produce.  I roasted a whole chicken to get my chicken breast meat, partially because I think it yields the best, most tender flavor, and partially because I was planning to make tortilla soup later this week.  My roasted chicken recipe can be found here.  If you don’t have the time or energy to roast a chicken, a grocery store rotisserie chicken would work fine, or you could coat skinless boneless breasts in olive oil and salt and pepper and just cook them up on your grill pan.  We’re a family who loves to dip, so I brought out one of our staples a Garlic Balsamic Vinaigrette to be used as our dipping sauce.

I think due to the crusty nature of the bread used in a panini, you could easily make these in advance then pop them in the microwave for a quick cheese melting with great results.  I generally make mine with ciabatta bread, but I had pugliese on hand this round.  Pugliese is very similar to ciabatta, just a little rougher of a crust and a slightly different loaf shape, though I guess that could change based on who is shaping the loaf.  At the end of the day, either will work or some other crusty loaf of Italian bread.

Roasted Chicken, Tomato, Onion, Mozzarella Panini Sandwich Recipe makes 5 sandwiches

Breast Meat from a Roasted Chicken, skin removed and sliced into 1/2 inch slices

3 Roma Tomatoes, cored, then sliced very thin

1/2 a white onion, Sliced paper thin

Fresh Mozzarella, 10 slices 1/8th of an inch thick

10 slices pugliese (or ciabatta) 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch thick

olive oil

Coat one side of each slice of bread with olive oil.  Preheat a grill pan on medium heat.  Place one slice of bread oiled side down on grill pan.  Top with 3 roasted chicken slices, mozzarella, then tomatoes and onions, followed by another slice of bread oiled side up.  Grill on first side for about 5 minutes until you see cheese beginning to melt, then use a good pair of tongs to flip quickly.  Use a spatula to squish down and continue grilling on second side about 4-5 more minutes.  Be sure to watch grill temp and lower heat if necessary to ensure you’re not cooking any faster than this.  Serve with Garlic Balsamic Dipping Sauce.

Garlic Balsamic Dipping Sauce

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.

A recent client inquired about mini key lime tarts.  Last Christmas my brother-in-law requested individual tarts with assorted fruit fillings for dessert.  At the time, we laughed at him, but now he’ll probably get his wish.  It seems the universe wants me to learn how to create mini desserts.  Still high off my mastery of molten chocolate cakes prepared in advance, refrigerated, then rewarmed but still molten; I set out to research individual tarts.  I’ve discovered the best pan is the Chicago Metallic 4 Fluted tartlet pan.  You might be able to remove a pastry crust tart from a silicone pan easily, but I think a graham cracker crust requires a removable bottom tart pan in order to preserve your fluting.

Key Lime Tartlet Recipe makes 24 4inch tartlets

2 box graham crackers

12 tbsp sugar

20 tbsp melted butter

7 egg yolks

2 tsp key lime zest

2 cans sweetened condensed milk (14 0z each)

1 c. key lime juice (takes 25-30 key limes if using fresh)

In a food processor, use the steel blade to process graham crackers into crumbs.  Pour 5 c. of crumbs into a large bowl, and mix with sugar.  Pour in melted butter then stir to combine.  Divide the mixture amongst 24 tartlet molds with removable bottoms.  Press crumb mixture to the edges, then bake in a 350 degree oven for 6 minutes.

Combine egg yolks and zest in a large bowl.  Stir in sweetened condensed milk, then incorporate key lime juice.  Stir then fill each tartlet cup almost to the top of crust.  Bake in a 350 oven for 20 minutes, then check to see if center is firm.  Let cool in tartlet pan then push up from bottom to serve.

When I moved to the great state of Texas, I came from deep in the midwest, with southern roots and southern parents, but absolutely no idea what life had in store for me.  My parents always wanted me to go to school in the south, they would wind up here , dang it, and so would I.  I met my husband the very first week of college at the University of Texas.  He didn’t know he’d become my husband, but I did.  I grew up with a mind for fairy tales and princes and happy endings, not because I was taught to, but on my own because, seriously I was born this way.  Life should be roses and bridge clubs.  I’ve wanted to do a million things in this world, but everything in my dreams had a big family at it’s center.

It’s easy to see now, that I sold my FIL (father-in-law) and SMIL well before I’d ever sold Cory on my merits.  You could never find a family to welcome me so readily as they did.  It’s like they’d been waiting for me for years and were so thrilled I showed up, I could do anything and always appear perfect in their eyes.

This recipe came from FIL, even though it’s not his exact method (my grill leaves much to be desired.)  He’s made it for us many times, and everyone loves it.  Thanks FIL for the great recipe, and I will be forever touched by the way that you accepted me so gracefully without question.

Boston Pork Shoulder Recipe

1 7 lb Boston Butt (Pork butt roast – hard to find, pork shoulder will work)

Lemon Pepper (my mother reads this website so I can’t use expletives.  plan for a jar and a half)

New potatoes, peeled

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.  Rub the pork with the lemon pepper, then add some more.  Cory notes, take some more, then, just keep going.  Place the pork directly on the oven rack.  After an hour, place new potatoes in a 13×9 glass casserole, then spread underneath the pork to catch the drippings.  Let cook for about 3 more hours until an internal temp of 160.  Let rest 20 minutes then slice and serve.

I may be perfecting the ultimate pizza crust recipe for the rest of my life.  I feel it’s critical to document my experiments and successes so that hopefully, I will one day achieve the Agatucci’s glory at home.  I highly recommend you read that article.  It’s about my favorite pizza joint in the town where I grew up.  And now I’m sniffling and totally teary.  Food does that to me.

A bonus for this crust is that this is a no yeast recipe, so need to have yeast on hand, or wait for rising, etc.  This recipe was very good – I’d serve it to guests with absolutely no qualms.  But it’s just not exactly what I was aiming for.  For one thing – I want a super duper thin crust.  This was thin, but it wasn’t as thin as I was hoping.  So for next time, more rolling – to the point of insanity.  In addition, the bottom was crispy – but it could be crispier and be even better.  I’m musing over this and my current thoughts are, perhaps a hot pizza stone would help.  Perhaps an even hotter oven.  Perhaps the aluminum foil I placed below the pizza somehow reflected the heat resulting in a less crisp crust and I should just let my oven get messy.  That one is a question for Robert Shimmin.  I’ll update when I have a chance to ask him and he sends me an answer.

For simplicity, the sauce I used on this pizza was Nona Caputo’s Homemade Spaghetti Sauce.  Who is Nona Caputo?  I have no idea.  It may actually be homemade.  I suspect it came from Jimmy’s Italian Market as it was a part of the gift basket SMIL bought for me at the Dallas Food and Wine Festival’s Silent Auction.  I’d imagine you could use any high quality spaghetti sauce with similar results or just your regular grocery’s jarred pizza sauce.

Extra Thin Crust Pizza Recipe

One of my Blogger friends, Monet of Anecdotes and Apple Cores, had a recipe for Homemade Bread with Olives and Rosemary last week that looked truly delicious.  I don’t often make homemade bread, so my skills are a little rusty, but I was willing to give it a shot.  After conferring for some advice from Monet on timing for my Kitchen Aid, then receiving a few tweets on timing the dough’s rising, the bread made it to the oven.  Off hand, I still really don’t understand the twitter phenomenon.  I’ve had an account for at least half a year, but I only use it sporadically.  For one thing, I’m fairly certain I’m not going to find Kim Kardashian offering me fascinating culinary or lifestyle advice for that matter.  And most of my friends don’t tweet, so who in the world will see my musings or care?  In any case, if someone could please explain this phenomenon to me that’d be great.  Or if you have a twitter handle and you use it frequently and think you provide interesting content, let me know so I can follow you and figure out what in the heck this is all about.

So back to the olive bread.  My reason’s for attempting this bread were three-fold.  One, I still have a large quantity of white whole wheat flour on hand just begging to be baked.  Two, I’ve had a couple of catering related questions on bread, and I want to hone my skills.  And three, SMIL just won a wonderful bottle of olive oil for me (in a huge gift basket) in the Dallas Food and Wine Festival’s silent auction benefiting the Farmers Market.  It’s delicious and perfect for dipping.  And of course the OLIVES.  Unlike my sisters or Monet, I truly believe olives make everything taste better.  Happily, I discovered my MIL has a large rosemary bush in her front yard, resulting in my having all the necessary ingredients on hand!  I used Nicoise Olives in my bread, which in retrospect the slightly tarter flavor of the Kalamata’s would probably be better – or maybe even green olives!  Yum!

Be sure to hop over to Anecdotes and Apple Cores to check out her other super recipes like Cranberry Almond Muffins and Honey Yogurt Whole Wheat Bread !

White Whole Wheat Bread with Nicoise Olives and Rosemary Recipe

(from Anecdotes and Apple Cores)

1 tbsp Active Dry yeast

3/4 c. warm water (105-110 degrees F)

1 tbsp sugar

2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 c. olive oil

2 tbps fresh rosemary, chopped

1/2 c. Nicoise olives, chopped

1 c. All-Purpose Flour

3 c. White Whole Wheat Flour

In a bowl, stir to combine yeast and water for approximately 10 minutes.  In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine sugar, salt, olive oil, rosemary and olives.  Use paddle attachment to stir on low, then add yeast mixture and continue stirring with the paddle attachment.  Add the flour in small batches at a time until combined, then switch to your dough hook.   With mixer on lowest setting, use dough hook to knead dough.  Add additional flour to dough as necessary to let dough form a ball and pull away from the sides of the bowl.  Knead on low speed for 7 minutes.

Coat a glass bowl with olive oil then move dough from stand mixer to bowl.  Rub a teeny bit of olive oil all around the sides of the dough, then cover with plastic wrap and let rise for an hour and a half.  Move bowl to a cookie sheet, then form a loaf shape.  Cover with a damp towel and let rise for an additional hour.  Sprinkle surface with flour and score the top of loaf.  Bake in an oven preheated to 400 for 30 minutes.  Continue to sing Hot Cross Buns over and over again while you wait for your fresh bread.  Dip in olive oil and enjoy!

This tomato tart recipe might also be called a quiche.  It came from a now out of print Williams Sonoma Entertaining Cookbook – where it is deemed a tart.  I’ve made a few adjustments to the recipe – the largest of which is that it takes at least twice as long to cook as the original instructions say.  I first made this quiche for a back yard brunch and play for some neighbors and their children.  It was very well received.  Kathleen has since asked me several times for the recipe.  It only took me 2 years ; ) but I finally remembered which book contained the recipe.

I’ve made this with half and half and I’ve made it with cream.  It works both ways, but the cream is way better.  Anything resembling a quiche exists as the antithesis of diet food.  This tastes delicious and while you definitely shouldn’t eat it every day, pull it out every now and again and savor the taste.  It delivers a wonderful spicy, savory flavor that is surprising, then delightful.  Also can be made using a store bought frozen pie crust for ease!  Can be served for brunch, appetizers, or as a side dish at dinner.

Tomato Tart serves 8-10

adapted from Williams Sonoma Entertaining Cookbook

1/4 c. chilled butter

1/4 c. chilled Spectrum Palm Oil Shortening

1 and 1/2  c. flour

1/2 tsp kosher salt

3 and 1/2 tbsp ice water

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

3 tbsp fresh mint, minced

1/4 lb. Gruyere, sliced into thin slices

4 tomatoes on the vine

1 c. heavy cream

2 eggs

1/2 tsp kosher salt

12 turns fresh ground pepper

In a food processor, combine flour and salt.  Add butter and shortening cut into little pieces.  Use the pulse button to cut butter and shortening into flour until you see no more large pieces.  Through the top, pour the water 1 tablespoon at a time and continue to pulse until dough is just moist.  Move to a floured surface and form a ball.  Roll out with a floured rolling pin into a circle.  Press into the bottom of a glass pie pan, evening out and smoothing the edge.  Freeze overnight.

Core and cut tomatoes into slices.  Using a paring knife, trim the seeds and jelly from the slices, then move to a colander to drain.  Salt tomatoes slices, then let sit for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350.  Remove the now frozen pie crust, and use a spatula to cover the bottom with the Dijon.  Sprinkle with mint, then top with the Gruyere slices.  Arrange tomatoes on top of the Gruyere.  Combine cream and eggs, whisk to beat.  Season cream and egg mixture with the salt and pepper, then pour over the tomatoes.  Bake in oven for about an hour, until filling has risen and firmed and has a golden brown color.