Sh*t, if it's gonna be that kind of party...

...I'm gonna stick my fork in these mashed sweet potatoes! 

Went to a fabulous dinner party that Sabina threw last week and made the easiest dish ever... Here's the recipe:

                       

Monday Mujadara

Mujadara

I'm back in Wheeling, WV for a long Mother's Day weekend. We had a gargantuan brunch on Sunday at Oglebay and for dinner we all had a hankering for something completely different. So, my mom (and I!) decided to whip up some Mujadara, coupled with a Mint & Cucumber Yogurt Salad (similar to the Greek dish, tsiziki) for dinner. There was a time in my adolescence when tabouli, mujadara and this yogurt salad would be served at every family or holiday event, but over the years these Middle-eastern standards have fallen off our party menus. Perhaps a comeback is in order?

You can find mujadara at any middle-eastern restaurant in New York, but it's somewhat of an odd dish for a Filipino household located in the Ohio Valley. My aunt has Jordanian ancestry and her sister is married to someone Lebanese. They are all pretty close with my family, so their food, became our food! That's how it goes. Anyhoo, it's so easy to make.

• Slice 3 onions into rings and saute in olive oil till the onions caramelize
• Set apart half of the onions and put on a dish
• Add 1 cup of lentils, 1/2 cup of rice and 5 cups of water and bring to a boil and simmer

• Add 1 1/2 tsp of salt to taste.
• Monitor till cooked
• Add the rest of the onions on top, when ready to serve

I actually like more rice in mine, so I'll play around with the proportions the next time I make it at home.

We weren't that hungry last night and ate the dish on its own, but it's a full meal served with lamb or chicken. Will probably be making this for the next month, so let me know if you like lentils and I'll invite you over for a meal.

Dinner Party: Lazy Friday Night

Friday Night Porky Delight

I attended a butchery demonstration using half of a farm-raised pig about a month ago, whereby the instructor divvied up sizable portions of his handiwork--offal, leaf lard, trotters and all the various cuts of pork--to a curious group of 8 carnivores. I received a total of about 10 pounds of pork, which I stuffed and stored in my freezer. Since then, I've been flipping through cookbooks, navigating the recipe morass online, and enlisted friends to join my army of tasting guinea pigs--all in an attempt to diminish my surplus of pork. 2 pan-seared pork chops, some braised pork belly and a second-degree burn incident involving fried pig skin later, I still had a ample amount of meat left over, which included a shoulder roast. So, last Friday I decided to turn the shoulder roast into dinner for two.

April 3, 2009 Dinner Menu
People: 2

Snacks

• Manchego cheese/charcuterie and papaya
  

I actually cobbled this together, because my pork dish was taking an incredibly long time to cook and knew my guest was hungry. I wanted to serve the papaya with with jamon or prosciutto, but made do with the cured meats I had in the fridge. 

Main

• Maple and mustard glazed pork shoulder roast stuffed with prunes
  

I used this recipe as a guide, but gave it a personal twist by using a shoulder roast, instead of tenderloin, playing with ingredient proportions, and adding prunes and cinnamon to the mix. I think it worked, but I poured a tad too much maple syrup to the pork which spilled on to the pan. During the course of the cooking time, the glaze on the pan started to caramelize, burn and blacken, leaving a helluva crust to chisel out.

• Roasted red potatoes with fresh thyme and rosemary
  

I used the recipe from Mark Bittman's "How To Cook Everything" and deviated a bit to add flair and utilize the ingredients I had at home. I've actually whipped this dish up a million times. Sometimes the potatoes have a nice, crispy crust and sometimes they don't, which drives me bonkers. I decided to cook to the instructions and kept the heat on medium. I proceeded to monitor the potatoes as they browned and patiently flipped over each piece with pair of tongs, instead of moving them around haphazardly with my spatula. The potatoes turned out perfect. Success!

• Mixed Green Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette 
  

I whisked 1/4 of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1/4 Balsamic Vinegar, a dollop of grainy, Dijon mustard, salt and black pepper, adding some thyme to the mix. 

Dessert

• Leftover cut up papaya

Drinks

• Agua  

Teetotalers that night.

Dinner Party: Menu for 6

I stumbled across a new podcast called The Dinner Party Download through EatMeDaily.com. The 15 minute podcast is a mish-mash of  pop-cultural oddities, food trivia, music and corny jokes.  Check it out!

I actually had a dinner party for 6 lovely peeps last Saturday that I co-hosted with a friend. Here is the menu and other details.  There was plenty of food and leftovers, which we gobbled up over the last few days.  

March 28, 2009 Dinner Party Menu

People: 6  (50/50 M/F)

Vegetarians: 1  who ate seafood 

Start: 8:30 PM

End: 2:00 AM or so

Snacks

• Manchego with quince paste (Whole Foods)-- Could have served the cheese with marcona almonds too. Will do that next time. 

Starter 

• Halibut carpaccio marinated in olive oil and fresh lemon juice on a bed of baby arugula-Fish and greens from Whole Foods. Nice starter. Very light, citrusy and refreshing. 

Main

• Homemade pasta with pancetta and olive-oil--I didn't prepare this, but one of the faves of the night.    
  
• Brussel sprouts with bacon and raisins:  Perfectly Cooked.  We also made a vegetarian version without the bacon.  Recipe from The Barefoot Contessa in Paris
  
• Grilled asparagus with olive oil and kosher salt:  Yum. 
  
• Grilled scallops with 5-spice and olive oil:  Scallops from Whole foods; 5-Spice from Chinatown. Make sure the pan is very hot or use non-stick. Thanks Claudia for this one.  
  
• Roasted crown roast of pork with green peppercorn sauce: Ask for a crown roast of pork, frenched,  I had 10 chops --way too much meat for 5 people. Better to have more than not enough. Obviously, you can freeze the remainder or give away at the end of the night.  To make he roast look impressive, you can truss it like to look like this. Very easy to make, but you must monitor, so the meat won't overcook. (Be sure to watch the sauce too. We couldn't find measuring spoons,  so I sort of guessed at the flour portion and incurred lumpiness.) Recipe from The Barefoot Contessa in Paris with no fennel and a twist.

Dessert from Blackhound Bakery Cakes in the East Village

• Strawberry and Cream
  
• Lemon Curd
  
• Chocolate Flourless Cake

Drinks 

• Prosecco 2 bottles
  
• Sancerre 1 bottle
  
• Pinot Noir 1 bottle
  
• Beer 6-pack

I-Pod

On Shuffle Mode, but I think I remember Bon Iver, Kate Perry, The Stars