TK dinner ~ June 2014

Another dinner done. Whew!
We recently took a little trip to the Oregon coast and camped for a few days so I thought it would be fun to serve a few standard "camping fare" items at the next TK. 
Silly? Probably. 
Fun! Yes.

There was an oyster farm about ten minutes from our campsite, so of course, we had oysters. Two nights actually.

(i have ugly toes)

Tk dinner started with fresh oysters from Sunh Fish Market.

We had some raw, and then some with a sweet and spicy sauce. 

Add lemon and fresh parsley. 

Delicious.

Next up were the arancini with an lemon, asiago and pepper dip.

I then let everyone rest for a minute and we served a grilled pluot salad. The pluots were all over the farmers market this past weekend so I figured I should take advantage of them while I could - they are usually gone pretty quickly.

Here are the grilled pluots.

Here is the salad.

Thank you to elizabeth d. photography for this fantastic shot!

Entree this evening were mussels done with white wine and garlic (the usual) and served with slices of a spiced walnut bread.

There was also this lemon cinnamon butter to go with the bread.

Finally it was time for dessert.

We had been camping so of course s'mores had to make an appearance!

The s'mores above are homemade marshmallows rolled in graham cracker dust then drizzled with an orange, chocolate ganache.

Holy Hell.

I also made jello.

Or, you could call it a fresh peach and raspberry gelee.

I called it jello.

And that was IT. Whew!

By the way, I did do TK dinners in April and May.

April was all Korean food. May was a spin on some classic Cuban dishes. As soon as I locate the photos I will share those dinners.

Until next month...see you all soon!

Fresh Tomato Salad with Marinated Mozzarella

There is really no reason for posting this other than the fact that it was super pretty...Super delicious....and anything involving cheese balls has to be fantastic...Right? I also loved that all the produce came from the farmers market trip the other day (and did I mention cheese balls?)
I quartered all the tomatoes - very thinly sliced a small yellow pepper - very thinly sliced a little red onion - halved the marinated mozzarella balls (purchased from my local grocery) very thinly sliced a slice of prosciutto (also purchased at my local grocery) tossed all that with a little olive oil and lemon and salt and pepper.
Washed the green leaf lettuce - tore into bite size pieces - tossed it with a little olive oil and lemon.
Then put it all together - added a little extra sliced prosciutto on top - then took a lovely photo
Fresh and easy.


note: This was also fantastic when i tossed the lettuce with the               orange juice reduction dressing posted earlier (instead of just olive oil and lemon juice)  Did the vegetables the same as above. Yummy!

Roasted Beet Salad w/Orange Juice reduction dressing

The bounty of the Farmers Markets! I try to always find bunches of fresh beets, butter leaf lettuce (the family favorite) yummy cheeses and whatever else looks pretty and shiny in the early morning light. This salad can be a bit time consuming to prepare because of roasting and washing and slicing and watching orange juice boil...but worth it! Once the beets and dressing are ready there will be plenty for several salads and assembly will be quick going forward.


YOU WILL NEED:


1 bunch fresh beets (see note below) *
1 head butter leaf lettuce (arugula and spinach good also)
a little goat cheese (or whatever mild flavor cheese you prefer)
olive oil
salt
Orange Juice Reduction Dressing (recipe follows)


OJ Dressing:   
Pour 4 cups of orange juice into a medium/large sized saucepan (save yourself the time and purchase the orange juice at your local grocery) Bring to a boil at medium high setting then leave it alone. It needs to boil down to about 1 cup of liquid - this part takes FOREVER! When ready it will be rather dark.                   
Don't worry - after a little soaking and light scrubbing the pot looks good as new.                                      
Turn off heat. Using a fine mesh sieve, strain liquid into a small saucepan - add the juice from 1/2 fresh lemon (save the other half for later) add 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Back to stove on medium high heat - bring liquid to boil and let reduce until "light syrup" consistency (you should have about a half cup of liquid). Turn off heat. Strain again into a bowl or measuring cup big enough to add olive oil and work with a whisk. Let cool for a few minutes. Add 1/2 a cup of good olive oil - the juice from the other half of the  lemon - salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. Taste. Dressing should be tart - but if too strong for you add more olive oil. Salt and pepper if needed. Let cool completely.
I now pour this into a canning jar with those nifty seals and lids. That way when I need to dress the salad I can just give it all a good shaking then drizzle on my salad.


* HOW I PREPARE FRESH BEETS                                                                                                    

They look like this when I get them. Lovely aren't they?  Wash and dry. Cut off leafy parts and stems. Completely cover a baking pan - or baking sheet - in foil. Place beets in - drizzle with olive oil - sprinkle with bit of salt - completely cover entire pan with beets in foil - roast in 350 oven for hour to hour and a half depending on size of beets. These were about the size of baseballs - I roasted them for an hour and twenty minutes. Out of oven - leave covered and let cool about half hour. Peel and set aside until ready to use.                                              

Slice or cube the beets when you are ready. Cover and refrigerate leftover.


If you did all this in the same afternoon you have probably ordered a pizza by now!  If not, grab a big bowl, add washed and dried lettuce (I prefer Butter leaf for this) add sliced beets, drizzle with OJ dressing, sprinkle with goat cheese then sit down and relax and eat!