Friday Night Dinner with Friends

Last night we had friends over for dinner. I told them it was an experimental meal and luckily it was good. I will go through some things that in hind sight I would do differently. Linda and Linda like to try new drinks. I found in the June/July Fine Cooking a Fresh Cherry Margarita, we both though it was very good.
Serves 1
12 fresh sweet cherries, pitied
1 ¼ fl. oz. tequila
1 fl. oz. fresh lime juice
¾ fl. oz. agave nectar
½ fl. oz. maraschino liqueur
1 fresh cherry with stem for garnish
Put the cherries in a cocktail shaker and mash them with a muddler until well crushed about 1 minute. Add the tequila, lime juice, nectar, liqueur, ad 8 large ice cubes. Cover the shaker and shake vigorously for 30 seconds. Immediately strain into a rocks glass frilled with fresh ice. Garnish with the cherry.
Even though they were very good we were not willing to pit 24 more cherries and make seconds. It is worth the trouble taste wise, especially if you can get someone else to do the work.  With this drink I had store bought salsa, guacamole and tortilla chips.

Next we had Lobster Bisque with Langoustines all bought at Trader Jo’s. The recipe came from the Washington post and basically even though I used double the amount to serve 4 as a first course, the recipe serves 12 as an appetizer in demitasse cups or shot glasses.
12 oz. lobster bisque (Trader Jo’s)
½ C cold heavy cream (did not use)
½ T ouzo (did not use)
1 T unsalted butter
½ C langoustine tails (Trader Jo’s)
Use a double boiler to warm up the soup so you do not scorch it. I did not do the cream and ouzo. I would have to buy a whole bottle of the liquor to use 1/2 T and it would take up room in the house for life. Sauté the thawed tails in the butter and divide equally between the twelve cups or in my case I doubled it and divided by 4. It was so easy and good.

The main course was a Thai Beef Salad from Martha. This was a little more complicated but do-a-head-able. I am going to tell you how I would do it again not the Martha way which had its complications.

First make the marinade for the beef. Process in a mini food processor 1- one inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped, 1 T lime zest, 1 jalapeno, 2 T chopped shallot, and 2 t of sugar to form a course paste. Add 1T fish sauce and 1 t of canola oil. Put the 1 ½ # sirloin beef in a Pyrex pan to hold it and smear the marinade over both sides. Cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator until ready to grille. Next make the dressing. In a small bowl combine 2 T lime juice, 1 T fish sauce, ½ t sugar and 2 T shallots. Slowly add 2 T canola oil, whisking until emulsified. I put it all in a mini food processor and turned it on
For the salad:
½ small red cabbage, halved and thinly sliced (about 3C)
½ head Napa cabbage, halved and thinly sliced (about 3C)
2 carrots
6 oz green beans
Cook the green beans and carrots in the microwave. Immediately place the beans in an ice bath after cooking.I would then put the two cabbages in separate bowls and divined the dressing between them. Toss well.
Grille the steak for about 10 minutes total and rest for 5 minutes. Slice thin.
Arrange the Napa on a platter at 12 o’clock the red at 6 o’clock; beans and carrots at 3 and 9 o’clock. Place the beef over the top. Sprinkled with 2T unsalted peanuts that you toasted and chopped and 2 scallions cut into 2-inch lengths and then sliced into thin strips. Martha had you arrange all the veggies and pour the dressing on top. We all agreed that the cooked veggies did not need as much dressing as the cabbages. That is why I recommend tossing the cabbages separately with the dressing before placing on the platter. This is a great hot weather meal. It was not as hot as a typical Thai meal, as our jalapeno peppers here are really lame. I actually prefer them from a jar here as they are hotter. Everyone liked the taste of the beef and the guys were not wild about the veggies.

For dessert I served Pomegranate Blueberry Sorbet from Trader Jo’s with blueberries. Very good! This was an easy meal and a good one. We practically covered every continent, but it all flowed together beautifully.

The wine started with Dynamite Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon that the guys had while the Lindas had their drink. Dinner to dessert we just flowed with the following Corona De Castilla, Diego de Almagro and Finca El Puig Priorat all Spanish reds.