It's All About the Garnish!

Beef Win! Carpaccio Sushi Takes All!

 

So, remember the Marx Foods "Win a Grass Fed Beef Sampler" contest a couple of weeks ago? I won! I submitted my Beef Sushi with Stilton and Shiitakes, and now a box of meaty goodness is on its way to my house just in time for Valentine's Day. I'll be making that dish, along with four others, in a five-course dinner of decadence, with wine pairings. So, rather than post the recipe here, stay tuned for a complete rundown of the dinner.

In the meantime, be sure to check out the Marx Foods blog:  www.marxfood.com for some fun and inspiring entries using their gourmet products.

Potluck Fun! (Or, how to have a dinner party without doing much or stressing out)

It's always good to have an excuse to get together with friends and share home-made cuisine and drink your share of wine. That's why the Potluck Dinner Party was invented.

It's easy because each person brings one dish to share, and can really shine, instead of laboring over an entire complement of dishes for the dinner. If you're the host, take the main dish, and assign sides to the great cooks and maybe let the hesitant ones bring wine instead. The idea is to provide a place for good friends to get together without stressing over a whole meal.

***Party Food Alert: My brother, Garrett, likes the idea of everyone bringing heavy appetizers instead of sit-down dishes if you're having a more boisterous gathering. You just need to know your crowd, and what kind of mood everyone will be in...if there are kids or you're feeling particularly sedate (on a cold winter evening as opposed to a warm summer one), you might want to stick with chairs and forks..***

We hosted one of these soirees last night, and it was definitely an all-around success. We had eight for dinner, and it honestly couldn't have been easier, because all of the dishes besides the main course were covered by my friends: Andy and Rachel brought some serious flavor with their vegetable kabobs (on the grill, and on the table, pictured), Garrett brought crunchy, cheesy garlic bread, and the spouse and I grilled up a couple of tri-tips (recipe listed in one of the WAY back posts). Hopefully, we'll get another guest post from Andy on the veggies, because it's the first time I've ever scarfed down something that was THAT good for me!

I used to feel bad asking guests to bring something, thinking I should be the perfect hostess and labor all day long to present the perfect meal. But you know what? The perfect meal is simply one that's accompanied by good wine and great friends. Thanks, everyone!

Going Bananas for the Bread

I had a request today! I'm heading over to a bbq reunion tomorrow with my leadership class, and we're all assigned to bring either a dessert or an app. My friend asked me to bring my infamously fabulous banana bread. I was of course flattered, but also a little embarrassed. It's so easy to make!

The only trick is to have some super-ripe bananas on hand. At a minimum the bananas should have dark speckles on the skin. For sugar content, for consistency, and for other reasons too I bet. For this reason, banana bread is something that demands to be made, rather than being able to seek it out. One rather gross but completely effective alternative is to freeze your bananas as you go. Before they rot, stick them in the freezer, and let them defrost before you begin this recipe. I've saved them for up to two months and they are totally fine. Be prepared though- the skins turn black in the freezer and look disgusting.

• 3 really ripe bananas


• 1/4 cup nonfat sour cream


• 2 eggs


• 6 tablespoons butter


• 1 tsp vanilla

(Mash the bananas well, and add the rest of the ingredients above in a large bowl)

• 2 cups flour


• 3/4 cup sugar


• 3/4 tsp baking soda


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Without stirring, put all these ingredients in the bowl- on top of the wet mixture. Give a superficial stir to the dry ingredients to make sure the soda and salt are mixed into the other dry ingredients. After this is done, then softly mix the entire bowl (Yes! ONE bowl to clean!!). If this, or any, dough is mixed too long, it will become very dense and chewy (like pizza dough, which is thrown around the room before it is baked). We don't want that here. So mix it only until you have to!

Pour this mixture into a greased loaf pan and pop it in the oven for probably 55 minutes on 350. Baking requires a much more evenly heated oven than cooking, so I suggest turning the pan every 20 minutes or so. The toothpick test (or a clean knife) can be used to see if this is done- if it comes out looking pretty clean, you're done. Isn't it embarrassingly simple???