1. My assignment for family dinner tonight was to mix dry gin martinis (up, stirred) and to bring an appetizer. Carol made a specific request that I bring stuffed mushrooms. I've never made them before. Different recipes recommended mushrooms that are two inches in diameter and I decided I couldn't count on buying such mushrooms at Yoke's.
So, I pulled out The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook and looked for other easy to eat vegetarian appetizers. Since we were having shrimp and rib eye steaks for dinner, I thought a vegetable appetizer would be better than a fish or meat appetizer. After some searching, I found a recipe that looked fun to make and that would work for this dinner: Cauliflower Cakes. I love crab cakes and salmon cakes and I figured I'd give the cauliflower cakes a shot.
I combined olive oil, turmeric, ground ginger, and coriander (which I ground myself with my mortar and pestle!), pepper, and salt in a bowl and covered a head's worth of cauliflower florets with this mixture. I roasted the seasoned florets for about 25 minutes at 450 degrees. I let the florets cool and then mashed them. I then stirred in goat cheese, an egg, a minced garlic clove, and lemon zest and sprinkled flour over this mixture and stirred it in.
I made this part of the appetizer on Saturday night. On Sunday, I formed eight cakes (the recipe said make four, but I wanted smaller ones) and cooked them in shimmering olive oil until golden brown -- or, in my case, more like dark brown sugar brown -- I slightly overcooked a few of them (no problem).
I placed the cakes on a paper towel lined plate to drain off some of the oil.
I also made a dressing out of yogurt, olive oil, garlic, and shredded, seeded cucumber. I didn't have Greek yogurt on hand, so I used plain yogurt. The dressing was good, but might have been even better with Greek yogurt. I thought the dressing needed a little kick so I squeezed some lemon juice into it and next time, if I make this again, I think I'll add some cumin.
I warmed up the cakes at Carol and Paul's house and everyone thought these cakes tasted pretty good.
2. Diane, Bill, Val, Colette, and I jumped on the Zoom machine around 2:00 and had a great discussion of U. S. history. It was a wide-ranging discussion, inspired by reading Diane's been doing in the Atlantic, Val's and my reading of the book Rising Tide, Colette's current studies in rhetoric and a book she's been reading on the agrarian myth, and Bill's insights into how people's understanding of all kinds of social injustices, especially our shared involvement in them, have evolved in the last four years or so in the face of recent events. Today we shared some family stories, summations of reading we've been doing, commentary on the presidential transition, and, from my point of view, the often bewildering experience not only of living in the USA, but of the inescapability of our country's history and each of our places in it.
Before logging into this discussion, I mixed myself my very first Vieux Carre, a mixture of rye whiskey, cognac, sweet vermouth, and Benedictine liqueur bolstered with dashes of Peychaud's and Angostura bitters. I will freely admit that this wonderful New Orleans cocktail enhanced my enjoyment of discussing our country and ourselves with these brilliant friends.
3. I have been a longtime Grinch about Valentine's Day. I admit it. But, a week ago, I told Christy, Carol, and Paul that if we wanted to make tonight's family dinner kind of a special Valentine's Day feast that I would not be a spoil sport and that I'd happily join in.
Christy has always loved Valentine's Day and this one was going to be difficult with Everett being gone.
So, I'd say, we did all we could to make our dinner feel like we were at a solid surf and turf restaurant.
I mixed martinis to start -- I thought that was pretty classy.
I also think savory cakes are kind of classy and that the cauliflower cakes were special.
Carol and Paul subscribe to a Naked Wine delivery service and they popped open a very high quality bottle of Pinot Noir (my favorite!).
Carol made us each a green salad dressed with Blue Cheese/Roquefort dressing, homemade; Carol used the recipe that they used at the Sunshine Inn and that has been a part of our family for over fifty years.
Next, Carol and Paul served a plate of perfectly broiled rib eye steak, pan fried shrimp, and a baked potato about the size of a bread box! Carol set out butter and sour cream.
This meal was incredible.
We ate, talked, finished, let our meal settle in a bit, and the Christy served us each a helping of perfectly assembled Silhouette Pudding, a light and most delicious combination of cookies and whipped cream.
Christy also gave us each Valentine's Day gifts. Now I have a jar of Luxardo cherries to serve in future Manhattans and other drinks calling for a cherry and I have several disks of Ibarra Mexican chocolate. Soon, my mole sauce recipe book should be arriving and I'll be continuing to experiment with mole sauces. When the recipes call for Mexican chocolate, I'll have plenty on hand. Christy also included some chocolate hearts and a thoughtful card with these gifts.
So, in conclusion, I'm really happy that I let go of my long held antipathy toward Valentine's Day.
This one was fun, tasty, and memorable.
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