John's Birthday Dinner - Game Night

Hello CS followers! This posting is a bit late but worth the wait. Sunday's dinner was for John's birthday and he wanted game meat, white chocolate and hazelnuts. We also added some other of his favorite flavors too. We out did ourselves on this dinner, every bite was fabulous

Cocktail-Suffering Bastard

 http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/09/the-suffering-bastard-drink-cocktails-recipe.html

Bourbon and Gin, who would think!  And with a name like Suffering Bastard we just had to try it. When tasting it your can't really figure out the ingredients, the gin becomes just a hint of a taste. It was really good and quite refreshing.

Appetizer - Gourmet Grilled Sausages

Venison Sausage w/ Blueberries and Merlot Wine

Wild Boar Sausage w/ Cranberries and Apple

Pheasant Sausage w/ Hazelnuts and Congnac Wine

So surprisingly good. I'm not a fan of sausages, but these were so different. The flavors... amazing, 

especially the pheasant which was the favorite. If your looking for specially meat this site has everything

 http://fossilfarmsostrich.com/  

We did add a few side sauces for dipping. Another favorite of Johns is rum raisin so we made a fun sauce, a little sweet but worked.

• 1/4 cup raisins soaked in rum,1 tablespoon butter, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 2 tablespoons water,1 teaspoon dark rum. Melt butter in small saucepan. Stir in sugar and water cook untill it's a thick syrup then add raisins. It's that easy and it would be great over a desert too.

Appetizer Wine

This  was a nice wine to go with the many flavors of the sausages, it had hints of cherry and  red plums, complex and a nice round finish.

Entree -Entrée:  Venison Loin w/ Spaetzle and Lingonberry Cognac Sauce

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/the-best-of/venison-loin-schupf-noodles-lingonberry-cognac-sauce-carmelized-chestnuts-asparagus-recipe/index.html

WOW! Christie and I knocked this out of the park. The Venison was done to perfection rare/medium and we were lucky enough to find frozen Lingonberrys at the local Scandinavian store, they're tart and juicy little gems, so glad we didn't have to settle with just the jam. The sauce was on the light side with tons of flavor which complemented the venison. And the chestnuts, yummm. Finishing up the dish was grilled asparagus which still had a little crunch and another favorite is the Spaetzle

Entree - Wine

 

This  was a gorgeous mid-weight wine that flows with the essence of red fruit, spices, herbs and tobacco. At first glance, this is deceptively medium-bodied, ethereal wine, but with air the wine gains volume and its inner sweetness emerges. The finish is long, sweet and refined. 

Desert - Hazelnut Torte with White Chocolate Whip Cream

http://www.quick-german-recipes.com/hazelnut-torte-recipe.html

YumYumYum, Every plate was clean. This was a traditional hazelnut torte, I did add white chocolate to the creamy center and then replaced the marzipan with fresh whip cream and melted white chocolate.

Another success.  John was very pleased with his dinner and Christie and I were delighted on how well everything came out. We'll be doing anther Venison night soon, with our friend Chef Glenn

Thanks for following us

August 25, 2013 Paella night

Hello, It's another hot weekend and we wanted to do something that wouldn't heat up the kitchen to much, so we decided to call up a few friends and make Paella. 

Cocktail - Honeydew Melontini

I love my juicer! This was so refreshing and delicious. 2 parts Honeydew Melon, 1 part Vodka, 1/2 part Midori liquor and 1 part sparkling water 

Appetizer - Vichyssoise

http://www.spanish-food.org/cold-and-hot-soups-and-sauces-vichyssoise.html

Superb! We'll make this more often, cold soups are so nice in the summer, it was smooth and not to rich. Give it plenty of time in your fridge to cool. If you can make it the day before it's even better

Spanish Sangria

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/white-sangria-recipe/index.html

Our guest brought this yummy beverage, the only thing she changed was added more peaches and omitted the raspberries. This went perfect with the entree

Entree - Paella

http://www.thespanishcuisine.com/recipes/Spanish-paella

Delicious! having so many different kinds on sea food in one pot made the taste buds happy. We substituted our large saute pan and made a tin foil lid in place of a paella pan and it worked perfectly. If your using regular large peeled shrimp you can add them in for the last 5-8 minutes. This recipe feeds 4-6 people ( if you have 6 add a little more shell fish). The best part about this dish is that it's made in one pan so it's easy clean up

Desert - Brazo-de-gitano

http://www.spain-recipes.com/brazo-de-gitano.html

A little dry but the flavor was good. The only thing we did differently was brushed the cake with a little rum  before we layered the rum whip cream. 

 

There you have it, another delicious meal with friends. Next week is John's birthday dinner....Game meat 

 

Mango, Avocado and Lobster

Hello Followers! Since Christie's computer is having issues, we've decided I would help out and do a few postings. My nephew Curtis turned 16 and he picked this delicious tropical theme.

Cocktail- Watermelon Mango Mojito

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sunny-anderson/watermelon-mojito-recipe/index.html

We made 2 batches, one with rum and the other we replaced the rum with Poland Mojito flavored water, both were equally delicious and we did also add Mango before muddling

Appetizer- Mango, Avocado and Shrimp Maki Rolls

and Crispy Edamame

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/sushi-rice-recipe/index.html

The first couple of times I made Maki rolls, they looked a bit sad, but once you get the hang of it, they are so easy to make. Just be sure to add a lot of ingredients and not press to hard when rolling.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Crispy-Edamame/Detail.aspx

These were so good, but next time I would make sure the edamame was dry, ours was a bit wet from thawing out.

Black n Gold Sake

Full-bodied with hints of honeydew, papaya, anise and roasted nuts. Well balanced, finishes long and smooth

Dinner- Tropical Fruit, Avacado and Lobster Salad and Couscous

http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Tropical-Fruit_-Avocado_-And-Grilled-Shrimp-Salad-My-Recipes?servings=6

http://www.food.com/recipe/red-bell-pepper-couscous-428770

What a hit! the only thing we changed was substituting the shrimp for Lobster and thanks to Stew Leonards for $3.99 a pound Lobsters

Desert- Crepes

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/basic-crepes/

What's fun about crepes is you can add anything to them and we sure did. Not only did we have mango, pineapple and raspberry crepes but the birthday boy also wanted bacon and fresh ground peanut butter, don't knock it till you try it.