Friends from Springfield, MO and British Columbia came for dinner on Saturday. I like to cook and it's fun to fix food for people who know and love good food. Here's the menu. If you'd like the recipes, visit
my recipes blog. First was Banana Salsa, from my book,
Sensational Salsas from Apple to Zucchini.
I didn't intentionally set out to use just recipes from my own books, it just turned out that way. One of the reasons I give for writing, is it gives me a place to record my favorite recipes and be able to look them up again.
There were 2 "salad" courses, the first was Bruchetta Salad with feta and olives.
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| Bruchetta Salad on French bread toasts. |
That was followed with the "lettuce course" which was Chilled Lettuce Soup. It's garnished with thinly sliced Romaine lettuce and radish slivers. The Tortilla Cracker on top is from my book,
Homemade Crackers Using Herbs, available on my
website.
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| Chilled Lettuce Soup, with Chili-basted Tortilla Chip. |
Josh made an excellent loaf of whole wheat bread so that was put on the table just as the plates were ready to serve.
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| Josh's homemade whole-wheat bread. |
The main course was Red Wine-Braised Short Ribs, Fresh Corn Pudding, and a circle of Red-Seeded Long Beans with Carrot Spears sauted in fresh ginger and butter. If it hadn't been for the beef, everything else came from our garden for the meal. You just can't get more local than 60 feet away from the table! Everything had been picked that day or the day before.
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| Joyce, Tom and Saunny. |
I like to give guests the job of making the dessert. Everyone took a few turns at turning the crank on the sorbet maker. Dessert was Blackberry-Basil Sorbet (again, from one of my books) with Lemon Balm Cookies. I had to look back to some of my early books to find my own recipe for the Lemon Balm Cookies!
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| Blackberry-Basil Sorbet with Lemon Balm Cookies. |
The sorbet only takes about 15 minutes to freeze and the sorbet maker went around the table about 3 times. There were more Lemon Balm Cookies with coffee, as well.
Good friends, good food, what a fine way to spend a Saturday evening! And thanks to the garden, I could harvest right before cooking.
Some dining evenings are remembered for a long, long time and this will be one of them. At leisure, discovering common interests, laughter and a sensational menu, highlighting nature's finest. Thanks, Jim! (Joyce and Gary)
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