As promised I will be posting details of the dishes I prepared for a five course dinner last weekend. So, let's start with the first course, shall we? Inspired by a classic caprese salad I created a roasted beet salad with fresh chèvre, balsamic vinegar and basil oil. I was dying to use some of the plethora of beets I have maturing in my garden right now. This turned out better than I anticipated.
The beet preparation could not be simpler. I love roasted beets and they are so easy to do. I just take them from the garden, trim the roots and stalks, and tightly wrap them individually in foil. No need to skin them. They were placed on a sheet and roasted in a 425 °F oven for about an hour. Once cooled the skins will slip right off. I used three kinds of beets. One is a yellow beet called 'Touchstone Gold'. I also have a 'Chiogga' beet which has red and white stripes inside. These two beets are tasy and the colors hardly bleed. Unlike the purple beet, 'Red Ace', which will stain anything it touches. Personally I like the sweetness of the yellow beets the best but the purple ones have the most classic beet flavor. On top of the beets was placed some fresh goat cheese. A bit of balsamic vinegar was poured in the middle and the plate was garnished basil oil.
Basil oil is so easy to make. I took about a half cup of tightly packed basil leaves and 1 cup of good olive oil in a food processer and processed it briefly to chop up the basil. This was placed in a pan and heated for about 5 minute to infuse the oil with the flavor. Careful not to cook it. I heated it until the traces of water started sizzling and bubbling.
The oil was poured through a strainer and cooled. The result is a deep green colored oil with tons of basil flavor.
Next up - linguini carbonara. Stay tuned.
Finally we come to the end of our New Year's Eve feast. We'll finish in Thailand with some chicken satay. I marinated some thinly sliced chicken breast in yogurt seasoned with curry powder, turmeric, garlic and ginger for about 5 hours. The chicken was skewered and cooked in my grill pan. I served it with a Thai peanut sauce made from creamy peanut butter, soy, sesame oil, sriracha chili oil, rice vinegar, a pinch of sugar and some water. 
Admit it. You love those fried jalapeño poppers you get at your local sports bar battered, fried and oozing with cheese. I didn't make those for New Year's Eve. Instead I created a potato bite spiced with jalapeño peppers. I made a dipping sauce with some yogurt, mayo and a splash of sriracha chili sauce. 
Chicken salad spiced with Indian flavors were a hit on New Year's Eve. I started by poaching some boneless skinless chicken breasts in salted water just until cooked. This was diced up with some celery and carrots. Walnuts and dried cranberries were added. I made a homemade curry powder with cumin, coriander, turmeric, chili powder, asafoetida and salt. This with a little bit of mayo was the dressing. I served it in bite-sized portions wrapped with romaine lettuce leaves.
Here's an other classic Spanish tapas that I served on New Year's Eve. It couldn't get simpler. I just heated some olive oil in a pan, added some red pepper flakes and lots of chopped garlic. This was cooked for just a few seconds and the shrimp was tossed in. It only takes a couple of minutes of stir frying to cook the shrimp through. Near the end I squeezed a lemon over the shrimp and plated it up. It is important NOT to skimp on the olive oil. Use a good amount so you'll have a little bit of heaven to dip your crusty bread into.
On New Year's Eve I hosted some friends for an evening of appetizers and drinks. Over the next few days I'll be posting some of the items I made throughout that night. I love to celebrate the diversity of cuisines on New Year's Eve so let's go to Asia. Well, sort of. I've never had this particular combination in Japan but my guests really enjoyed this East meets Pacific Northwest sushi roll. I used Korean rice and cooked it with some konbu (kombu - seaweed). The rice was seasoned with rice vinegar and sugar. I used strips of smoked salmon and cream cheese. The combination was fantastic. The flavor of the salmon permeated your mouth and the cheese provided a wonderful creamy texture. I'll definitely make this again.
As promised I will be posting details of the dishes I prepared for a five course dinner last weekend. So, let's start with the first course, shall we? Inspired by a classic caprese salad I created a roasted beet salad with fresh chèvre, balsamic vinegar and basil oil. I was dying to use some of the plethora of beets I have maturing in my garden right now. This turned out better than I anticipated.
The oil was poured through a strainer and cooled. The result is a deep green colored oil with tons of basil flavor.
Next up - linguini carbonara. Stay tuned.
