Sunny and her new partner Mackenzie hosted our November gourmet night. The invites were darling postcards inviting each gal to a culinary adventure around the world.
They hosted at Mackenzie's new home in Daybreak and it was darling!
We entered to hanging globes,
a darling set up of vintage luggage, airplanes and
paper pinwheels made out of maps. It was so cute!
The appetizers looked wonderful and the house smelt amazing.
Vietnamese Chicken Salad Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce rocked! Everyone was in love.
Korean Spicy Cucumber Salad was yum.
Mexican "Elote" Corn Dip had ladies going back for seconds
and Brazilain Limeade too.
It was all great flavors and executed perfect.
We moved into the dining room for dinner. They had a some of the cutest details.
The globes around for decor were a big hit.
The map got lots of "ooh's and ah's" and rightly so! They had spelled out "Bon Voyage!" in red pins on a large map on the wall. So, so cute!
Place settings were clean and simple. Loved the basket woven place mats!
The straws had "hello" written in different languages affixed as little flags. Simple details make it happen.
Name tags were mini globes (pencil sharpeners).
The menus were our passports. How cute!
Instead of the usual menu subtitles for each course, they used; Pre-boarding, take off, in flight and landing. Again a perfect detail!
In between courses they served a Green Apple Sorbet. (Compliments of Wild Rose) Perfect pallet cleanser.
Take off course was Thai Coconut Curry Soup.
In Flight was Indian Chicken Tikka Masala with Indian Naan Bread. Three flavors: Plain, Garlic and Peshawari. (Bombay house)
They also served it with a Mango Lassi that was really unique in texture and had great flavor.
Our landing course was Mexican Trifle with Homemade Mini Churros. Seriously, a delicious evening!
As we left there was another large wire basket of various globes next to the take home table.
Take homes were our recipes and a darling box of chocolates.
Nice work Sunny and Mackenzie!
Bon Voyage ladies. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!
Pei Wei Vietnamese Chicken Salad Rolls
(http://ordinaryexultations.blogspot.com)
Ingredients:
3-4 sprigs Fresh Mint
2 handfuls Lettuce (I just used green leaf
lettuce)
2 handfuls Napa Cabbage
2 Carrots
2 Green Onions
1/2 cup Peanuts
1 Chicken breast, cooked and shredded
Peanut Dipping Sauce (recipe below)
Sweet Thai Chili Sauce
2 cups Rice Noodles
8-10 pieces Rice Paper
Start by channeling
your inner Pioneer Woman
and assemble your ingredients. The measurements
don't need to be exact. Wash
and pat dry all the veggies. Give the mint, lettuce, cabbage,
green onions, and
peanuts a rough chop. Dice the carrots (I'll probably just buy shredded
carrots
next time). I set everything on a plate and put it in the fridge while I made
the sauce.
Peanut
Dipping Sauce
1 cup water
1-2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
3 tablespoons peanut butter
1 and 1/2 tablespoons sugar
Measure the water into a saucepan and bring
to a simmer. Add the remaining ingredients
and whisk until combined. Simmer for
5 minutes, or until it thickens slightly and remove
from heat.
Now that the sauce and noodles are done, it's
time to assemble these bad boys! Get a
container of cold water to dip the rice
paper in - a pie plate worked perfectly for me.
Submerge one piece completely,
shake the water off gently, and lay on a flat, clean surface.
Don't be like me
and get so excited about your rolls that you drop the package of rice
paper on
the floor and break the edge off all your perfectly round wraps. To make a
nice roll, the filling should
leave enough room on all four sides to fold.
Sprinkle on a pinch of mint, then a bit of
the lettuce, cabbage, carrots, green onions,
and peanuts. Then next to that
little pile of goodness, lay some rice noodles and shredded chicken.
Fold in one long side then the two short
sides and roll the whole thing towards the last
side, being careful to keep the
filling contained. Lay the roll seam side down and it should
seal up
nicely.
Repeat until the filling is gone...I was able
to make 8 rolls. Serve with the peanut dipping sauce
and sweet chili
sauce. My kids kids ate them, but they weren't crazy in love with the
rice
paper so I just tore the rolls open so they could eat the filling with the
peanut sauce.
Korean Spicy Cucumber Salad
-
1 cucumber
-
1 tsp salt
-
1/2 tsp each- sugar, red pepper flakes, sesame oil, salt and rice
vinegar
-
1/4 tsp each- minced garlic, sesame seeds
Slice cucumber, add salt
and let marinate 30min. Rinse briefly with water and pat dry.
Mix in the rest
of ingredients.
Mexican “Elote” Corn Dip
(Amazing warm Mexican
appetizer)
Ingredients:
6 ears corn, husks intact*
1 c. mayonnaise
1 T. Cholula brand hot
sauce
2 T. fresh lime juice
1 t. kosher salt
1 t. fresh ground pepper
1 t. sugar
11/4 c. chicken stock
¼ c. Cotija cheese, ground
or crumbled, for garnish
2 T. chopped cilantro, for
garnish
Tortilla chips
Over a medium-hot grill,
roast the corn until the husks are well charred, about 5 minutes.
Turn occasionally so as not to burn the
side contacting the direct heat. Set the roasted ears
aside until cool enough
to handle, then shuck them. Cut the kernels off the cobs.
When ready to eat, mis the
mayo, hot sauce, lime juice, salt, pepper, sugar, and chicken
stock in a sauté
pan over medium heat. Add the corn kernels and warm through. Pour into a
bowl
and garnish with cheese & cilantro. Serve immediately (warm) with crispy
tortilla chips!
Brazilian
Lemonade/Limeade - Our Best Bites
Ingredients: 4 juicy limes (try and find ones with thin, smooth skins; they’re the
juiciest and
the thin skin cuts down on the chance of your drink being
bitter)
1 c. sugar
6 c. cold water
6 Tbsp. sweetened condensed milk
Instructions: Mix cold water and sugar very well and chill until ready to use. This
step can
be done ahead of time.
Wash limes thoroughly with
soap (I just use hand-dishwashing soap or regular hand
soap); you need the soap
to get the wax and pesticides off of the limes because you’re
using the WHOLE
lime, baby. Cut the ends off the limes and then cut each lime into 8ths.
Place 1/2 of the limes in
your blender.
Add 1/2 of the sugar
water, place the lid on your blender, and pulse 5 times. Place a fine-mesh
strainer over a pitcher (the one you’ll serve the lemonade in) and pour the
blended mixture
through the strainer and into the pitcher. Use a spoon to press
the rest of the liquid into the
pitcher. Dump the pulp and stuff in the
strainer into the trash. Repeat with remaining limes and
sugar water. Add
sweetened condensed milk; DO NOT leave this step out unless you will
die of a
horrible sweetened condensed milk allergy because this is the secret
ingredient!
You may want to taste test it at this point; I used giant,
thick-skinned limes tonight and didn’t
test it and it came out a little bitter.
If it’s bitter, just add some more sugar and maybe a little
more milk.
Serve immediately over
lots of ice. This does not keep well, so don’t make this in advance
(although
you can cut the limes, mix the sugar water, and measure the sweetened condensed
milk in advance). Serves 4, although I can pretty much guarantee you that
people will want
more; I usually plan on 1 1/2 servings at LEAST per person.
Thai Coconut Curry Soup
This recipe
is hard to write out because I make it differently every time. Honestly, as long as you have the
right ingredients, just add how much you like, to taste, and play around with
it. Here’s a basic guide but you
can mix it up.
1 tablespoon olive oil or coconut oil
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
1 stalk lemon grass, minced (Optional)
2 teaspoons red or green curry paste (I use a large TBSP+
of regular curry seasoning
instead)
4 cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons fish sauce (Optional, I don’t like this)
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
3 (13.5 ounce) cans coconut milk
Shrimp or diced cooked chicken
1 pound medium shrimp - peeled and deveined
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
salt to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Whatever
Veggies you want (potatoes, red bell peppers, mushrooms etc.)
Heat the oil in
a large pot over medium heat. Cook and stir the ginger, lemongrass, and curry
paste in the heated oil for 1 minute. Slowly pour the chicken broth over the
mixture, stirring continually. Stir in the fish sauce, brown sugar and veggies;
simmer for 15 minutes. Cook and stir until the veggies are soft. Add the shrimp/chicken and warm
through. Stir in the lime juice;
season with salt; garnish with cilantro.
Mango Lassi
www.simplyrecipes.com
Ingredients:
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup milk
4 teaspoons sugar, to
taste
A dash of ground cardamom
(optional)
Method: Put mango, yogurt, milk, sugar and cardamom into a blender and blend for
2 minutes, then pour into individual glasses, and serve. Can sprinkle with a
little cardamom.
The lassi can be kept
refrigerated for up to 24 hours.
Slow
Cooker Indian Chicken Tikka Masala
Yields
6 servings
Recipe Source: Cooking Classy
Ingredients:
5
boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1 inch pieces (about 3 lbs)
1/2
large yellow onion, finely diced
4
cloves garlic, minced
2
Tbsp freshly, finely grated ginger
1
(29 oz) can tomato puree (I recommend Contadina Brand)
1
1/2 cups plain yogurt
2
Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2
Tbsp lemon juice
2
Tbsp Garam Masala
1
Tbsp cumin
1/2
Tbsp paprika
2
tsp salt, or to taste
3/4
tsp cinnamon
3/4
tsp freshly ground black pepper
1-3
tsp cayenne pepper*
2
bay leaves
1
cup heavy cream
1/2
tbsp cornstarch
Prepared
Long Grain White Rice or Basmati Rice
Chopped
cilantro, for serving
Directions
In
a large mixing bowl combine chopped onions, minced garlic, grated ginger,
tomato puree, plain yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, Garam Masala, cumin,
paprika, salt, cinnamon, pepper and cayenne pepper. Stir until combine. Pour
half of sauce mixture into a large slow cooker then add in diced chicken
followed then cover chicken with remaining sauce. Add in 2 bay leaves. Cover
slow cooker with lid and cook on low heat for 8 hours (or high for 4 hours).
In a mixing bowl, whisk
together heavy cream and cornstarch, pour mixture into slow cooker and gently
stir. Allow mixture to cook 20 minutes while you prepare the rice. Remove bay
leaves and serve warm over rice and sprinkle with chopped cilantro.
Notes
*I put 1 -3 tsp because it
is all depending on your heat preference. If you don't like spicy foods you
could even omit this ingredient. I go for 3 tsp but I like my food really
spicy.
Mexican Trifle
In a trifle
bowl, layer the following in as many layers as desired. Sprinkle shaved dark chocolate pieces
on top.
-
Churro Bites (recipe below)
-
Mexican Chocolate Pudding (recipe below)
-
Homemade Whip Cream
-
Strawberries
Churro Bites
Yield: 4 servings
Recipe Source: Cooking Classy
Ingredients
·
½
cup milk
·
½
cup water
·
3
Tbsp butter, diced
·
2
tsp granulated sugar
·
¼
tps + 1/8 tsp salt
·
½
tsp vanilla extract
·
1
cup all-purpose flour
·
Vegetable
oil, for frying
Cinnamon Sugar Coating
·
½ cup granulated sugar
·
2 tsp ground cinnamon
Directions
·
Heat
1 ½ inches of oil in a heavy bottom pot over medium heat to 360 degrees (keep a
close eye on the temp while you prepare the churro dough, you don't want it to
become too hot, so you may have to reduce the temp or remove the pot from the
burner for a moment.
·
In
a medium sauce pan combine milk, water, butter, 2 tsp sugar, and salt and bring
mixture just to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, remove from heat and
immediately stir in vanilla and flour. Stir mixture with a silicone spatula
while running dough along the bottom of the saucepan to smooth any lumps and
stir until mixture comes together and is smooth. Transfer to a piping bag fitted
with a large open star tip and carefully pipe about 1 to 1 ½ inches of dough
out over oil and using clean scissors, cut dough at top to allow dough to drop
into oil (to make it faster I’d pipe about 2-3 inches out at a time and would
cut 2 at once the pipe more and repeat). Work in fairly small batches being
careful not to overcrowd (which will reduce oil temperature too much. You want
the oil to remain close to 350). Allow churros to fry until golden brown
(stirring occasionally near the beginning of frying will help keep them from
sticking to each other) and remove with a wire skimmer and drain on a plate or
baking sheet lined with several layers of paper towels.
·
In
a small mixing bowl, whisk together ½ cup granulated sugar and 2 tsp of ground
cinnamon. Toss warm, drained churros into sugar mixture to evenly coat. For
best results serve with warm with chocolate sauce if desired.
Mexican Chocolate Pudding
Serves 4
Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 2 hrs
·
½
cup packed light brown sugar
·
¼
cup unsweetened cocoa powder
·
2
½ tablespoons cornstarch
·
½
teaspoon cinnamon
·
2
cups plain unsweetened almond milk
·
1
½ tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits
·
½
teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Accompaniments: lightly sweetened whipping cream; toasted
silvered almond
· Whisk together brown sugar,
cocoa, cornstarch, cinnamon, and 1/8 tsp of salt in a heavy medium saucepan,
then whisk in almond milk. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking often,
then boil, whisking. 1 minute. Remove from heat and whisk in butter and vanilla.
Chill in a bowl, surface covered with a piece of buttered wax paper, until
cold, at least 1 ½ hours.
