So, we had our friends, Hellen & Derek, over for dinner on Sunday. Derellek, as they're known, contributed to the retro theme by bringing their "astro ball" as an appetizer.
Yes, it is cheese, meat, and olives on toothpicks! And, even better, the dipping bowl fits into the top of the cabbage. Personally, I think you can't go wrong with meat and cheese. Mmmmm, meat....or as my friends Bob and Mike put it, "eyeball eating."
The astro ball was followed by a dinner of chicken tetrazzini with bundles of beans, my father's trademark recipe. I was inspired to try my hand at cooking tetrazzini from a Martha Stewart Everyday Food recipe newsletter, but I didn't like the shortcuts that MS-EF advises. (Rant: MS used to mean something--if you cooked something and said you got the recipe from MS, people were shocked and awed. Now, it's almost equivalent to Sandra Lee's semi-homemade cr*p). So, I found a recipe on epicurious.com that didn't cut corners.
We poached three chicken breasts in water with aromatics (carrots, onion, celery, bay, cloves, peppercorns, etc), then boiled down the liquid to make a quick chicken stock. Then, I cooked some sliced white button mushrooms in butter until they released all their water. Then, I made a quick roux with some flour and additional butter, added the cream and sherry, added the chicken stock and let it thicken into a sauce. Basically, making cream-of-mushroom soup (the hard way). Meanwhile, I cooked the pasta (linguine fini for those keeping up at home) and Gropius cut the chicken into 2-3" chunks.
Put it all together in a casserole dish (or my trusty 9x13" cake pan), top with some breadcrumbs and parmesan, and bake for approximately 30 minutes. That's it. Took about an hour or so to prepare, assemble, and cook.
I also made my Dad's signature Bundles of Beans (although I didn't follow the recipe exactly because I used fresh green beans, not canned). Basically, wrap a bundle of beans with bacon, holding the bacon in place with a toothpick. Melt equal parts brown sugar and butter, pour over beans, and bake for 30 minutes. I got a little fancier by using sliced garlic (since the original recipe called for garlic salt which we didn't have) and some thinly sliced almonds (because nothing tastes better with green beans than almonds!).
Gropius poured a nice cremant and here's the finished product:
Tasty, no?
Derellek was REALLY excited because Derek's new CD was reviewed in the Sac Bee that day and Hellen had to read the review to us:
You can read the article for yourself here (still don't know how to post links yet):
http://www.sacbee.com/music/story/184477.html
Is an aural carnival ride like a magic carpet ride? Is Derek getting carried away with his Moroccan fanbase??
Gropius and Derek were enjoying Hellen's reading of the review and celebrated with spontaneous dance:
Dido, however, was NOT so amused. Apparently, Derek's harshest critic has yet to be pleased...
