While I’m not sure what I’m going to bring to eat, I know what I’m drinking – Sangria! Naturally I need to know how to actually make sangria and luckily Alton Brown can step and assist:

So this time when the invitation came round I asked the host if I could borrow the kitchen while they played poker and prepare a few finger food items for the crowd. She was really receptive to the idea – hey what are friends for.

Poker Night

So all week I’ve been thinking about what to make. I had a lot of ideas but in the end knew that it had to be “clean to eat” – didn’t want greasy or messy fingers on the cards.  I opted for stuffed celery using a cold version of Crab Rangoon filling, some Greek salad on a stick, and for break time bite sized fish tacos. The first two should be easy to prepare and while the final one would require some work it wasn’t that hard.

However, I would not be cooking in my house and I wanted to prepare as much as I could in advance. I opted for making the celery filling ahead of time and thawing the fish. The taco recipe also called for crème fraîche which I had made on Thursday so I could just take it with me. I also prepped the vinaigrette for the salad sticks. The rest I would prepare there.

The filling for the celery was just a double batch of the Crab Rangoon mix from earlier in the week, but the fish took longer to defrost than I figured. As a result I was about an hour past the appointed start time. I shouldn’t have worried – the game never starts on schedule.

Deal ‘em

The celery prep went easy and tasted really good, but the game was progressing a little faster than normal so I switch gears and started getting the shells for the fish tacos going. My host’s oven ran a little warmer than mine and the first batch was slightly browner than I wanted, but still passable. The next batch turned out perfect as I cut back on the time by about 1.5 minutes.

Prepping the taco innards and dressing was easy and so was the crème fraîche topping. The fish cooked nicely once I figured out the cook-top controls. I was done by the first break. There were some skeptical looks but there were no wonton wrappers left when they went back to the table. The arugula was fairly new to everyone but it added a nice kick to the taco. I also had fears about all the lime juice in the dressing but it lightened up when mixed with all the ingredients.

The only trouble I had with the Greek salad sticks was getting the fetta cheese through the skewer. It broke and crumbled when I got past the skewer tip. I read about this happening when I read the recipe comments and per some suggestions tried bigger chunks. No dice. I could not get them on there. So on a suggestion from a friend that was out of the game, I just stuck them on the tip. I think the key is thinner skewers and not the bamboo kind used for grilling.

Final Table

By the time the first game was over, I was all cleaned up and had only a few left over salad skewers. I left the salad skewers since my friends were going to play another game and they seemed to be trying the salad skewers as they discovered them.

All in all I think it went well. I would definitely prepare and dress the taco innards ahead of time less the arugula. Since the dressing is lime based the avocado would not brown and adding the chopped arugula just before serving will keep it crisp. I had about 1/3 of the Crab Rangoon filling left which I’ll enjoy eating and just a tiny bit of the taco innards – perhaps for lunch if the arugula holds up.

I think I’ve found my way back to the poker parties!

A Gyro in Disguise

A couple of weeks ago I caught an episode of Giada at Home where she made fish tacos. The “taco shells” were wonton wrappers baked crisp in a muffin pan. A neat edible bowl that could be filled with anything! Originally I was going to give that a try but got thinking about using it with lamb. What started rattling around was combining it with some greens, probably romaine or some spring mix, tomatoes and cucumbers, which sounds a lot like a Gyro less the yogurt sauce. Giada’s recipe called for a wasabi creme fraiche topping so I figure I’ll give that a try with the lamb instead of a yogurt sauce and see how it goes.

Throwing Caution to the Wind

My concerns are roasting the lamb and then having to reheat it. We’ve got to travel about 20 minutes to the lunch and I don’t want to cook it there. The veggies I can pre-cut, the cups can be pre-make as can the creme fraiche.  I’ll also have to roast the lamb before hand, slice it, chill and then reheat for finally assembly. I don’t want to serve it cold – cold lamb is icky. I’ll try popping it in the microwave.

I’ll give my recipe in making a test run for Finger Food Friday just to see how it works. That means I’ll have to roast some of the lamb on Thursday so I can store it overnight and see how it warms up in the microwave. Should be OK, but if it flops, no harm done. I can always make a nice batch of Macaroons instead.

• 3 lb beef tenderloin roast, rubbed with pepper, thyme and garlic
• cranberry-pear chutney sauce
• garlic mashed potatoes
• rosemary carrots
• fresh green bean casserole

This is my 4th year making the roast in the same manner and it came out a little drier than usual. I think the internal temperature got too high (150+ range) which caused it to loose moisture. Next year I’m going to try searing it first and then 200 in the oven until it hits 140-ish.

As my wife will tell you I detest green bean casserole, but I found a recipe at Cooks Illustrated that solved all my issues. The green beans were crisp, not soggy; the sauce was made from fresh mushrooms and tasted wonderful; the home made bread crumbs complimented the only prepared ingredient - fried onions. I even ate left-overs the next day! It’s certainly a green bean casserole I can get behind.

For dessert mom and I attempted a cherry cobbler using Bing cherries. Let’s just say that mom’s crust was magnificent and the filling was – well – interesting.

The spiced nuts go like this:

• 1 egg white
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 lb unsalted nuts (I use almonds and pecans)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger

Set oven for 300 and line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper. Spray paper with cooking spray. Whisk the egg whites, salt and water together in a large bowl. Toss in nuts to coat and then drain in a colander for 4-5 minutes. Combine sugar, cinnamon, coriander and ginger in a large bowl, add nuts and toss to coat. Spread  onto paper lined pan. Bake until nuts are crisp and dry about 40-45 minutes, rotating half way though cooking cycle. Let cool to room temperature. Break clumps of nuts apart.

They will get crisper as they cool and will keep up to 3-4 weeks.

The draining part allows the excess egg white mixture to drain away from the nuts so there’s just a thin binding coat on the nuts. If the nuts are not drained, the nuts could end up with clumps of cooked egg whites on them when they are baked.

This year there’s a tropical party theme. Along with the gift we are to dress “natively” and pimp out a cocktail glass. Best pimped out cocktail glass gets something special. Add to it that I’m in charge of the Jello Shots and a dish or 2 and I’m in for a weekend of cooking.

I may take the easy way out and whip up a batch of Macaroons to compliment the tropical Jello Shots. I’m thinking:

• Mia Tia – Tropical Fruit Jello with light and dark rum
• Pina Colada – Pineapple  Jello with rum
• Hurricane – Orange and Tropical Fruit Jello and dark rum

I’ve made the Mia Tias and Pina Colada’s before but just ran across this one for the Hurricane’s:

• 1/2 package of orange jello
• 1/2 package of tropical fruit jello
• 12 ounces water
• 6 oz dark rum

Boil as per directions on the box and after cooling for 15 minutes add about 6 ounces of Dark Rum and chill until firm.

As for the macaroons, I made a batch a few weeks ago and got a fair amount of positive feedback. I think I’ll try the same recipe but add a touch of chocolate on the bottom.