Birthday Dinner - Review Due Monday, 5/15/17

[Mare749]

That certainly sounds like a possibility, Blane. But, I think that maybe we used it the first time in a mystery meal and it was the ingredient that Labs picked.

Hey, whatever happened to mystery meals anyway???

[labradors]

Maryann,

The coffee/tamarind sauce I mentioned was something I made for a mystery box last year.

In addition, tamarind had been one of the ingredients in a mystery box from 2011.

Unfortunately, since this forum is still broken, only the first page of the respective threads are visible and there are no navigational links to the other pages of the thread, so I can't look any further.

I do have the recipes in which I used the tamarind, so if you want to see those, I could post them.

[Mare749]

Thanks for trying, Labs. I have another way to look for it. Now that I know we used that ingredient as far back as 2011, I can look through my pix on photobucket, and might find it there. I'll let you know.

[Mare749]

I think this may be it:

Mystery dinner from 2011, Chicken Lettuce Wraps. I had it in the back of my mind that this might be the dish.

[losblanos1]

This was the tamarind issue that I remembered.


https://forums.cuisineathome.com/showthr...t=tamarind

[Mare749]

Maybe that was the reason for buying the tamarind again? But, that was 3 years ago! I better go look at the date on the jar!

[labradors]

If you ever need something for which to use tamarind, just mix it with some piloncillo (or brown sugar) and glaze some ribs with it.

[cjs]

I was going to preface this review with an apology for choosing a dish with so little interest from others….but I quickly changed my mind the minute I tasted the first course. Oh, ye of little faith!! This is one of the nicest fruit dishes I have ever tasted! So, ya’all just move on to the next dinner and I’ll keep thinking of this one.
 
When you first taste the fruit, there is an instant sweetness which hits you followed by a mellow minty/citrus flavor that just wows the taste buds.
 
I didn’t find the chicken dish too sweet either although, I did cut back on the amount of honey added to let the mustard and jam shine thru.  A bite of the couscous and asparagus roasted with the garlic finished cutting any cloying sweetness that  might have been a problem.
 
For a change, I also made the dessert and that Blueberry syrup is made to satisfy the ending to a very nice dinner. We had it over frozen yogurt and Roy was ready to lick the bowls.
 
Overall, the 1st course is a resounding 10+, the Chicken/Couscous was a solid 9 and the dessert a 9+. I’m so glad I chose this menu.






P.S. and the leftovers made a great hash the next day -

[losblanos1]

I made the chicken part of this menu and it was delicious! I'll make it again, but omit the pistachios, they gave it a dirt flavored aftertaste.

Great choice Jean.

[Trixxee]

All the pictures look great.  I will get to this at some point!