Dinner Review for August 6th
#11
  Re: (...)
Well, where is everyone?? I guess I'll start this off then.

What a fun day, after working our a$$es off Saturday, I decided to just play with food Sunday and what delightful results. Good choices, Linda!
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Cuisine @ Home Review Dinner
Sunday, August 5, 2007

Our menu

Fuzzy Melba
Turbinado Sugar

Fuzzy Melba – nice drink, but I dirtied so many bowls/pans making this drink, don’t think it’s that ‘nice’.

[Image: FUZZY.jpg]

Heirloom Steaks
Chile & Lime Vinaigrette

This was not on the 'menu', but needed to keep working on the 2 1/4 pounder!! this was a nice start to the dinner and it worked with the Sauvignon Blanc well.

[Image: TOMATO.jpg]

Bloody Mary Chopped Salad
Shooters of Dressing
Tobin James Sundance ’05 sauvignon Blanc

This is one of those dishes that really surprised me - I'm not a great fan of gazpacho, so was not real enthused, but we loved it!! And it was funny, the bites of the salad that didn't include green olives did not go very well with the Sauvignon Blanc, but the bites that did? It was a perfect match - I guess the saltiness, but it was great. I'll make this again, for sure.

[Image: SALAD.jpg]

Grilled Ribeye
Roasted Red Beets
Red Wine Feta Vinaigrette
Camaraderie Cellars ’05 Zinfandel

Was afraid serving the Bloody mary salad and the steak together would be just too much vinaigrette flavors, so served individual courses and served roasted beets with the steak. Oh boy, it was delicious - the picture is not anything to shout about, but it sure tasted good!! And the Zin went very well with the steak and the beets. Love the Feta Vinaigrette!!!

[Image: RIBEYE.jpg]

Weight Watchers English Toffee Crunch
Ice Cream Bars

Great finish to a great dinner!

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This was one of the better dinners - everything scale-wise would be at least 8.5 and higher.
Retired and having fun writing cookbooks, tasting wine and sharing recipes with all my friends.
www.achefsjourney.com
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#12
  Re: Dinner Review for August 6th by cjs (Well, where is every...)
Oh my goodness, Jean! I've been so busy admiring your photos I almost forgot to post my review....

To start, let me say that the Bloody Mary Salad was a huge hit! We both loved it and I will definately be making it again. Very nice summer dish along with the rib-eye steaks. I did not make the feta vinagrette for the steaks because I knew Ron would complain about too much vinegar and I didn't want to make it just for myself. So, we just grilled the steaks (with a few mesquite chips) and had them with the salad. The fuzzy melbas are yummy and would be fun to serve for company since they are so pretty! I did not have spiced rum, so had to use "regular" but it still turned out great.

One word about the salad. This was too much for 2 people, but I made the whole recipe anyway thinking that I could have the leftovers the next day. Well, I made the mistake of pouring the extra dressing in the container with the salad and it made the shrimp tough and tasteless. So, I ended up dumping the shrimp, but Ron had a great time eating the rest with Frito Scoops.

This was a delicious and fun meal. I'll probably try the feta vinagrette another time.

Maryann
Maryann

"Drink your tea slowly and reverently..."
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#13
  Re: Re: Dinner Review for August 6th by Mare749 (Oh my goodness, Jean...)
"complain about too much vinegar" - that's what I was afraid of also, it was O.K. serving as different courses tho.

I made half the salad - it did look like way too much for two. But, I do have the dressing left to use on another salad - it is good, isn't it?
Retired and having fun writing cookbooks, tasting wine and sharing recipes with all my friends.
www.achefsjourney.com
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#14
  Re: Re: Dinner Review for August 6th by cjs ("complain about too ...)
It really is good, and I wish I had thought to make only half of the salad, as I prefer my salad cut fresh, not leftover. And like you said, the dressing could be used again. Still learning.

That's a good idea to have separate courses, and I didn't think of that either. Ron's only complaint about trying these new dishes is that they all seem to have so much vinegar, and he's not a huge fan. In fact, I think the first time I ever got him to use vinegar on his food was when we went to Atlantic City a few years back and bought those wonderful french fries from Thrashers. We stopped at several stands on the boardwalk asking for ketchup and no one had any! Seems they only use salt and vinegar on their fries. Ron liked it fine while we were at the shore, but hasn't used vinegar since.

Maryann
Maryann

"Drink your tea slowly and reverently..."
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#15
  Re: Dinner Review for August 6th by cjs (Well, where is every...)
Hi, Jean, and Maryann, and any other lurkers who tried this!


I thought this was very good, on the "Do Again" list. But I'll follow your lead next time, because it was too vinagry to be served together. I omitted olives cause I forgot to buy them, didn't miss them at all. The steak vinaigrette was excellent. That's a nice recipe to keep on file.

Your pics are "jus' lov-e-ly", Jean, as always. For some reason my rare med rare steaks always show up as med when I photograph them. Should probably learn how to fix that one of these days!

And a nice dinner was had by all.....

PJ
PJ
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#16
  Re: Re: Dinner Review for August 6th by Mare749 (It really is good, a...)
This dinner kinda got lost in the shuffle of sooo many things happening here--sounds like one to try soon--reviews will be appropriately used--thanks for those!

Looking forward to the next one---
"Never eat more than you can lift" Miss Piggy
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#17
  Re: Dinner Review for August 6th by cjs (Well, where is every...)
I actually decided to make this menu tonight after all and it was pretty good. I did not make the drink as sort of solidarity for my husband who is newly on coumadin and is not comfortable with drink yet. First we had to salad. It was ok but not my favorite. I am not sure if it was too much with the feta a vinaigrette or what but I felt too many strong flavors trying to compete that did not totally come together. Now for the steak. I thought it was really nice. My only complaint or thing that I noticed is that after the vinegar sat on the steak it sort of made it a little tough. I did the presentation similar to the photos and so it was just sort of over the middle. I served all of this with jacket potatoes and Jamie Olivers "dinner lady carrots and it was great. I think I would make them both again just not together. Also as a side note the red wine vinaigrette goes really well with the salad minus the bloody mary dressing.
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#18
  Re: Re: Dinner Review for August 6th by Mare749 (Oh my goodness, Jean...)
Jean, your pix are fabulous! I WANT YOUR PIG!!! Want it, want it, want it!!! I collect pigs and this one has to be the best I've seen!

Oh yeah, the dinner. . . well, I pretty much agree with the rest of you. The Fuzzy Melbas were great. We didn't have the spiced rum either, and used regular rum. We have made these in the past, just forgot about them, but do remember that the spiced rum is almost necessary. It really lends a positive to the peaches. There's just something to spiced peaches. . . We also ran out of rum (how could that happen?? ) but pulled out the Proseco (an Italian bubbly, similar to Asti) and made some Bellini's! Now THERE's a winner!!! Yummmmmm-y!

The Bloody Mary Salad was a huge hit. We had to omit the shrimp and worcestershire sauce, however, due to the fish allergies. I added about 2 teaspoons of A1 steak sauce to replace the W-sauce and this added a nice flavor. Served the dressing on the side and did have leftover but this will be used on another salad.

Jean, we made beets with this, too! Your pix is great! The feta cheese with the beets made this an almost "Greek" flare, thinking Greek salad here. We thought it went well witht the beef.

The steaks went over real well here. There were requests for seconds but none were around! I was a bit concerned about the feta with the beef but we were all pleasantly surprised by how well this went. The vinegar was a must for the cheese in this recipe, in our opinion. . .doubt it would have gone over well without it.

None of us thought that the vinegar was an issue here as some of you did. Not sure why this was. We thought it all went well together, tied in well. We also served a nice red I was introduced to several months back, an Italian import Cagnina di Romagna '92 -- a silky smooth berry flavor red that paired well with the beef and the vinaigrette.

Overall, this is a keeper for us. Agree with Jean, giving it a 9 on our scale. A definite do-againer which we would serve to guests without hesitation.
Vive Bene! Spesso L'Amore! Di Risata Molto!

Buon Appetito!

Linda
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#19
  Re: Re: Dinner Review for August 6th by MUSICMAKER (Jean, your pix are f...)
Congratulations on your first pick of the dinner menu, Linda - a definite hit. Everyone falls in love with that pig - he has the cutest little face ever! I raised pigs for years, so naturally for years that's what folks gave me - Pig everythings.

Sharon, your birthday is next, so you have first choice of what we do for the next dinner. Guess I'll go give her a nudge.
Retired and having fun writing cookbooks, tasting wine and sharing recipes with all my friends.
www.achefsjourney.com
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#20
  Re: Re: Dinner Review for August 6th by cjs (Congratulations on y...)
Thanks for the compliment, Jean! It was a bit difficult trying to pick something out, not realizing just how many fish ingredient recipes C@H has. As it was, I didn't even notice the Bloody Mary Salad containing shrimp until posting the recipe for it! Oh well, it turned out good, anyway, even without the shrimp!


Just LOVE that pig! It looks like my new puppy -- always on her back with her little belly pudging out! But still want yours!!!
Vive Bene! Spesso L'Amore! Di Risata Molto!

Buon Appetito!

Linda
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