Tasty Dinner Guests

I came across this menu while I was cleaning my office today. It's the first dinner I ever hosted for the Tasty Crew at my place. Life is good. Food is goood. Delish.

Drinks:
Pineapple Lemonade
White Sangria with peaches and green apples
Stella Artois
Appetizer:
Golden Gazpacho with fresh mint pesto served in a bell pepper 'shell'
From the Grill:
Pork Kebobs with jerk-mango
Grilled Italian Eggplant 'Stacks' with Smoked Mozzarella
Grilled Italian Flatbread with fresh tomato-parsley salsa
Grilled Fresh Pineapple, Peaches & Apricots
From the Kitchen:
Chicken in a Spicy West-Indian Coconut Sauce
Steamed Jasmine Rice
Dessert:
Caramel & Black Pepper Flan

Hot Hot Lobster

In honor of our new friends from Inner Visions, the Reggae Band from the U.S. Virgin Islands, who seamlessly connected the West Indies to Maine on a Fine Summer Day in July '06. This recipe blends cold-water Maine lobster with the fiery warmth of the Caribbean Islands.

serves 4 with rice

2 large Maine lobsters steamed and picked & rough chopped (reserve some cooking water)
1 small yellow onion - diced small
1 cubanelle pepper - seeded; thinly sliced
1/2 hot pepper (scotch bonnet works well) - minced salt & pepper to taste

Toss these ingredients together and adjust salt & pepper if necessary

In a smaller bowl combine:

1 scallion - sliced thin
2 teaspoons white vinegar
juice of 1 small lime
3 Tablespoons coconut milk (not coconut cream)
1-1 1/2 teaspoons good curry - Madras is a decent brand
1 Tablespoon tomato paste - in the West Indies they actually use ketchup, which you can do too.

Stir spice blend until well combined and add to lobster.
Wrap and let this mixture rest for a few hours in the fridge to mascerate (combine flavors).

When you are ready to serve:

Heat 1-2 tablespoons of oil -vegetable, canola or grapeseed- in a heavy saute pan
Sautee the lobster mixture until it's just hot throughout
Add about 1/8-1/4 cup reserved lobster cooking water to thin slightly

Serve over white rice

warning:
if you have never used hot peppers like habaneros or scotch bonnets before...take care! they can burn like mad if it they get on your skin or in your eyes! Use disposable rubber gloves when seeding and chopping and toss the gloves when you're through. Wash anything exposed to seeds or peppers. Word.

Pie Dough Recipe for My Friend Alison

It’s best to make this dough on a day that’s not too humid. You can make several batches on a cool day, wrap the disks in plastic and toss it in a zipper bag in the freezer. Pull them out about 1-½ hours before you want to make your pie and let them defrost a bit in the fridge. Roll them when they’re still nice & firm. They’ll keep well for about 3 months.

Use a food processor with a large-bowl (I use 12 qt – but if you don’t have one that big – just divide the recipe in 2) fitted with a steel blade.

Add to your bowl:

7 cups King Arthur flour - fluff your flour a bit before measuring it, so it’s not too compact

4 teaspoons of salt - I use kosher – it tastes better

Pulse a couple of times to mix

Then add:

5 sticks of very cold butter cut into bits. – Scatter around the bowl evenly

Pulse 5 or 6 times for about 2 seconds each pulse

If your butter gets too warm while you’re cutting it – toss in the freezer to harden up before putting it in the bowl

8 Tablespoons all-vegetable shortening bits – same as the butter - nice and cold

Pulse 5 or 6 times for about 2 seconds each pulse

At this point, your flour/fat mixture should still be grainy – It should look somewhat like coarse oatmeal. Don’t overwork the dough. Pulse only until the mixture just holds together when you squeeze it in your palm.

Turn your mixture out of the processor bowl and into another bowl –for some reason, glass bowls seem to work best.

Very slowly begin to add ice water. I evenly drop it around the perimeter of the bowl and gently lift and press the water into the dough with my fingertips only. For this amount of dough I have used up to 20 tablespoons of water and as little as 12 or 15 tablespoons when the weather is cranky and humid. You’ll have to get a ‘feel’ for it. Make notes for yourself each time you make it and recognize the changes so you’ll know what to do the next time. It’s scientific really – you need just enough water to make steam between the layers so that the fat & flour separate to make a fantastic flaky pie stratosphere!

Be the dough Alison.

When your dough is moist enough, wrap the bowl and put it in your fridge to ‘rest’. This gives the fats time to chill-out. If you don’t rest it, it can get mooshy when you’re rolling it. After about 30-40 minutes, take it out, cut into even sections and roll with a rolling pin – add flour to your work surface a little at a time as you go. Remember – the most important thing about making a great crust is not too much water and don’t overwork the dough. It takes a bit of patience –but your Dad will be psyched to see such a great piecrust!