Author: admin

Although I am completely comfortable cooking for my husband, I get a bit shy about cooking for a crowd.  Growing up, I always shied away from the spotlight – the stage manager, the sports manager, never one with all eyes on me – so I guess that makes sense.  People who know me don’t believe my claim to shyness, but it’s there.  So it doesn’t surprise me that cooking for others is not my forte.  Oh sure, I’m fine with a few appetizers when we host a party, but I’m talking about feeding dinner to 10 hungry friends.  And that’s exactly what I’ve done twice in the last 6 weeks.

Mexican Valentine
In mid-February, we had friends from North Carolina in town, and we invited a bunch of people over to celebrate their arrival.  In total, I think we were 13.  Well, I just had to show off my new tortilla press.  My plan was for everyone to press a couple of their own tortillas and make fajitas.  As it turns out, corn tortillas are pretty tough to make (Chuck and I had made flour tortillas, but this was our inaugural corn pressing).  Thanks to Chuck and one unlucky guest who (probably regrettably) volunteered, we made a ton of tortillas.  And people enjoyed chicken and vegetarian fajitas, as well as an enchilada casserole (based loosely on the recipe linked here, but presented as a mexican lasagna), guacamole, and my mother’s pork carnitas (leave a comment if you’d like the recipe).  Everything was a hit, maybe because of the margaritas, but people really seemed to enjoy the food.

Cooking for 10 without a Stove
A couple weeks ago, I went skiing in Vermont with 10 of my closest friends, some of whom I hadn’t met until my arrival at the house we rented.  Fortunately for snow-enthusiasts, Vermont had gotten dumped on (40 inches in 48 hours is pretty serious back east).  Unfortunately, however, that much snow means widespread power outages, and the house we were staying in was in the dark.  Despite the arrival of a generator, we had to be quite conscious of our power consumption, which meant not using the stove or oven.  And I decided to attempt making dinner for everyone.  Call it dinner impossible if you will, but I thought I could provide dinner for 11 using just a grill.  Ha!  To make a long story short, I came home early from snowshoeing, giving me the chance to do my shopping and prep work.  Everyone else came off the slopes a couple hours later and was welcomed with guacamole and shrimp cocktail.  And at 6pm the power came back!  Phew.  By then, I knew cooking steak with onions and peppers, broccoli and red potatoes was a mightier feat than the grill could handle in any reasonable length of time.  And I didn’t want to serve broccoli as a course by itself.  Dinner wasn’t great, but it was good.  And certainly better than anyone else had planned for dinner.

So I’m getting over my fear of cooking for a group.  Sure, I’d love to be a little more refined in my cooking, but I also try to find a balance between the stress of being the perfect hostess and simply serving a good meal for friends.  They seem to appreciate it, and I just need to remember that I will always be my harshest critic.

Having been travelling and then sick for the last…oh, I don’t know how long…I am happy to be home and feel up to cooking.  And I’m interested in getting back to the basics of my blog, which is to share more about my kitchen antics.  Tonight I made two yummy dishes that weren’t a match made in heaven.  But each, on its own, was scrumptious!

First, I made New Orleans-style Shrimp.  Nothing could be easier.  Just don’t save the marinade, as the spiciness drifts toward the bottom of the bowl, foil, dish.  The best is at the bottom!

And while this should be served on a bed of rice to soak up the sauce, I desperately wanted to make an orzo dish.  I’ve come across a few in the past week or so, and this one was particularly appealing: Orzo with artichokes and pine nuts.  I added broccoli, and where it suggested tobasco, I added sriracha and tapatio, two of my favorite hot sauces.

While the orzo was not the best complement to the shrimp, each dish was, in its own right, delicious, flavorful and easy.  Even for someone ill after a full day back at work.  I’m just happy to be creating.

Note: For those who don’t get the title reference, look at the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup marketing from the 70’s and 80’s…

At the request of my sniffly, sinus-headachy husband, this afternoon I made potato-leek soup.  It’s very creamy, considering that there is no cream or milk base.  And I nailed the spices on it on my first try.

Here is the recipe I use, though with a starchy-soup, I don’t make cheese toast to go with it.  A little salad or light veggie on the side seems a better option to me.  And as the name suggests, it is a very pretty soup.  Full of flavor and so easy to make.

Here are my adaptations: I used 3 smallish local leeks and as many potatoes as we had in the kitchen, 2 large, 4 medium and 2 itty-bitty babies that were challenging to peel.  I accidentally browned a few of the leeks, and in a moment of panic concern, I added an extra tablespoon of butter.  I also substituted one can of chicken broth for one of vegetable broth, added a bit more salt than the recipe calls for, and used a hand blender instead of a potato masher.  I recommend keeping it a little bit chunky.  A great quick soup that doesn’t need sitting time to develop its full flavor and won’t interrupt Sunday afternoon football.  A win-win situation!