Fabulous late-summer dinner at Ana Scofield and Rudy Maxa's lovely home last night. Cold, spicy shrimps. Smokin' hot jalapenos, halved, filled with creamy goat cheese, and run under the broiler until browned and bubbly. Fish tacos filled with crispy cod, sliced avocado, roasted corn, and cilantro. Ana's mom's Columbian black beans. Rudy's jewel-toned tomato salad with lemon basil. And creamy, caramelly flan for dessert. All washed down with a killer tequila cocktail, El Diablo, yum. And of course lots of great wine. Ohhhh, what a meal. I told Rudy and Ana that I woke up this morning laughing about how the
combination of tequila plus Rudy's jaw-dropping tales from his tenure at the Washington Post made for some pretty wild dreams, very funny. (Recipes posted in comments, below.)In typical form, I was so busy talking (and eating!) while Ana and Rudy pulled dinner together that I forgot to take their picture. Damn! I love being in other people's kitchens while they cook. It's such an honor to be invited into someone's home and to witness the preparation of food they have chosen to share, I enjoy that as much if not more than the actual meal. (Well...I do enjoy the meals an awful lot, perhaps it's a toss-up, ha.)
In fact, on this last day of summer, that makes me think of all the beautiful meals I've been lucky to witness and devour this summer. Thanks to everyone who has shared their food with me - Ana and Rudy, of course, and also Suz, Kim, Tom, Valerie, Esther, John, Dot, Bartley, Maud, Catherine, Natalie, and Nathan. It's been a glorious, fun- and food-filled summer...John and I did one of our very favorite things today - took a slow, pretty drive, this time a short day-trip down to Northfield. Tunes (like the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Road Trippin'), views,
gossip, dorkin' out, we cover it all. We scoped out the campuses of St. Olaf and Carleton, stopped downtown for some coffee. Made our way back here for a casual dinner of various leftovers, with a nice piece of cheese and a glass of wine for dessert. On the deck, more tunes, taking in this gorgeous, soft evening. Good night.
posted by Stephanie @ 10:09 AM
6 Comments:
Girl, you know I'll share food with you anytime. Goodbye, summer! *sniff!* But, hello fall, which = yummy heart-warming food with your pals. :-)
I agree, sniff! But so true about heart-warming food, like your apple bread pudding, mmmm... That alone could make winter bearable, ha. So good.
Stephanie,
First of all, I love your blog. I found out about it from a friend in the neighborhood and have tried some of your delicious recipes!! Some of us who get the CSA share are always looking to see what you did with your veggies....then we get ideas for what we should do with ours!
On another note, I've tried to phone you this weekend and you are a hard one to get a hold of. So, I thought I'd try this. I'm on the neighborhood committee this year and we are looking for someone to host the annual Yulebach celebration. (Dec. 9th)Would you and your husband be up for it? Let me know. I'll be happy to fill you in on the details.
Sally Goddard
goddard.sally@slpschools.org
Hi Sally! I just sent you an email, I'm sorry to be hard to pin down (it's a phone thing, no good excuse at all). And thanks for reading my blog - I'm so honored and glad that you and others are checking out veggie recipes! I'll talk to you soon, Stephanie
El Diablo Cocktail
2 oz blanco tequila (we used Patron Silver)
3/4 oz creme de cassis (last night we used Marashino liquor from Croatia - it is clear. Creme de Cassis would give the drink a red tinge - thus the name El Diablo...the devil)
Ginger Ale
1/2 lime
1 scoop crushed ice
Fill a highball glass half full with crushed ice. Squeeze the lime over the ice and add the lime half to the glass. Pour in the tequila and creme de cassis. Top off with ginger ale and stir.
Jalepeno Poppers:
2 small packages soft goat cheese (I used herbed goat cheese)
12 large jalepeno peppers (or a milder pepper, such as a poblano, if you can't take the heat!)
fresh cilantro
Stem the jalepenos, slice off the top third - lengthwise - and scrape out the seeds. Fill each jalepeno half with goat cheese until level. Place a cilantro leaf on top. Place on baking sheet, cut side up. Broil in oven until browned and bubbling.
Post a Comment
<< Home