Cooking for Dad

My mother always told me the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Well, I’m pretty sure I already have my dad’s heart, as well as my Father-in-law’s, but I figured for Father’s Day we should treat them to a feast!

Mom and I decided to tackle the menu & cooking together - coordinating the menu from the appetizers to the dessert course. Then we divvied up the dishes and grocery shopping, and met up in the kitchen to construct the meal. So this time, it really was Mother and Daughter…in the SAME kitchen.

The Menu:

Apps:

Fried Green Olives Stuffed with Cheese

Wood Grilled Artichokes

Lime Drizzled Shrimp

1^st Course:

Spinach salad with Avocado, Apples, and Bacon

Main Course:

Filet Mignon with Roquefort Butter

Vegetable Tian

Dessert:

Chocolate Tart with Chocolate glaze, and homemade vanilla ice cream

There wasn’t a single thing on the menu that wasn’t a success. The men were groaning with delight, the ladies were giggling from the tasty wine (Dry Reisling, Trefethen Vineyards = yummy). The wine went perfectly with the selection of appetizers, recipes shown below:

Fried Green Olives Stuffed with Cheese

40(ish) Large Green Olives – pitted

Feta cheese (recipe called for Blue Cheese – but I substituted for Feta)

2 eggs, whisked

1 cup bread crumbs

½ cup flour

Olive Oil (or vegetable oil)

Stuff olives with feta cheese and set aside. Place the next three ingredients in three separate bowls. Heat oil in large skillet (with enough oil to reach approx 1 inch up the side of the pan). Dip olives in the flour, then egg, then bread crumbs. Once oil is hot enough, dunk the olives into the oil until fried (approx 30 seconds to 1 minute). Only do a handful of olives at a time to ensuring even cooking. Source: Bon Appetit Aug 2007

Sizzling Lime Shrimp

3 limes

1 lb. large prawns, shelled and deveined

3 tbl. olive oil

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

splash of sherry

salt and pepper

3 tbl. chopped fresh flatleaf parsley

Grate the rind and squeeze the juice from two of the limes into a small bowl. Cut remaining lime into wedges for completed dish and set aside.

Rinse shelled and deveined shrimp under cold water, drain and dry well on paper towels. Heat olive oil in large, heavy skillet, then add garlic and cook for 30 seconds (careful not to burn it). Add the shrimp and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring from time to time, until they turn pink and start to curl. Mix in the lime rind/juice mixture, sherry to moisten and stir well.

Transfer cooked shrimp to serving dish, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with parsley. Serve hot accompanied by lime wedges. (Be sure to set out a small dish for your guests to discard the shrimp tails as they eat).

We tend to stuff ourselves in the appetizer course, and Father’s Day was no different, but we did manage to reserve a little room for the dinner itself. So we uncorked a Cabernet Sauvignon, and headed to the dinner table. What came next truly won hearts…

-- the daughter

Flex Your Mussels with the In-Laws

Meg’s in-laws just returned from a fabulous trip to France (that’s redundant, isn’t it?). Her mother-in-law, Linda, is a gifted photographer and put together a slide presentation to share with us, along with a French-inspired dinner. When asked to contribute an appetizer, I decided it was time to flex some mussels.

While every bistro in Paris has some form of mussels on their menu, usually cooked in a pot of white wine (Moules Marinières), I opted for more of a stuffed and baked approach. It’s ultra-simple and even non-mussel-eating guests enjoy these.

Baked Mussels with Herb Garlic Butter

1 lb. fresh mussels (in shells)

¼ cup dry white wine

1 bay leaf

4 oz. butter

2/3 cup fresh French bread crumbs

5 Tbls. chopped fresh flatleaf parsley (plus extra for garnish)

3 Tbl. snipped fresh chives

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

salt and pepper

lemon wedges

Clean mussels thoroughly, scrubbing shells as needed and making sure to eliminate any “beards” attached to them. Discard any with broken or damaged shells. Put mussels in strainer and rinse well in cold water.

Preheat oven to 400º. Put mussels in large pot and add the white wine and bay leaf. Cook, covered, over high heat for 4-5 min., shaking pan occasionally, or until mussels open up. Drain well and discard any that do not open up. Shell the mussels, reserving one half of each shell. Arrange mussels in their half-shells, in a large shallow baking dish.

Melt the butter and mix in small bowl with bread crumbs, parsley, chives, garlic and salt and pepper to taste; mix well. Let stand a couple minutes to allow butter to set slightly. Drop a teaspoon or so of the bread/garlic butter mixture onto each mussel, pressing down with fingertips lightly to enclose the mussel meat in the shell.

To serve, bake the mussels in the oven for 10-12 min, or until hot and bubbly. Serve immediately, garnished with flatleaf parsley sprigs and lemon wedges.

What a wonderful evening. The in-laws shared a delicious and light white wine they discovered in France, “Lascaux”, to accompany the mussels, moving on to this winery’s Pinot Noir for dinner. Great tastes, lively conversation and the ultimate pleasure of the evening…photos of France.

--The Mother