The Dinner Party---Wow!

Hey Everyone!!!

This has been one busy week. I was one day in Denver, CO... one day in San Fransisco, CA and one day in Atlanta, GA. I was flying over the holidays... but as usual we like to have a traditional (non-traditional Christmas dinner) on the weekend after the Holidays.

So we had 6 friends over for a different sort of post-Christmas dinner. We had decorated the house for when my parents came down last week. There were small white lights running up and down the staircase with traditional red bows... and then small white lights outlining the french doors on both sides between the living room and kitchen... (this effectively hides all dust when the lights are turned off and only the small lights shine!!!!) OH... and in the front bay windows of our NYC brownstone, we have a 7 foot Chrismas tree... but with the gold star... makes 8 feet... all decorated with antique christmas ornaments and the large old fashioned colorful lights..

To start off guests arrived to drinks ( a choice of red wine, raspberry flavored gingerale, dry grape gingerale, fruit juice or sparkling water) and a choice of Parmesan,cayenne, parsley and oregano ------and/or----Carraway, celery seed, poppy seed and sesame seed, puff pastry twists...and a homemade yet addictive cheese spread --- simple to make using room-temperature cream cheese that has been thoroughly mixed with a generous amount of chopped sundried tomatoes that have been marinated in olive oil and garlic (bought in a jar!)... and a generous amount of italian olives that have been pitted and chopped... Once well mixed... spread on your favorite crackers and then topped with parsley. As simple as this dip was to make was as quickly as everyone devoured them!!! What a wonderful compliment!!!

For the main course we had a creamy Dijon chicken ( breasts, as well as thighs and drumsticks... since all of my guests prefered different cuts of meat!!!) The sauce is very rich and very creamy!!! One of the joys of preparing this meal is that the inital prep work may be done an hour or so before guests arrive and then covered with tin foil...I can then finish cleaning the kitchen... jump in the shower, throw on my dinner clothes and do some final last minute things just before guests start to arrive. I like to throw the chicken into the oven about 15 minutes before the guest show up since I like to cook the dish between 45 minutes to 1:15 ... but if for some reason you get caught up in drinks, or conversation, not to worry since this is a very forgiving dish that is almost impossibe to over cook... it only gets better and richer since the chicken NEVER dries out... it just continues to absorb the mushroom and cream sauce...!!!

We served the Chicken Dijon over a 7 gain wild rice mix that I bought in the gourmet store.

For vegetables we wanted something simple but something that could stand on its own next to a rich and intense maincourse so we settled on steamed Asperagus, chopped into 1 1/2 inch spears, and then slathered in butter, salt and pepper.---We also served mushrooms stuffed with homemade breadcrumbs,olive oil, fresh parsley, egg, parmesan cheese, garlic and then topped off with parparika.

Dessert was a little difficult to decide since one of my friends doesn't eat fruit...I really felt that after so much rich creamy food that something tart would balance all of the flavors so... I decided to make two types of dessert. One was a Very tangy Lemony, Lime squares... made on a homemade lime shortbread style crust... It really was perfect... and then for my friend who doesn't eat fruit... I decided on this really rich, sweet and dripping moist dense cake called... Tres Leche (Three Milk ). which is a "Cuban/Nicaragan" treat... It basically is a very dense cake that you make... then once it is cooled you prick it all over with a fork... next you mix regular milk, evaporated milk, and sweetened condensed milk... and then pour it over the entire cake and allow it to set... so the cake almost becomes pudding like but... the cake recipe is so dense the entire cake stays together... You finally add this basic egg white, sugar and vanilla frosting that is a cross between homemade meringue/homemade marshmellow frosting.

The cake is VERY unusual... Nothing like you will ever have... but maybe that is why everyone wanted the recipe... It really was delicious... and very decadant.... If you love sweets... this cake should be hidden somewhere in your recipe file... but don't be surprised if not only the kids beg you to make it for their birthdays... but your friends ask for the left overs!

Oh... and I gotta tell you ... as we all had lemony Lime squares... my friend who doesn't like fruit was ohhing and aaahhhhing about how she had never had a cake like this before... ( and she grew up in the airline industry... so she has seen quite a bit of really good food!!!) everyone decided that they had to try out the cake too... all I can say is that I didn't have to worry about finding a place in the fridge for the leftovers!!! (Thank goodness) All of this was served with freshly ground coffee... that I had premade and placed in our Thermos/Coffee server...

I hope everyone is having a very happy Holiday Season with your families and friends...and that the New Year brings Peace, Health, and bountiful delicious recipes!!!!

Happy cooking!!! Happy New Year!!!