Shoestring Gourmet: A Spring Greek Rush |
February's Shoestring arrowed in on the cuisine of Cupid. The love feast began with Diana Toone's "Crustacean O' My Heart", shrimp with horseradish dip served in a miniature heart-shaped popover. Diann Smith followed this with "If you 'carrot' all about me": carrot soup with beets, leeks, roasted red peppers and cilantro with a little red pepper heart in each serving. (for recipe: e-mail Diann at diann@mindspring.com). Our first salad was prepared by Chuck and Joice Braden - spinach strawberry salad with roasted sesame seeds. This went well with Linda Brazelton's juicy barbecue ribs, which were followed by her spinach and sweet raspberry-strawberry salad. We sampled wines that enhanced the Valentine mood. There were two excellent Chardonnays: a French Macon-Lugny and the fine domestic Chateau St. Jean from the Monterey region. We began the entrees by serving Ursula Gore's hearty lamb stew cooked in red wine, with Esther Shaw's Brussels sprouts (which she promised would provide us with all the digestive gas needed to ease this fine meal on down the alimentary canal), to which Pat Hull, our perennial provider of chairs for many of our Gourmets, added her kasha lamb casserole - and all this served with crunchy baguettes. Chuck and Joice returned with skillet chicken pot pies with croissant pastry hearts. Ken Brown, who brought his father for the occasion, served us a piquant oyster stew.
Two love treats capped off our long Valentine evening. Ray Pisar served bananas ("I'm Bananas over You") Foster flambe, with Shaklee's Fiber Crunch and a topping of shaved orange rind.
As a final nibble from Jane Khatiblou: chocolate-covered strawberries - just the thing to fill those remaining empty crannies! With a serving of champagne, we adjourned. In March, we will warm up to the foods of Greece at the home of Pat Hull on the northwest side. The land of lamb, pastas, spinach, stuffed tomatoes, eggplant, and nuts offers not only some great meat dishes, but an especially good profusion of vegetarian specialties. So gather at the Greek aisles of Pat's home on Saturday, March 11 at 6 p.m. Please be sure to call Pat by Thursday, 3/9 at 602-863-4855 to coordinate dishes and get directions.