Fun, fun, fun at Margarita Night at Kendrick Place

I've noticed that in some ways, for us residents, downtown is like a college campus for grown-ups (all the fun & networking without the exams & adolescent angst) --and we all think we live in the coolest dorm.

I had wanted to live at Kendrick Place since the first time I was in Annie DeLisle's condo there (#611) in 1983. So, quite amazingly, 22 years later, Bill & I purchased #600 in 2005 and then moved to #607 (aka the one with the roof decks) in 2009.

It's a great neighborhood--14 units, 7 on each side of the courtyard that visionary developer Kristopher Kendrick christened "the mews"*. We have friendly, fun, responsible neighbors who pay their HOA fees, respect others' boundaries, and are unfailingly helpful.

We say hello when we see each other, we sometimes have impromptu gatherings, we exchange lots of group emails, & we see each other at the annual meeting + potluck in June and at the holiday potluck in December.

Last night we had our first in what may become quarterly planned neighborhood gatherings:

The Recipe:

2 gallons of margaritas + chips & salsa (both from Soccer Taco on Market Square) + a few appetizers made by Karen Kluge & me along with some subtle Mexican decor + acoustic music by our resident guitarists Tim Allen & Allen Halcomb = Margarita Night!

Check it out.

What's a margarita party without margaritas?

After playing "Margaritaville" and "Tequila Sunrise," Tim & Allen said they were out of tequila songs. Next up, the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood." Never a bad choice.

Here's an all-star line-up: Karen Kluge, Lorie Huff Matthews, honorary resident Sam Maynard, HOA president Mary Holbrook, & Allen & Sonia Brisson-Smith.

At the end of the evening, the neighborhood dogs, who are great pals, joined us.

The cats stayed at their respective homes, but we may need to arrange an indoor play date for them.

Now, all you residents of Crown Court, the Glencoe/Elliot, Cherokee Lofts, Gallery Lofts, Fire Street Lofts, the Phoenix, the Holston, the Burwell, the Emporium, the Jacksonian, and others...

What's going on at your place?

A fun Saturday night with the neighbors. That's what we're having.

* Mews: a narrow street lined with buildings that were originally private stables but have been remodeled as dwellings. If you knew Kristopher, this is but one of many of his inspired creations. This little narrow street will forever be known as the "mews." 

Farmers' Market Themed Progressive Dinner

Last night we had another of our progressive dinners with a small group of friends and neighbors.

We always have a theme--last night it was Farmers' Market. We ate a lot of tomatoes, but no one minded.

We always invite a couple of guests--last night it was Christi & Scott Branscom, who've just moved into a pied a terre downtown. We warned them that's how we started. Next thing you know, you're selling the big house along with most of what you've spent decades accumulating & the stuff the kids left behind when they moved out.

Last night we started at Monique & Bruce Anderson's place at the Glencoe, where we were served these beautiful appetizer plates--cheese, marcona almonds, peaches, berries, grapes, & tomato slices with basil & mozzarella--with a sparkling pinot grigio we all loved.

Having been told this pinot grigio is available only at one winery in California (which doesn't ship to Tennessee), someone proposed, "Road Trip!"

Tim Young, Jeff Cupp, & I left the Andersons' condo early to finish preparation of the main course at their place at Gallery Lofts. Lately we've struck a partnership where I prepare the food and the two of them come up with a signature cocktail, sometimes at their condo, sometimes at our condo at Kendrick Place. We have a bigger kitchen, but they have more living/dining space, so we most often opt for their place.

Check out last night's signature cocktail: Watermelon Moonshine Martinis, which involved strained watermelon, vodka, & watermelon moonshine...and who knows what else. They were beautiful...and powerful.

What's the green stuff around the rim? A mix of salt & sugar with green food coloring involved at some point in the preparation.

I prepared Stacked Tomato Salad (recipe at bottom)

And Salad Nicoise. I used Julia Child's recipe, which is widely available in her books & online.

I used the largest tray Tim & Jeff had--it was still overflowing with tuna, green beans, fingerling potatoes, tomatoes, boiled eggs, Nicoise olives, rolled anchovies, & capers drizzled with a mustardy vinaigrette.

We finished the evening at Cynthia Moxley and Alan Carmichael's place in Cherokee Lofts with peach cobbler served with vanilla ice cream & champagne cocktails.

It was the perfect way to end the evening. The cobbler was light & delicious...Recipe requested! And champagne cocktail is always welcome.

Another fun progressive with friends...That's what we're having.

Stacked Tomato Salad with Sweet Basil Dressing

Tomato slices, ½ inch thick

Buffalo mozzarella, thinly sliced

Tapenade

Basil leaves

Place a tomato slice on a plate and spread with some of the tapenade. Then place a slice of the mozzarella on top, add a few basil leaves, and finish with another tomato slice. Repeat. Top with another tomato slice and a small spoonful of the tapenade and then drizzle the Sweet Basil Dressing over the tomato and around the plate. Garnish with a sprig of fresh basil or with basil microgreeens.

Sweet Basil Dressing

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons honey

3/4 cup pure olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

12 basil leaves, cut into chiffonade (or basil microgreens)

Whisk together vinegar, Dijon mustard, and honey in a medium bowl. Slowly whisk in the olive oil until emulsified. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and then stir in the basil.

Zucchini on Top of Zucchini

Welcome to my kitchen. Just don't make fun of my photography. If you want better photos, come take them yourself & stay for dinner. [BYOB.]

I've been on a squash noodle journey, turning every crookneck and zucchini that come my way into pasta substitutes. 

When I get back to my target weight, I'm not sure whether to celebrate with pasta or with pizza--maybe both.  And I think I'll throw in a tomato sandwich on white bread with mayo. If I can't have one of those per tomato season, then life's not worth living. Just one is all I need.  

Tonight's experiment: Zucchini & Walnut Sauce over Zucchini Noodles (instead of linguini). Plus--I'm trying out my Spirelli, a tool I'm hoping will be less dangerous than the serrated mandoline I've been using. I haven't injured myself yet, but I can see the potential for a scene reminiscent of the SNL skit with Dan Ackroyd impersonating Julia Child.

Here's my original tool. Effective, but somewhat scary.

Here's the new one, which my friend Deborah Franklin described as a pencil sharpener for vegetables. Ha!

It worked pretty well

Zucchini & Walnut Pasta

2-3 zucchini, peeled & trimmed, for noodles

3 small zucchini, untrimmed, for sauce

1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

2 garlic cloves, pressed

2 anchovy fillets, minced (about 1 tablespoon)

1/2 teaspoon  dried crushed red pepper

3/4 cup walnuts, toasted, coarsely chopped

Grated parmesan

Step 1: Create zucchini noodles. Sprinkle with a bit of salt & let sit in colander for 10-20 minutes, no longer. Squeeze dry before using. It's best to use them quickly. They get soggy if they sit too long.

Step 2: Meanwhile, combine garlic, anchovy fillets, and crushed red pepper in a large serving bowl. Using pestle or wooden spoon, crush mixture until paste forms. Here's the paste with the wooden spoon in the background.

Warning: The paste was salty & garlicky. We happen to like that, but if you don't, then adjust accordingly. Tip: If you need a small amount of anchovies, as in this recipe, it's best to keep anchovy paste on hand. 

Step 3: Slice zucchini lengthwise and then again. Slice. Saute in a bit of olive oil until browned.

Step 4 Transfer zucchini noodles to bowl with garlic mixture. Add zucchini, walnuts, & parmesan cheese. Add a bit of olive oil to moisten if needed. Season with salt and pepper. [In the original recipe, you'd use cooked linguini and a bit of pasta water instead of zucchini noodles and olive oil.]

Voila! 

Add a side of tomato slices drizzled with freshly made pesto.

Need I say more?

Thanks for dropping in. I welcome your suggestions, tips, additional recipes. Just lay off the photography critiques. I'm a cook, not a photographer. 

Fluffy Puffy Omelets

I make lots of omelets, but I don't usually go to the effort of separating the yolks and whites and beating the whites to create a fluffy omelet. A recent feature in Cook's Illustrated inspired me to make one this morning. It was easy and turned out perfectly.

Start by making the filling. My refrigerator's pretty empty today, so I made a shallot-mushroom filling. Sautee sliced shallots in a little olive oil for a couple of minutes.

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Add 4 oz. chopped mushrooms, salt, and pepper and continue sauteeing for a few minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 and set the filling aside while prepping the eggs. Separate 4 yolks and 4 whites. To the yolks, add a tablespoon of melted butter and some salt and whisk together. If your melted butter is warm, whisk rapidly!

Beat the whites (with some cream of tartar) until they form stiff peaks.

Gently fold the yolk mixture into the whites.

Melt a tablespoon of butter in an oven-proof skillet. Using a spatula, fill the skillet with the fluffy egg mixture.

Top with mushroom filling and 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese.

Bake on middle rack of oven until the center of the omelet springs back when lightly pressed (4-5 minutes). Run a spatula around the edges and then fold the omelet in half.

You won't see anything but a pile of fluffy egg until you cut it into servings. Here's mine.

This served two generously. If you're serving four, you'd either want to make two of them or serve with lots of sides.

Fluffy Puffy Omelets thanks to the food scientists at Cook's Illustrated. That's what we're having.

Shrimp DeJonghe

I first had Shrimp DeJonghe at a dinner party in 1978. Here's the batch I made tonight.

I loved it the first time I had it, but for whatever reason (maybe the amount of butter involved?!?), I have only cooked it a few times. Bill said he'd never had it before, which means I haven't made it since August 1990.

I have to admit I lightened mine up--using lots of herbs, spices, garlic, sherry, and panko but less butter. I mostly followed this recipe from Epicurious.com, but based on what I knew of the dish's provenance (invented in late 19th  or early 20th c at DeJonghe's Restaurant & Hotel in Chicago) and perusal of some other recipes for the dish, I added sherry and a little cayenne to the herb/butter mixture and used less butter. Oh, and I didn't pre-cook the shrimp for one minute as the Epicurious recipe directs. As quickly as shrimp cooks, that just seemed silly.

It's really easy. Preheat oven to 350. Peel large shrimp and place them in a baking dish. I used a deep pie dish.

Mix softened butter, minced garlic, minced shallots, sherry, panko, tarragon, parsley, thyme, cayenne, salt, pepper, and a little freshly grated nutmeg. It'll be sort of pasty. Drop pieces of it on top of the shrimp.

Envisioning how much butter that was going to be when melted, I reserved some of the mixture for another use.

This next step may seem overkill, but it's what helps make the top of the dish crunchy. Mix melted butter, panko, salt, and pepper. I made mine more crumbly than buttery.

Sprinkle the buttery crumbs on top of the whole dish. I started to reserve some of the buttered crumbs for another use, but in a what-the-heck-move, I used them all. Here is the Shrimp DeJonghe ready for the oven.

While the shrimp baked for 15 minutes, I threw together a salad of spinach, pink grapefruit, sliced red onions, toasted slivered almonds and a dressing made with grapefruit juice, white wine vinegar, olive oil, coarse-grain mustard, minced garlic, and honey and topped the whole thing with some toasted poppy seeds.

Note the smaller dish? That's for the buttery shrimp.

The Shrimp DeJonghe was delicious--even with a minor screw up on my part. Distracted by pan cleaning and dancing to doo wop on Pandora, I left the shrimp under the broiler--the final step--for a tad too long. I recommend taking the dish out when the crumbs are merely browned as opposed to slightly blackened. I have to say the blackening makes for a less photogenic dish, but it didn't affect the taste.

After his first serving, Bill said something along the lines of "Don't make this again--it was way too good." I will admit that we ate every bite--a pound of buttered, herbed, seasoned, crumbed shrimp. The missing butter wasn't missed and made it a healthier but still delicious dish. Note: Multiple additional helpings do lessen the effectiveness of the small entree plate!

Shrimp de Jonghe and a big plate of spinach salad. That's what we're having.

Picadillo and Sweet Potato Fries

I have been craving the unique flavors that make up picadillo, so I made it last night. Tonight, with the leftovers, I added spicy baked sweet potato fries. It proved to be an excellent combination.

Picadillo is a Cuban dish. There are various versions. Here's an easy one, taken from a fun cookbook called "A Man & His Pan," by Memphis native John Boswell. All the recipes are designed to be prepared in a 9 inch non-stick skillet, but, trust me, you can use the skillet of your choice.

Saute onions.

Add chopped green peppers and garlic and saute a bit more.

Add cumin, oregano, and red pepper flakes.

Add crumbled ground beef and cook until meat loses pink color. Vegetarians: You can use soy crumbles. I use those about half the time.

Add a can of diced tomatoes (with juices), a splash of balsamic vinegar, a bay leaf, and salt and pepper to taste.

After simmering 15-20 minutes, stir in raisins, slivered almonds, and sliced pimento-stuffed olives. After simmering about 10 minutes, add 1/4 cup sherry and simmer a few minutes more. Remove the bay leaf.

Serve in a small bowl or over rice. I love the combination of flavors and textures.

The sweet potato fries are a great companion. Peel the potatoes and create flat slicing surfaces as soon as possible. The easiest way is to cut in half and then cut the halves in half.

Then slice the pieces into fries.

Toss with oil, brown sugar, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and salt and spread on baking sheet. Tip: Use silpat or parchment paper to keep fries from sticking.

Bake at 425 for about 30 minutes, tossing periodically. I like to let them get a little brown & crispy.

Picadillo and sweet potato fries. That's what we're having.