Mediterranean Feast Dinner Party

We hosted at the haunted mansion




The evite read like this: Hello my darling Messieurs et Madames! Travis and I (chef maestros extraordinaires) have been talking about having a co-dinner party on IM for ages. And we have finally done it! The theme will be Mediterranean. A little Greece, a little Spain, a little Italy, etc. Just bring yourselves and a little vino and your taste buds and prepare to be dazzled. Attire is cocktail lite... look sharp but no requirements. Opah and kali orexi (buon appetito)!

Travis and I really went all out on this one. We picked up supplies on Friday afternoon at my parents’ restaurant. It was fun to go shopping in the walk-in! Plus we got a really good free lunch out of the deal. And my aunt graciously let us use her fabulous quasi-mansion to host the party in South Pasadena. Somehow in all the photos it ends up looking like the haunted mansion….

Here is our fantastic menu:

Cocktail hour
Homemade hummus
Homemade tatziki
Homemade pita
Crudites with ranch
Cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto

Travis made the hummus, according to my strict instructions, and it turned out fabulously. I made the tatziki, and it wasn’t that good. I grated the cucumbers, and next time I think I am just going to dice them, so they add more of a crunch to the sauce. I made the pita, and I think I proofed them for too long, they were a little on the dry side. I will have to work at Daphne’s Greek Café for a day so I can steal their recipe. Ben made the cantaloupe, which was more of an assembly job, but it looked great! He was quite a help to Travis and I in those final moments when we were trying to get everything ready. Everything was paired with prosecco and pear juice cocktails. I wanted to make Bellinis, but pear was a good substitute for peach juice (which I couldn't find).


Me serving the warp appetizer course ---->

Warm apps
Spicy cheddar green pimiento olives
Bacon date blue cheese yummies (apparently called remoulade)

Zen and Ben (haha, I rhymed!) helped make the olives. They were supposed to be frozen before going in the oven and they sort of lost their shape and melted into one glob of cheese that stuck to the wax paper. But they TASTED amazing. I’m sure if we didn’t skip the freezing step next time, they would be fab. And of course, I had to make my bacon date things. Which my aunt informed me were really big in the 50’s and are called remoulade. Here I thought my genius chef friend came up with them all by herself. This course was paired with Trinchero chardonnay.



Laura serving up the salad with the main course

Pasta course
Pastitsio
Balsamic roasted tomatoes on goat cheese crostini

Pastitsio is a Greek dish, it’s basically macaroni layered with lamb ragout and then finished with a hearty béchamel. It is hands down one of my favorite dishes to make because it is SO good and pleases just about any palate. That was paired with these amazing roma tomatoes. Travis made those, according to Tracie’s recipe. They are so good. You roast them for over an hour in balsamic, and they turn out amazing. The sharp coolness of the goat cheese really contrasted with the sweet balsamic glaze. This course was paired with a nice Tuscan table wine, Cancelli by Coltibuono.

Everyone with the main course


Main course
Roasted rack of lamb in herb crust
Lamb burgers wrapped in prosciutto
Greek salad




The plated lamb burgers

Ok, I salted the lamb and it was too salty. BUT if you scrapped off some of the salt, the rack was delicious. Travis did a great job on them. They were succulent and flavorful. I wish I hadn’t been so full or I would have eaten more of them! Travis also made the lamb burgers according to a Giada de Laurentiis recipe. They were really good, especially since they were wrapped in prosciutto and finished with basil and roma tomatoes. We served it with a traditional greek salad. This was paired with my favorite affordable wine, Masi Campofiorin, which is an Amarone ripasso.

Travis and I getting ready for some main course action



Dessert
Espresso spiked with Frangelico
Homemade baklava

Honestly, this baklava was my crowning achievement of the evening. It took FOREVER to make. Each little layer of phyllo dough has to be brushed with butter. AND I had to shell the pistachios myself (which I will NEVER do again… I think it took me an hour to get the 1 ½ cups of pistachios. The reason I think this turned out so well is because I used a Turkish recipe. I loved the baklava when I went to Istanbul, but here in LA only the Greek version seems popular, which is much more sticky and sweet and not as delicate and buttery. Travis labored with my tiny espresso machine to make everyone espresso, and it truly was the perfect way to end the evening.

If anyone wants the recipes, please email me. All photos courtesy of O'Ryan McKinney.

Vegas Redux

This blog is a little late. Apparently since I got a boyfriend, I’ve had less time on my hands. :-) So the law school girls and I went to Vegas this winter break again. Ok, it wasn’t all law school girls. Tracie and Sapna joined me from last time, and my friend Laura. We had SUCH a great time. We were all kind of frazzled from the holidays, but our excellent meals kind of made up for it.

We stayed at the MGM Grand because I got this amazing deal there. I wish I could have afforded to go to craftsteak. I admit, I’m a fan of Top Chef , and I’d love to see Colicchio’s place in action. Plus, Irene Verbila of the LA Times raved over his new LA place, Craft. Which is now on the list of places I REALLY want to go but can ill afford. And unfortunately, I am not going to be the evil kind of lawyer who starts out at $160,000 as a first year associate. But I digress. The POINT is, we couldn’t afford craftsteak, but we COULD afford ‘wichcraft. Which is the low budget sandwich place. It was just what we needed after having our obligatory shot of Patron upon landing (it’s Tracie’s fault! :-)). They had all this amazing stuff on the menu. BUT they had a prosciutto and sweet butter sandwich. This was my favorite sandwich when I was a kid. When we would go to the mountains, my mom would put butter and prosciutto on a French roll. It was amazing. I thought this was some weird Dutch Italian combo thing, but if Colicchio’s doing it, it can’t be THAT weird. Oh god, it was fantastic. I was transported to my childhood spent riding down flying saucers in Angeles Crest. Sapna and Tracie shared some fantastic panini which they let me nibble on. Kind of pricey for sandwiches, but my childhood memories are priceless, people.


Sapna at Penazzi showcasing a double magnum


Now while I myself can’t afford fancy restaurants, my dad is “connected.” Not in the mafia way people! (Sheesh, always thinking the worst of us eye-ties.) He sells wine to fine Italian restaurants all over Southern California, and many of those restaurants are opening spots in Vegas. Soo we go to Penazzi, which is owned by Gabriele Penazzi. He used to run the Harry’s Bar in Century City, and the Harry’s Bar in La Jolla. I used to visit him with my dad at both locations, and he remembered me. Plus, he was happy to host 4 lovely ladies on a slow Wednesday night right after Christmas. Penazzi is in Harrah’s, but don’t let that stop you from going there. Gabriele gave us the VIP treatment. We started with Bellinis, and then he brought out a white and a red wine since we couldn’t decide on which we wanted. We had a lovely appetizer with fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, and various tapenades. Then we had Penne alla Vodka, the only cream sauce I really crave. It was delicious and tasty. THEN, we had the most amazing scallops I have had in a long time. They were succulent, crispy seared, and fantastic. They didn’t even need the sauce they were laying on. They just melted in my mouth. Mmmm. The scallops were paired with a mild white fish, halibut I believe, which was passably good but paled next to those scallops. Then, Laura wanted a martini, so our waiter brought us ALL martinis. Just look how beautiful they are in the picture! My favorite was definitely the limoncello one—but I have a soft spot for the stuff. We had a nice dessert platter which we managed to make quite a dent in even though we were “stuffed.” Then Gabriele brought us some Rosa Regale, which is a sparking red dessert wine, which Sapna loved, and chocolate grappa. Now, I think grappa is the devil. However, flavored grappa is awesome. And this was like chocolate syrup with booze. So I finished off those for everyone. :-)



Tracie loves a good martini-- just like the next girl!


On our second night, Daddy worked his connection magic, and got us into Valentino. Now you all know from my previous posts, I adore Valentino, and I the one in Vegas is my favorite. Luciano Pellegrini is the chef, and James Beard award winner. AND he came to say hi to our table. But I’m getting ahead of myself! The ladies followed my lead on wine and apps (which I appreciate—because I know what I’m doing!) We ordered the Masi Campofiorin, which is an Amarone ripasso, and I just adore that wine. For appetizers we had the most amazing oysters I have ever had. And I have had a lot of amazing oysters. They were served raw with a delicate leek sauce and precious drops of tuna roe. Absolutely perfect… they tasted like I was taking a bite out of the sea. Then we also had a mozzarella buratta with culatello, which is one of the best cured meats, an excellent tuna sashimi, and very good scallops. For our main entrees, Tracie got lobster over homemade black fettuccine in an arrabiata sauce. It was so delicious. The lobster was tender and delicate, and the black fettuccine was PHENOMENAL. It was so clearly homemade, perfectly cooked, and had that faint nutty flavor from the squid ink (which makes it balck). Laura ordered pork loin in apple cider brine, which I almost ordered myself, and it was so good. Pork tenderloin is so difficult to cook because of its low fat content, which makes it try out very easily. This was perfectly tender and juicy. I ordered veal in demiglasse sauce with fresh polenta. I absolutely adore fresh polenta, and will order almost anything if it comes with it. This veal was just delicious little morsels which I could cut with my fork. Tracie and I kept trading lobster for veal, as we couldn’t decide which dish was better. Sapna ordered a nice white fish which I took a bite of. It was quite good, but not a brilliant star like the rest of our food. Then we ordered the soufflé, which rose perfectly and was everything you’d expect. That is when chef Pellegrini came to greet us. We had mentioned we were looking for a club to go to, so Carlo Cannuscio (the manager) got us VIP entrance to TAO, he walked us right in! He said he never walks people up there, but we were VIP. Hahahaha. I’m sure he says that to all the beautiful ladies. All in all, we had lots of fun, but the food was definitely the highlight of the trip.





Laura and I enjoying cocktails at Rouge in the MGM