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DaDornta

Holy crap...

I have such an awesome menu arranged for two visitors to Alaska in a few weeks...but I have never made anything this complex, or this many "courses" before.

Here is the opening cocktail:

Cactus Pear Margaritas Recipe courtesy Bobby Flay Show: Hot Off the Grill with Bobby Flay Episode: Beach Grilling Lime wedge
Coarse salt
8 ounces white tequila
4 ounces Cointreau
4 ounces cactus pear juice
2 ounces Roses lime juice
2 cups ice cubesRub lime wedge around the rim of cocktail glasses and dip the rim into a saucer of coarse salt. Place tequila, Cointreau, cactus pear and lime juice and ice cubes in a blender and blend until frothy. Divide among glasses.

Okay, then we move on to the pretzels (which I can't find the recipe for online (it's another Mesa Grill one) ..so pretzels w/drinks to start off the night.

Then I move onto THIS as the appetizer...(it's a shared kinda "all dig in" deal)

Queso Fundido Copyright 1999 Bobby Flay. All rights reserved. Show: Hot Off the Grill with Bobby Flay Episode: Finger Food
1 cup white wine
1/2 pound mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2 pound Monterey Jack, grated
1/2 pound goat cheese crumbled
2 poblano peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded and finely chopped
1/4 pound Spanish chorizo, grilled and finely diced
6 cloves roasted garlic, smashed to a paste
Salt and freshly ground pepperBring the wine to a simmer in a double boiler. Add the mozzarella and Jack cheese and stir until melted. Add the remaining ingredients and cook for 5 minutes. Place in a fondue pot and serve with flour tortillas and blue corn chips.


Now for the salad...before the main course...
Frisee Salad with Chorizo and Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette c.1996, M.S. Milliken & S. Feniger, all rights reserved
1/2 pound smoked Spanish chorizo sausage, cut into 1/4 inch sticks
6 cups frisee or curly endive, washed and dried
1 cup roasted garlic vinaigrette
4 small ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/4 cup grated Spanish Manchego cheese
1 small red onion, sliced and separated into ringsIn a medium skillet, cook the sausage over low heat for 10 minutes, shaking frequently. Remove from the pan, drain on paper towels and set aside. Place the frisee, tomatoes, cheese and cooked chorizo in a large bowl and drizzle with the vinaigrette. Toss well to coat and serve on chilled plates with rings of red onion on top.ROASTED GARLIC VINAIGRETTE
12 garlic cloves, roasted and peeled
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
Juice of one fresh lime
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepperCombine the garlic, vinegar, honey and lime juice in a blender and puree until smooth. With the motor running, slowly add the oil until emulsified. Season with salt and pepper.
To roast garlic: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil over unpeeled garlic cloves, and wrap in aluminum foil. Place on a cookie sheet and bake about 1 hour, or until soft throughout. Set aside to cool, then peel.

(my god can I do all this on my own?!)

Okay now we're onto the main course and side...*whew*

Main course:
FOODIE: Red Chile-Honey Glazed Salmon with Black Bean Sauce and Jalapeño Crema ...and a side of Whipped Potatoes with Cilantro Pesto (...and Black Bean Soup)

The recipe ain't online...but that's a review w/pics of it. I figured a new-comming back to AK'er and her BF from NewZeland might enjoy fresh Salmon my boss or a friend recently caught...

As for a side to that main dish, goes this: Recipes : Bolo's Black Beans and Rice : Food Network

It's a very crappy version of black beans and rice compared to the recipe I have...but I figured beans/rice w/salmon after a salad would be good?

As far as a desert...Shit...im thinking more drinks and then a "Blue Corn Biscotti" to round out the whole "south-western" but also fish dinner...

I'm thinking that the only way I can do this kind of multi-course dinner is to have my friend who is a professional chef help me prep all the ingredients (and shop for them as well) days a head of time. The sauces and relishes can be frozen and thawed that day...the meat can be cooked as the guest's arrive. The drinks can be made by my chef-friend (of myself) ..

It's gonna take more than just one person to pull all these recipes off--but I think they all seem to really flow well together.

Any suggestions as far as pre-prep/making this easier?

Thanks!

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DaDornta

My Chef friend really IS a chef, he's graduated from a Culinary Arts School and actually doesn't like Bobby Flay at all. I don't fault him. I find the man (Bobby Flay) to be over confident, arrogant, and to stuck in his own "southwestern" style. The man is from New York for god's sake!

But apparently his recipes if done right are killer...and his book I just got has these same/similar recipes spelled out even clearer with photos and notes not included above.

The woman of the couple is half mexican, and her BF is a native to the middle east. I'm hoping that by brining big bold and yet, "Alaskan" (with the wild-caught Alaskan Salmon main course) give them a night/dinner to really talk about.

Man, i'm gonna have to "Mise en plase" (french for "everything in it's place") all the ingredients the day or day before of to make cooking this seamless. I can't be chilling in the kitchen the entire time they are here! I need to have most of this stuff ready early on a few hours before they show up except for the main course and the cocktails...the cheese-dip appetizer can be heated quickly once they arrive....

I'm just looking on how to time/organize all this so it goes smoothly.

RookieSmoker

Is the man muslim? If so, don't make the chorizo salad.

Edit: Oh, you should try some roasted bell peppers (red, yellow or orange), taste amazing if done right and would be great with rice, or slice them and put a few in the salad.

DaDornta

Nah he's not muslim...just raised in the middle east...so he's used to spicy food...

DaDornta

You guys think I can pre-cut/slice/dice and get ready MOST of the ingredients the day before and still be cool? Like get little containers and put the portions of dry/wet ingredients in them and refridgerate?)

Cook and re-heat some of the stuff the day/after-noon of, and only really have to be concerned about the actual "Cooking while guests are there" the main course--the salmon? (no one wants re-heated salmon!)

I'm trying to make this as easy as possible...

I've never been good at cooking multiple things at the same time...im focused...as any stoner should be!

Basically, I need to start making a shopping list pretty damn soon...

 

Dark

I would PAY you to make some of that shit for me
Sorry I can't be of help, but man I wish I was your guest!

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DaDornta

I LOVE to cook...but i'm so "one-track-minded" that I can't seem to cook multiple recipes and have them all turn out at the right times!

I love watching people eat something I hemmed and hawed over with the flavors and them loving it. It's like...someone smoking some weed you grew and going, "HOLY SHIT DUDE!"

I'm actually not a big eater--that's the ironic part....due to my gastric-bypass I can only eat very small amounts at a time. I love the sensation/science/feeling of taking things that are raw ingredients and making them into something SUBLIME (for others usually, 'cause most recipes make waaaay more than I--a single bachelor can eat)

I made some Mexican rice last night (yes it WAS from a box...but I used chicken stock instead of water, and olive oil instead of butter/margerine, as well as added some hot sauce to taste and Mexican Oregano..it's sweeter..)

It turned out THE BOMB! But now I have like a whole tupperware full of it and no one to give it to.

I'm like, "how many nights in a row can I have mexican rice?"

I love to cook, but it's so impractical w/my lifestyle.