Last night was the big Lobster Bake at the Hopkins’ home. If you weren’t invited, don’t feel bad…. this was a donation dinner from a fundraising event, so unless you were at the fundraiser and had the winning bid…  sorry!

There were eight lovely guests. It is currently 11:30 AM the following morning and Dave and I have just now finally gotten it all cleaned up. Here is a pictorial of the event… recipes to follow.

The lobsters arrive via Fed Ex from Maine.

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And it has begun… the major party prep for my Dad’s 1931 Speakeasy themed 8oth birthday party! Not certain how many, if any, recipes I may get up this week, but I will be keeping you up to date on the party preparations.  Today’s tasks; find, get out, and clean all of the glasses, dishes, bottles, and party decor.  Out of that list, “finding” is the hardest part! I have SO much stuff and it is stacked, stored, and stashed all over this house. The good news is that I don’t have to rent anything, the bad news, I have to find it first! [Read more →]

Before I get to today’s recipe I want to send out birthday wishes to a very special woman in my life. Happy Birthday to my mother-in-law, Pat Hopkins, in Rockton, Illinois. Happily, all four of us flew to Illinois last weekend and spent fun times with Mom at Katie and Eddie’s wedding. Happy Birthday, Mom, we’re looking forward to your visit in February. I love you! xoox

What in the world would posses a person to even think of making homemade marshmallows? What or who could make me consider doing it? Tram Mai, that’s who! Tram called a couple weeks ago and asked if I’d like to do a story for Valley Dish about a S’Mores Party. Sure, sounds fun – gourmet S’mores – a party – cool entertaining idea- I’m all in! Immediately I start thinking of all the wonderful alternatives to plain old milk chocolate squares and graham crackers. How to really “kick it up a notch”, as Emeril would say. The filling alternatives are the easy part, then I wonder how to do something different with the real star of the show – the marshmallow. OK, honestly, I have made homemade marshmallows once before; in a cooking class with my summer children’s series, years ago. But those were still plain vanilla marshmallows, I needed something more than that. So I did my usual research – meaning, I “google” it – and found a chocolate flavored marshmallow recipe. Cool! So the chocolate marshmallow recipe provided here is adapted from HERE. Then I went a step further and decided that we needed a third flavor, so I created up a raspberry version too. (that recipe is just below the chocolate version… so keep scrolling). Tomorrow I will post all the gourmet S’mores recipes I created and pictures from our shoot with the entire pretty spread. I’ll let you know when the clip will air on the Valley Dish so you can watch, I think it’s going to be pretty darn great!

Before you scroll down to the actual recipe, let me preface it by saying, “Please don’t be intimidated by the massive length of the recipe!” There are only 9 ingredients… and one is water; some of the others are non-intimidating salt, vanilla, sugar, etc. It’s just a bunch of really long descriptions, explanations, and directions, plus more than a dozen photos to help you visualize it all. The process itself is not hard! Really! Read through the whole thing and you’ll see what I mean. Because now that I’ve made and tasted and drooled over these homemade marshmallows, I am wondering what took me so long to make homemade marshmallows again. Seriously!

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Finally, the last of the Jamaican appetizer recipes! I saved the best for last, this was my favorite. Caramelized onions are such an amazing thing – the transformation of the pungent and sharp flavor of a raw onion into something similar to candy – wow! The leek jam is just another form of caramelized onion, with a twist. The Jamaican sauce called Pickapeppa, was found along with other condiments near the Tabasco sauce at my neighborhood Safeway grocery store.  It was the first time I purchased or used it, yummy! The rest of the ingredients, from the ciabatta to the Parmesan, hummus, and rock shrimp were all found at Trader Joe’s.

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What is it about shrimp on an appetizer buffet that draws people like flies? First of all, it is the quintessential party food. Shrimp are the world’s most popular shellfish. Low in calories and saturated fat; high in protein, vitamins D and B12, iron, and omega 3. Plus they have anti-inflammatory qualities. But something tells me that none of that matters to the guy who is also known as “the shrimp hoarder”. He will block your path to the bowl of shrimp because he is worried that if you get even a couple of the tasty morsels, he won’t “get his”. Or how about the woman, who in April 2009, called 911 to report that she didn’t get as much shrimp as she wanted in her fried rice at a Texas restaurant? Now that’s harsh!

As Pvt Benjamin Buford ‘Bubba’ Blue said. “Anyway, like I was sayin’, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey’s uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that’s about it.” – 1994 Forrest Gump.

These Jamaican shrimp fit into Bubba’s description – they are boiled…

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Jamaican buffet, it was a little picked over before I was able to snap the picture, but that's a good thing, right?

Sliders are irresistible as part of an appetizer buffet. Small and easy to eat while standing, they are the perfect casual party food. If you want to prepare the sliders ahead, place patties on the grill or grill pan and just “mark” each side. Transfer to a baking sheet, allow to cool at room temperature for about 15 minutes, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.  Toast the buns ahead of time, place on another baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and leave out at room temperature. About 30 minutes before you are ready to serve, preheat oven to 400 degrees, finish cooking the patties for 12 minutes. While the patties are in the oven, prepare the buns by spreading on mayonnaise and stacking on the onion, tomato, and lettuce. When the sliders are completely cooked, just assemble, put in decorative picks, cut in half, place on a platter and you’re ready to entertain!

In the picture above, you might notice the carrot-pepper “palm trees” – cute, aren’t they? Easy to make too, just peel the carrots, then place in ice water to crisp them up.  Cut the peppers as pictured below, then use toothpicks to hold the palms together in a cabbage half.

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The question – What is jerk… not in life (we all know at least one of those!) but in cooking?  The answer – Jerk is a style of cooking native to Jamaica. Jerk seasoning mostly depends on the inclusion of two items: allspice and Scotch bonnet or habanero peppers. Other ingredients may include cloves, cinnamon, green onions, thyme, and garlic. When serving a crowd, I often substitute jalapeño for the habanero, since you never know what people’s tolerance is for overly spicy foods.

The shredded beef that I used was the leftover pot roast from a post from a couple days ago. If you don’t have such a thing hanging about, most grocery stores sell prepared pot roast in their meat department or deli.

When assembling the dumplings, lay about about one dozen of the wrappers on the counter at a time, place the filling in the center of each, but only brush and seal 3 or 4 at a time. The dumplings may be made up to one day ahead. To do so; lightly sprinkle a baking sheet with cornstarch and place the filled and sealed dumplings on the sheet, lightly sprinkle the dumpling tops with more cornstarch and cover with plastic wrap. Repeat with another layer or two, sprinkling each with the cornstarch to keep them from sticking. Refrigerate until ready to fry.

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Today is completely devoted to shopping, prepping, cooking and setting up for tomorrow night’s neighborhood Progressive Dinner. I’ve got at least a portion of the five different appetizers that I am making, done. And parts of the soup and side I’m providing to one of our dinner hosts, so that feels good. The tiki torches are set up in the yard, now it just needs to stop sprinkling out there so that I can wipe down all the outdoor furniture. Come on “Valley of the Sun”, work with me!

The Caribbean Crab Salad is finished – that shall be today’s post. This salad is easy and quick to pull together, especially if you already have the pasteurized crabmeat on hand. It can be found at Costco and some grocery stores. Since the crabmeat is pasteurized, it can be purchased now and stored in the refrigerator for about 9 months (there is an expiration date on the bottom of the container.)

The porcelain spoons are inexpensive and can be found at Asian markets. The metal spoon pictured was purchased in a set of 12 at Crate and Barrel. There will be more Jamaican party recipes to follow for the next several days…

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