There was a time in my life when I eschewed all things domestic. Part of me thought I had to, to be a feminist or something.
Can I tell you, just looking at this photo a few days later still makes me happy?
I love the prospect of having dinner guests, especially when I have time to cook. And maybe even especially for the Historian and McPlaywright. They indulge my experiments, which usually happen in the dessert department.
This time they also got to sample a couple of new dips. I found the recipes in Body + Soul magazine. The Artichoke & Sundried Tomato was the best and I don't think I doctored it at all. The Cucumber & Mint was pretty good for veggie-dipping, but I shredded the cukes and added a little garlic to the recipe.
Clafoutis! (Gesundheit!)
No, actually, if you pronounce it right it doesn't sound like a sneeze.
I got the recipe from the most enlightening book I've read all year, How to Pick a Peach by Russ Parsons. (If you've spent much time with me in person recently, I know I've quoted this book a lot!)
It's a simple and tasty way to celebrate ripe fruit. According to Julia Childs, it's pronounced cla-foo-TEE. I'm looking forward to trying it with the traditional cherries and almonds, but the flavorful red plums were a good stand in this time.
Tip from a High-Functioning Amateur Cook: don't drop the room-temperature butter.
Ooh, other cooks in my kitchen!
McPlaywright is so fast with that knife that you can hardly see it. And she's also a recently award winning playwright...times two! Yay!
The Historian, who is a newly-minted PhD (Congrats!!), is a whiz with the radicchio.
The lovely citrus/radicchio salad they whipped up brought on flashbacks to an emotionally scarring incident from my junior year in high school involving some rogue red cabbage and the prom committee... but that's a story for another time.
The rest of the menu: fresh salsa, homemade guacamole, chips and four slight variations of quesadillas: Mexican cheese & carmelized onion, Mexican cheese & sundried tomato, garlic chevre & carmelized onion and garlic chevre & sundried tomato. I think my favorite was the Mexican cheese and carmelized onion.
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