Rolling up my sleeves and getting back to it!

So after a 7 month hiatus, I am now back to my cookbook challenge. I may not be able to finish by my 1 year mark, but I will darn sure give it my best shot. After having our newest addition and finally quitting my job to be the mom I know I'm meant top be, I can make a little more time in my life for myself and my children, including my love of food.
My mom and I recently had the opportunity to help with the food for my Sister-in-laws 30Th birthday party. The plan was to have a menu that was Italian based appetizer bar. Appetizers have always been my favorite form of food because it is a meal in a bite, giving you the opportunity to taste lots of different things. when I first started my cookbook collection, appetizers, hors d'oeuvre's, starters etc., were the ones I wanted the most, so once the menu theme was set in place, I had LOTS of books to choose from.
The first book was simply titled "hors d'oeuvres". This book has always been a favorite of mine because there is a picture with every recipe, making it easy to decide if the food is what you envisioned, as well as prepping ahead and storage suggestions.

Because of the Italian theme we went with a recipe that had a Mediterranean influence.

"Tiny Parmesan and black olive shortbread's with Parsley pesto and Feta"
-Hors Doeuvres by Eric Treuille & Victoria Blashford-Snell

Being the anti-baker that I am, my mom volunteered to do the shortbread's. After getting several calls from her about the dough, I know the recipe left us sort of hanging out to dry-literally. She was so perplexed because the dough was not dough at all but a powdery mix resembling something similar to Bisquick. After reading through the ingredients and mumbling to ourselves over the phone we went with the wing it approach of, when all else fails add more butter. I'm sure that is a life quote of Julia Child's and Paula Deens. Once she added more butter the recipe came out fine, The olive flavor was not really present for being called a black olive shortbread, but the Parmesan came through beautifully. As for the pesto, that was assigned to me. Pesto in my opinion is about as important as ranch dressing ( yes I said ranch dressing) I know for a epicurean of sorts i shouldn't have a love of condiments such as ranch but I do, so sue me. Anyway, Pesto can enhance the flavor of practically any dish, is simple to make, and easy to store, yet for some unknown reason i had not made it since culinary school. I wasn't a big fan of the parsley pesto idea so I went ahead and made a traditional pesto and also utilized another cookbook of mine with the recipe. This came from;

The Pasta Bible by Jeni Wright

This book also has my highly sought after photo with each recipe, but also has instructional photos for the more advanced techniques required. The recipe was simple straight forward and turned out really well. I also liked the fact the the ingredients were listed in measurement as well as weight.

Once both of these components were done all that was needed was to plate them up-making these pretty simple and straight forward. The flavors were pretty powerful so if you don't care for garlic and Parmesan, these were not for you. We were pleasantly surprised to find that even with the pungent flavors, they were quite a crowd pleaser.


The next app. we wanted to make was some sort of bruschetta. In my book-The Essential Appetizers Cookbook , we again have photos and helpful hints with each recipe, even provided sections based on regions of the world to ensure that your menu flowed well. The section on Bruschetta provided different recipe variations on this common Italian dish. I chose the:

"Pastrami and Herb Creme Fraiche with Tomato and Basil Bruschetta"

Creme Fraiche in layman's terms is a french variation of sour cream. The flavor tends to be richer and the consistency thinner but the biggest difference is the price-if purchased. After doing some digging my mom managed to make a restaurant quality creme fraiche in a matter of days and a lot cheaper then what you'd pay in the grocery store. We then just finished it off with some fresh chopped chives and it was ready to go. the fortunate thing about this time of year are the great garden tomatoes.the tomato basil mixture was very straight forward and a simple mixture of tomato, finely shredded basil, some garlic, top shelf olive oil, along with salt and pepper to taste, with the garden tomatoes really standing out with such great flavor. The pastrami was an easy find for me since we have found ourselves constantly shopping a local discount grocery store that also has Amish deli cuts-that are truly to die for.
Once the elements were ready we allowed the guests at the party to build as they ate because we were afraid of the bread getting soggy, which we were glad we did since the tomatoes began to get a little soupy. This dish was probably my favorite- it was filling and left your pallet wanting more. The contrast in flavors were fresh, creamy and well seasoned. Definitely one that will go into our regular repertoire.

Well folks, it's good to be back! more recipes and books to come.