GOING AWAY DINNER PARTY

My husband, Fay, and I had the occasion to host our dear friends this week for a small going away party and of course I wanted to cook something special for them. Fay had organized “big boy” steaks for the guys but I wanted to prepare something with seafood for the girls. I had been toying with a few pasta recipes that I have prepared over the years.  One is with salmon, lemon, white wine, butter, capers and parsley.  The other is shrimp, olive oil, lemon juice and arugula.  I knew I wanted this pasta dish to be fresh and as light as possible because we are having some seriously hot weather.

I had beautiful feathery dill and fresh parsley from the farmers market but I also had arugula and micro-greens.  I kept going back and forth and even woke up dreaming about what to cook but the fresh dill won me over in the end.

MENU

Gazpacho Andalusia

Steaks on the grill

Habanero salsa

Steamed asparagus on a bed of butter lettuce with a dusting of  finely grated hardboiled egg.

Dressing of rice wine vinegar, Dijon mustard and olive oil.

Lemon shrimp fettuccini with dill

Lemon Pots de Crème

 

LINGUINI WITH SHRIMP, LEMON AND DILL

About this recipe: This dish can easily serve 4 people.  It works well as a vegetarian dish by substituting asparagus for the shrimp.

Ingredients

• 1 pound shrimp (cleaned)
• 3/4 pound linguine
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 3tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup white wine
• Handful of fresh dill chopped
• Handful of fresh parsley chopped
• Zest of one Lemon
• Juice of 2 lemons (1/4 cup)
• One lemon thinly sliced and then halved
• Small handful of Capers
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Feta or goat cheese (optional) 

In a large heavy bottomed pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium low heat

• Add the garlic and gently sauté’ for 1 minute
• Add the white wine and simmer until most of the wine evaporates
• Add the shrimp and sauté’ until they just begin to turn pink stirring often
• Remove from the heat
• Add the dill, parsley, capers, lemon zest, lemon juice and lemon slices. Toss to combine.

Cook the linguini in a large pan of boiling salted water until tender. Drain, return to the pan, and add the sauce and shrimp.  Gently heat everything together while also turning all the ingredients over and into each other so as to cohere both pasta and shrimp with the other ingredients. Once you are sure that all is good and hot, serve without delay with fresh scallions sprinkled over the top.

LEMON POTS DE CRÈME

 

About this Recipe:  I started making this Lemon Pots de Crème recipe in the 90’s.  I first discovered it when I was given Annie Somerville’s cookbook, “Field of Greens” as a gift.  It is super easy to prepare and very satisfying.  I love it with a fresh berry buried at the bottom of the ramekin or with fresh fruit to top.

Ingredients

• 2 whole eggs
• 8 egg yolks
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 1/2 cups heavy cream

Procedures

Preheat oven to 325 F degrees

• In a mixing bowl, vigorously whisk the eggs, yolks and sugar
• Whisk in the lemon juice
• Whisk in the cream
• Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer
• Add the lemon zest to the strained mixture
• Pour into 8 6 oz custard cups or ramekins
• Place them in a  baking pan and add enough hot water to come halfway up the sides
• Cover the pan loosely with foil and bake until the custard is just set (40 to 45 minutes).  The custard should still be soft in the center when lightly shaken.  It will continue to set as it cools.
• Remove from the baking pan and cool and then refrigerate.

Note:  If you would like any of the other recipes listed in my menu, please leave a comment and I will post it.

We are going to miss you Alina and Anatoliy but we are confident that this will be a great adventure.

Buen Provecho