Shoestring Gourmet: Power Dinner |
October’s theme is going to be "Power Food." We define this as gourmet fare that’s also good for you. As this holiday season of fatty sauces, football snacks and force-fed meats gets underway, we’re going to come up with dishes that will stick to your mind, not your body. You’re going to thank us in January. Meanwhile, watch the MAAM web pages at www.ariz.com/mensa for links to recipes you can try out.
September’s theme was "cold food", and a surfeit of summer coolers made this a delightfully long, and overstuffed, evening. We began with an appetizer that, just by itself, exceeded in popularity most restaurant entrees: We opened with a burst of Chardonnay and champagne, introducing Jim Morgan’s classic gravlax (smoked salmon), served on cracker with a dab of mustard and dill sauce on top. This was accompanied by Marilyn McDonald’s smoked salmon paté with pistachio crust. Ray Pisar poured a light and fruity Thai summer drink, Bloody Malee, served with a twist of shrimp.
Next, Jenny Ewing prepared vichysoisse, the famed French cold potato soup. Cool salads followed: Kebba Buckley’s prepared corn and scallop salad, then Jane Khatiblou’s maast-khiar, an Iranian yogurt and cucumber salad. Pat Hull served Cuban carne fiambre: cold meat sausage with beef, ham, shrimp, garlic, onion and peas. From Diana Toone, we had spinacchi tomato terrine. Esther Shaw’s Las Colinas chicken salad was certainly good for the soul. Ursula Gore labored over vitello tonnato: simmered veal, served with a sauce of capers and anchovy in mayonnaise.
Joice and Chuck Braden brought New England pumpkin spice bread with cheese topping to be served throughout the meal, and Viennese cranberry-orange dessert bread with a cheese topping of its own. We finished up, as we had begun, with an addictive temptation: Syd Golston’s ice cream with rum raisin honey sauce.
Our hosts for October will be Joice and Chuck Braden. We will be doing it poolside at their accessible midtown location on Saturday, October 10. To make reservations, call Joice at 955-1166 or Ursula at 863-9648, or leave e-mail at agore@primenet.com, by Thursday, October 8.