We’re just five days away from our Southwestern fiesta with friends, Cinco de Mayo! Searching for some salsas? This Roasted Eggplant Salsa was rescued out of my own recipe box—the one I’ve had for years stuffed with recipe clippings, potluck favorites and scribbles on scratch paper. It’s perfect for a Cinco celebration if you’re looking to add something a little different to your salsa spread this year. I’ve also included one of my favorite recipes for stand-out Salsa Fresca. It uses ingredients found in many diced tomato-based salsas, but you can heat it up or tone it down anyway you like. Then grab a chip and dive right in!
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Julia Child’s Sliced Filet with Sautéed Mushrooms Over Crostini
In Julie Child’s Menu Cookbook from 1978, she speaks about how French bread “begs to be cooked this way.” Sliced thin, brushed with butter and baked to golden brown, the “croutes” became a hard toasted bread perfect for appetizers. The modern day version is crostini, toasted sliced baguettes used for popular plates like Bruschetta and mascarpone, prosciutto and fig on crostini Hors d’oeuvres.
For this recipe I’m taking a cue from Julia:
“Suppose the boss is coming for dinner—a formidable personage whom you want to impress and whose taste in food runs to the conservative. What to serve? For someone like that I immediately think of beef.”
This recipe for Filet with Sautéed Mushrooms combines the use of beautifully baked toasts sprinkled with grated cheese and then topped with thin slices of flavorful filet topped with a small mound of sautéed mushrooms and onions. If you invite your boss to your next party and serve up these, you just might get a raise!
(This is a great summertime light meal and all steps can be made ahead and assembled when ready to serve. Serve mushroom mixture warmed.)
Main Meal Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing
I’ve always thought that we have certain flexibility with our choices for lunch and dinner. But breakfast? That’s a whole different story. If you’re a bacon person, you’re never going to order sausage. If you love your eggs over easy, then scrambled just won’t do. I think it’s safe to say that breakfast our way is non-negotiable. The same thing may be true with salad and salad dressing. If Italian vinaigrette is your choice, then a green goddess dressing is just not going to satisfy. The other issue with salad is, well, it’s generally thought of as the obligatory side to your entrée. That all changes here, with this mega main meal bonanza of goodness, flavor and crunch with a surprisingly bright, and full-bodied Cilantro Lime dressing! Wow, do I love this salad! I love everything about it; the fixings and the fact that it’s the main event! You can start with any lettuce you like. My choice is a combination of healthful greens like a Spring Mix and a crunchy chopped bag salad that is so readily available these days. This recipe has grilled chicken, but it’s fantastic with strips of steak of you’re a beef eater. I’m hoping this salad and the delicious dressing has everything you love and then some. If not, add your favorite fixings and make it a main meal to remember! After a week of Valentine’s cookies and chocolates and candy, I could use an entrée like this! How about you?
Watch my How To Video for Main Meal Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing here!
Main Meal Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing
Rock Cornish Game Hens with Cranberry and Apricot Preserve Glaze
The meat department manager at the store knew right where they were.
“Aisle 6, third case down on the left, bottom row.” That’s because even though Rock Cornish Game Hens really only get attention during the holidays, they are generally always there in the frozen food case, just waiting for someone to find a great recipe and then gobble up these delectable little birds. This week I was spending a little time with Julia (Child), reading some of her fun television stories when I stumbled across her account of Unidentified Flying Objects—or small birds. “Eating this meal demands fingers and cooking it demands loving, last-minute attention. The right people to ask to this dinner party (serving Cornish Game Hens) are knowing, sensuous eaters whom you welcome backstage because they understand and enjoy what’s going on there. So dine in the kitchen if you have room.” Doesn’t that just sound like the women we loved to watch on television for decades? Her story made me hunt for one of my favorite recipes for these tasty little one-bird-per-person UFO’s. Cornish Game Hens are all white meat, but they are succulent and have a slight but distinct gamy flavor. This recipe for the roasted hens, served with a wild rice blend (found in most stores and often in the bulk bins) and a sweet and savory glaze, make a perfect weeknight dinner or a fantastic family Sunday supper.
As Julia Child once said, “The best way to execute (French) cooking is to get good and loaded and whack the hell out of a chicken. Bon appétit. ” Well, no need to do that with Rock Cornish Game Hens, but Bon appétit anyway!
Watch my How To Video For Cornish Game Hens here!
