Quick & Easy Gourmet Meals

Looking for a way to impress your family and friends but just don't have the time? Here are two meals that can be prepared and cooked all withing 30 mins or less.

Entertaining should be fun, fast, and easy. I recently held a spur of the moment dinner party for my friend Tracey. It was her birthday and I wanted to show her how much I love and appreciate her friendship throughout the past twenty years, so what better way to do so other than to put together a small dinner party. The problem was, I didn't have much time! I had woke up with this great idea and had to put it in motion that very day- her birthday. Hummm something quick and easy, yet elegant and gourmet... I got it! Seared salmon over linguine with summer squash tossed in a butter and wine sauce. Here it goes...

FYI... when you see directions in parenthesis, that means forget the technical jargon, this is in "girlfriend" terms, or "honey chile' you need to do this..."

Preheat oven to 500 degrees or set on broil

Top fish with 2 tsp of butter or olive oil and 1 tbsp of fresh squeezed lemon juice

Season 1lb or salmon with:

1 tsp of kosher salt

1tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp of onion powder

1/2 tsp of garlic powder

2 tsp of dill

Broil fish for 10 mins or until flaky

In a pasta pot bring two quarts of water to a rolling boil. (in a medium pot fill half way and bring to a rapid boil) Add kosher salt, the water should taste like the ocean.... I know it's hot, pleasure is pain. Add a drop of oil to prevent sticking and then add a handful of linguine. Allow to boil for 7 mins or al'dente. (Boil until soft but not mushy)

Slice 1 green zucchini and 1 yellow squash

Slice in half two hand fulls of grape tomatoes

Slice or chop 2 cloves of fresh garlic

In a sauce pan with olive oil, saute' the above ingredients for 5 mins. (Cook on med low for 5 mins) Do not burn the garlic, the worst thing you can do is burn the garlic! Once the veggies are tender add one bag of baby spinach and toss. (Mix all ingredients together) Once the spinach has wilted, add 2 table spoons of butter and 1 & 1/2 cup of white wine. Toss in linguine until sauce is well mingled. Top the linguine with the salmon and garnish with chopped flat leaf parsley.

The salmon can be replaced by scallops, crab, lobster, or any desired seafood. My cousin Crystal decided to pay me an afternoon visit. Crystal doesn't consume beef or poultry, and I wanted to prepare a quick and easy lunch. I had recently prepared the salmon dish and wanted something different, what better and easier to prepare other than shrimp. It's an all time favorite. The variation to this dish is pan seared shrimp over linguine with asparagus, and summer squash with a butter and wine sauce. Same concept, similar ingredients. The variation is, adding the asparagus and pan searing the shrimp. (The only difference is I added asparagus and cooked the shrimp in a pan instead of the oven)

For the asparagus you will need to cut 2 inches from the tip then cut again but in half then add to boiling salted water until it turns bright green, 1-2 mins top. Take out and set aside. Follow the same directions as above for the veggie portion. For the shrimp: Add a drizzle of olive oil to a sauce pan and add seasoned shrimp, cook until shrimp turn pink. Remove shrimp from pan, make butter and wine sauce then toss all ingredients into a decorative bowl. Garnish with flat leaf parsley.

Follow these simple directions and you are sure to WOW your family and friends. Rachael Ray don't have nothin' on you!

Brunch

Brunch is a wonderful time to gather with family and friends to love, laugh, and reflect. I recently catered a retirement brunch for a former school teacher. As I worked in the kitchen I could hear laughter coming from the gathering room filled with her children that she raised into fine adults, and colleagues with whom she worked with for over thirty years. I could hear them laughing and reflecting as they sipped champagne mimosas. They all came to celebrate her retirement, and to say 'job well done'.

Brunch can be prepared a day ahead leaving only a few items to be prepared the morning of the event. The lunch portion of the brunch can be cooked the day before, as well as some of the breakfast items such as pancakes, sausage, and french toast; also including any baked items (for example muffins, loafs, or cakes). These preparations will give you more time to spend with guests, and less time in the kitchen. An omelet bar is a nice touch to a brunch- as is a waffle station complete with all of the toppings.

The menu for this brunch included:
An Omelet station
Grits
Sausage
Homefries
Pancakes
Bagels
Muffins
Fried Fish
Jerk Chicken
Yellow & Green Beans Sauteed with Garlic

Dinner at "Dish"

Dinner at "Dish" wasn't all that it was cooked up to be. I heard "Dish" was the new hot spot occupying the the space in downtown Hartford where the old 'Learners' use to be. The girls and I decided to go to "Dish" after seeing the movie 'Sex and The City'. Walking into the restaurant we were greeted by a hostess and were immediately seated. We had reservations, however, I don't think they would have had a problem seating us, it was Friday night and they weren't very busy; that didn't detour me, my mouth was salivating at the thought of my palate being tantalized and caressed by the prospects of what "Dish" had to offer. The decor was contemporary with what can only be described as karaoke music coming from the bar area, but was later resolved by the group to be a band.

The over moderately priced menu had little to be desired, everything is 'a la carte' unless you order what is considered an entree. For example, my friend ordered seared scallops with a side of creamed spinach. The creamed spinach was tasty, though the scallops were brought out on a separate plate with a smear of pepper jelly and ramekin filled with some sort of relish. It would have had a better presentation if the chef would have dressed the plate with some baby greens to occupy some of the white space. I easily settled on the brick oven chicken with cous cous and a fennel and orange salad. I figured, you can't go wrong with chicken... or so I thought. When my plate was placed in front of me, the first thing that I noticed was the amount of white space, which they tried to fill with a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette here and there. My chicken lacked flavor and was over-cooked. The warm chicken was then layed on top of the chilled cous cous which was mixed with the salad. It would have been better if the cous cous was hot along with the chicken and the chilled salad served away from the hot food. The orange and fennel salad would have been ok if the fennel was roasted or grilled, I find those two cooking methods can really bring our the licorice flavor fennel can posses. Instead the fennel seemed raw in texture and taste. I decided to sample a friends lobster mash potatoes, once again, in an attempt to seduce my senses. Needless to say, I was unlucky in love, the mash potato did not seemed to absorb the flavor of the lobster.

Our server was very nice, however, it took a long time for our food to come out after we ordered, luckily we all were so busy catching up and talking about the movie it didn't seem to bother anyone. Will I go back to "Dish" again? No, I've had my fill, however, see for yourself, maybe your experience will be better. You've read my experience, now hear what other members of the restaurant group had to dish out on "Dish". I give "Dish" two out of five forks, and that's for the ambiance alone.

'Sex and The City' Meets The Restaurant Club

On Friday May 30th I put on a hot pink top and nice fitting black pants along with my silver stilettos for a movie and dinner with six Sexy ladies who set out to the highly anticipated Sex and The City movie. For six years women... (and some men) around the world have experienced Carrie fever. If you were a man in a new relationship, you were probably watching Sex and The City simply to appease your new "Boo". If you were a man in an existing relationship, you were probably watching Sex and The City to appease your woman so she couldn't have anything to say when you wanted to watch Sports Center; and well let's face it men, some of you were just plain 'ole closet Carrie watchers! Which goes to show that it didn't matter our sexual orientation, our race, or our age, we all tuned in to see what Carrie was wearing, and what drama she and her girls were going to bring us that week. When the series premiered I was in my late twenties, single and living in Washington, DC. Like many girl groups my friends both near and far and I were able to closely relate to the show and it's characters. We all experienced the drama, we all awoke to regretful nights, many of us would perhaps do it all again in a heart beat, and yes, we all had a "Mr. Big" or two in our lives. Many men would like to believe that they were "Big" to many women, and some of us may allow them believe that they were, but only we knew who we would label as our "Mr. Big". Looking back that was the fun of it all, and for me, I wouldn't trade my journey for anything.

It's been four years since Sex and The City went off the air and we all have moved on in our lives, and yes there have been times when we would look back and reminisce on our four fantasy friends, and I for one would dose up on the nightly re-runs, but in essence we all longed for a reunion. At last four years later we were reunited with the girls of Sex and The City and women flocked out to movie theaters to cheer on our fantasy friends and got caught up on their lives, as we put ours on hold for two hours and fifteen minutes.

I don't want to divulge too much of the movie in fear that I may ruin it for someone who has yet to see the movie, but I will say this; I loved, loved, loved the movie! It was fun, fantasy, funny, and of course drama driven. For me, there was nothing left to be desired, this movie brought us to a climactic end in a long awaited movie event. I have to say, some of Carries' outfits were a little outrageous, and not really age appropriate, but then again that's Carrie. Charlotte and Samantha stayed true to their characters as well, but let's talk about Miranda, she's looking a helluva lot better these days- the earrings that she wore in the movie were fierce.

All in all though I enjoyed the movie through and through, what I enjoyed the most was the company that I was in. It's nothing like getting together with your girls for a girls night out. Join us as we dish out the scoop on "Dish".

Welcome

If you are reading my blog, then that can only mean one thing... we have at least one thing in common, we love food. Respectfully, I enjoy food, from cooking to dinning out, for the most part I love the taste, the aroma, and the ability to within seconds dissect a forkful in my mouth. I invite you to further explore with me all of what Connecticut has to offer in terms of food. Once in a while I will surprise you with taste from around the world.