Chicken Satay with a Sesame Peanut Dipping Sauce
Grilled Shrimp with a Spicy Chimichurri
Dill-icious DipFor my sister's birthday we decided to go low key and have a few friends over for cake and cocktails, but wanted to have a couple of nibbley things to munch on as well. It was already late in the afternoon, so I looked in the fridge and the pantry trying to come up with something to make. I pulled out some shrimp and boneless skinless chicken thighs from the freezer ('cause that's what we had on hand), and put the chicken in the microwave to defrost, and defrosted the shrimp in a colander in the sink under cold water. After pealing the shrimp, I whipped up a chimichurri (parsley, cilantro, lime juice, lime zest, garlic, cumin, olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper) in the blender and set it aside. I hadn't ever made Satay before this evening, and didn't really have a recipe, so I threw all caution to the wind and took my cleaned blender and tossed in some peanut butter, rice wine vinegar, toasted sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, a little cilantro, a little sugar, salt and pepper, and blended. Yum! I took half of this mixture and poured it over my cut up chicken, and reserved the other half for dipping. I preheated my broiler, and my Cuisinart counter top grill, and in another ten minutes time I had two finished dishes ready for plating. Luckily for me we had some previously made Dill dip in the fridge, so I sliced up some bell peppers, and some of Brandy's home grown, garden fresh cucumbers, and voila! We shook up some pomegranate martinis, rimmed our glasses with sugar, and we were ready for a party.
7 comments:
it was all d-vine! that satay sauce is what dreams are made of....sigh. so good to be friends with you (oh yeah, and jen!) hahaha!
I was there and enjoyed all the fruits of your labor and I HATE you!
Half an hour? Do you know how long it took me to make that olive bread? This is why I hate cooking!
And then the weather yesterday foiled my attempt to premake some dinners. boo.
Happy Birthday again Jen!!
Quite the hostess with the most-est! That's quite a lovely spread.
Happy Birthday Jenny Bates!
And, good job on the treats Jacob! They look perfect. Btw, I should share my peanut sauce recipe with you. Truly show stopping!
Love,
Puja
Hey,
So question for the cook. Seeing that you cook so well and have such a rich pantry, do you tend to dine out? How often? Why? What types of food do you enjoy out?
Anyways, just wondering about my own dining out habits and how they compare to Sebastian and others. I prefer to eat in, but cave to convenience (or my poor planning) and more often to socialize with friends (all who seem to want to meet up for dinner out...maybe that says something about my cooking or just contemporary hospitality).
Love,
Puja
I honestly don't eat out all that often, due to my being cheap. I do dine out on special occasions, or when people are in from out of town. When I do eat out it is usually for Thai food, Indian, Sushi, or Pizza, things that I can't necessarily make at home(well anyone can make pizza, but you know...make easily and as well). I too fall victim to the siren song of convenience foods now and then, and in those times, it is what ever is closest and easiest and cheapest. And while we do have a ridiculously well stocked freezer and pantry, every night we still stand before their open doors and say to each other "god there is NOTHING to eat!!"
Thanks. The siren song of marketing ploys (my curent fav is Taco Bell's 4th meal--I mean, really, how seriously harmful to the already overindulgent society). But, yeah, convenience, etc. My rule though, is that I will not go out to eat for convenience once I am out home. Dining out is limited to planned visits with friends, or moments of poor planning when I find myself far from home and hungry. I'm excellent, if I say so myself, at packing my lunches for work. Today I have polenta layered with eggplant, mushroom, with a beet salad accompaniment. Lunch packing is an art, I tell you.
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