Couscous Salad

This is a super easy, healthful side dish that is excellent with meat or seafood entrees. You can cook it ahead, and keep covered at room temperature until ready to serve (you can even make it a day ahead -- store in the fridge and bring to room temperature before serving, making sure to re-fluff it with a fork to loosen the grains). I made this at my cooking demo the other evening, and it made a fantastic partner for the Salmon en Croute and the "Smoked" Pork Tenderloin.

Cooking Demo Party at Home

October 30, 2011

We had a rollicking cooking demo party at my home last night, organized by a couple of my dear friends. They brought the people (there were 12 of us), the fun and laughter, plus lots of wine; they not only bore the cost of the ingredients but also handled the washing up and clearing up throughout the evening. With great friends like these, who could ask for more?

Where are the men?

There they are!

Thai Basil Restaurant, Chantilly, VA (Luncheon & Demo)

Thai Basil Restaurant

Chef/Owner:  Nongkran Daks

14511 Lee Jackson Memorial Hwy./Route 50

Chantilly, VA (703-631-8277)


Luncheon/Cooking Demonstration
Sponsored by Les Dames d'Escoffier
Saturday, October 22, 2011

 [The photo on the right is the restaurant's logo.]

An Incomparable, Unforgettable Russian Dinner

We had the very good fortune of experiencing an unforgettable dinner last night at the sprawling but very homey estate of a Russian couple, very close friends of ours.

It was a perfect evening for al fresco dining, so for the appetizers part, we sat out in the custom-built  (personally designed by the owners) expansive patio which included a well-designed grill/barbecue/fireplace center, a nice gazebo, a sauna/Jacuzzi, and one of those so-called resistance swimming pools. A large dining table and super-comfortable sofas and chairs completed the picture. Amazing.

Fried Vegetable & Meat Lumpia (Eggrolls)

Lumpia (eggroll) is a wonderful Filipino food beloved by all back home in the Philippines, and it's one of the three most well-known Filipino dishes outside the country (the other two are, arguably, adobo (vinegar-braised meat) and pancit (noodles)). This can be a challenging dish for the uninitiated, and if you've never rolled an eggroll before, you are going to need some practice to make perfectly tight rolls like the ones you see in the photo above. A loosely-wrapped lumpia will not survive the frying -- it will open up and spew out the filling. There are several different kinds of lumpia, and the list is too long to include in this headnote; I'll test a few of them in the near future and post them here. 

Chocolate & Nuts Tart (Gluten-Free)

I have adapted this recipe to make it gluten-free, combining a standard recipe for a chocolate/nut tart (substituting gluten-free all-purpose flour for the regular flour, and agave nectar for the corn syrup) and Elana Amsterdam's gluten-free basic crust for pies and tarts. The recipe for this crust is posted on this blog site, but I have added it to this posting so you won't need to go looking, if you decide to try making this delicious dessert. I have made this into both a tart and in a deep-dish pie pan, and the tart came out better -- the flavor is the same, but the tart is easier to slice and serve because of the pan's removable bottom. [Note: You can use the recipe for the filling and make your own crust, if you don't need to worry about gluten.]

Basic Gluten-Free Crust for Pies & Tarts

[Photo to follow]

This is another of Elana Amsterdam's recipes (slightly adapted by me) from her "The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook." It's very easy and simple to make, and you won't need a rolling pin since the dough is soft and is "pressed" into the cake or tart pan using your hands. Ms. Amsterdam says that the almond meal that is readily available at supermarkets (Bob's Red Mill brand) will not work in her recipes, and I would like to test this out because blanched almond is impossible to find anywhere except online (which makes it a bit expensive especially because of the shipping costs). We shall see.