new year's eve celebrating

This year we again decided to invite some friends over to help celebrate the new year's arrival.  We decided to prepare a variety of finger foods and let everyone just 'graze' buffet style through the night as each course was ready.  Chef D picked up a standing rib roast and cut it up, added to some fresh pineapple chunks, whole button mushrooms, sweet grape tomatoes, and sweet vidalia onion chunks to make shish-ke-bobs.  While he prepped for that course, my friend Barb (aka The Southern Dining Diva) helped me cut up some more of the grape tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil and a little extra virgin olive oil for a delicious caprese salad to eat with some french bread rounds.  

Earlier in the day I made the salsa/pico de gallo that would later be eaten with some crispy tortilla chips.  Another finger food favorite we served was Smoked Salmon tartare.  It is such a nice, light, cool, crisp appetizer that always works. Give it a try sometime.

Chef D made his baklava this past Monday so that it would have time to sit for a day or two before we served it.  This time he followed the recommendation of The Food Network's Alton Brown and used blanched almonds and pistachios along with pecans (instead of just pecans like he usually uses).  According to everyone here, it was the best baklava EVER.  You can find Chef D's recipe here.

Our final and ultimate course was wasabi tobiko, better known as flying fish eggs with a KICK!  Most of our guests were willing to give them a try, even if sushi was not their cup of tea. Even our own D2 gave them a shot! 

What a great way to begin a new year -- with good friends and good food!

miniature bacon and swiss quiche

I have used this quiche recipe for years, but we always seem to have way too much leftover.  My crew does not seem to like leftovers, so I end up throwing some away.  So, this time I decided to make smaller versions so that the 'left over' ones could be frozen for future use.  

Instead of using the usual 9-inch pie shell, I purchased Pillsbury Crescent Recipe Creations, flattened them out and cut into squares.  I then fit them into my large-sized muffin tins (6 to a tin) and pressed them around until it made a little shell.  I adjusted this recipe and poured the custard into the muffin shells and cooked them for about 20 minutes.  Surprisingly, they actually turned out pretty good.  So good that we only had two of them leftover!  Unfortunately, those two were eaten the next day so I did not get to test out how they did frozen.  I guess I will have to give it another try sometime soon.