I REMEMBERED THIS TIME

We have had guests off and on this month. And I have cooked most of the time. I have made some really great meals, pretty to look at, and very tasty. I keep forgetting to take pictures. Tonight Marty cooked, I did clean up, and I finally remembered to take the pictures. I did make a tossed salad. Marty made a risotto with wild mushroom, asparagus tips, and large shrimp wrapped in prosciutto. He also made flan for dessert. Some of the pictures are out of sequence. Sorry about that. I am too tired tonight to delete and then upload again.

Marty checking if the risotto is ready.

The flam cooling on a rack.

Marty working away. I was having a little wine and watching Graham Norton (it was on Tivo)

Big pot contains chicken broth, little pot contains chicken broth and liquor from hydrating the wild mushrooms, weird looking pot has the risotto rice with my really cool stir chef (This runs on batteries and stirs the contents of the pot. If food needs stirring for 30 to 45 minutes it is a life saver, at least an arm saver.).

Finished product. I know this should be the last picture. I blew it.

Plating the risotto and the shrimp.

Shrimp fresh from the grill.

We had a lovely evening tonight. Good food, really good wine, and good company. Tomorrow it will either be leftovers or chili mac.

GREAT DINNER

Last night we cooked a great dinner. That was almost the royal WE. I did some prep work, but mainly wash up duty. I did create the menu and set the table. I had planned to cook it all myself. But luckily it interested Marty and he wanted to cook.

The Menu:

Sliced Tomatoes, shaved Parmesan cheese, torn basil leaves drizzled with a balsamic vinaigrette

Risotto with asparagus, porcini and lobster mushrooms, and shrimp

Bread sticks

If you have never made risotto you need to know it is labor intensive. You stir it for 25-30 minutes constantly. But we don't stir, we have a really cool gadget that works amazingly well. It is a Stirchef. A gadget that runs on batteries, sits on the pot, and stirs all sizes of pans tirelessly. I just did a search for the link and it looks like this gadget went the way of the Super Shooter and other Christmas specials. They are on Amazon and eBay, if you want to get one.

Back to the meal. The salad was scratched. Marty didn't want a salad. The shrimp were wrapped in prosciutto and cooked on the grill. The saltiness of the prosciutto against the risotto was fabulous.

We made too much risotto and that is one food you can't heat up the next day. So we picked out the wild mushrooms and asparagus and left part of the risotto.

Tonight pulled beef quesadillas. Unless Marty wants to cook again.