These are a few of Leo’s favorite things….

January 16, 2018January 19, 2018 The Culinary ChroniclesLeave a comment

Pepperoni on pizza and cookie dough in ice cream–these are a few of Leo’s favorite things….

So when December’s Fam Din rolled in the day before our family’s big Christmas Party, we knew exactly what we had to make for the the little man’s 6th birthday. He was quite sure of what he wanted— pizzas, fatty steaks and cookie dough ice cream. Everything else, he left up to us.

Dinner also happened to fall on the night of the big game. And as Minnesota Vikings fans (SKOLLLLL!!!), very few other games mean as much as when we meet up with those cheese heads…I mean, those Packers. <barf>

So we had the game streaming in every room.

And apparently we needed more coverage because the boys ran out before dinner started to pick up a new TV. Nothing special…just a ginormous 65inch flatscreen.

I’ve got to admit, it was quite humorous watching all of our men attempt to mount the TV to the family room wall.

But they did it and it worked!

Poor Nina….she wasn’t feeling so hot that day–she had the terrible cooties situation everyone seemed to be getting hit with. And because she’s so caring, she even shared it with me a few days later.

Thanks Nina.

Thanks 😦

Seestrah P and her fam made it down for the holidays this year so it was a full house!

It’s rare that all five siblings can be together in one place these days so we definitely try to make the most out of it when we are.

I don’t think Dad understood the message below when we said “OK, funny shot!”

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

While the game was on, the enormous TV was getting set up and the kids were running amok, we assembled a quick Charcuterie Platter…because it’s how we roll.

Truffle Salami from Trader Joe’s, Camembert, Toscano Cheese soaked in Syrah, Heirloom Grape Tomatoes, Olives, Truffle Marcona Almonds, and a few crackers.

In case you’ve ever wondered what down time at Fam Din looks like…..here you go.

Some chatting, some TV, lots of Mind Craft (despite our ban on devices!) and a little bit of dancing hair flips from Kaelani.

Of course, there’s lots of picture taking too.

And if your family is like ours — when we see peeps taking a group pic, we get FOMO and jump in.

Cue in Dad and T.

For the main appetizer (does that sound contradictory?), N made these little Spinach-Artichoke-Crab Puffs. Imagine rich spinach-artichoke dip mixed with lump crab meat—then surround it with flaky puff pastry and top it with more cheese and breadcrumbs.

Decadently delicious!!

LOOK! Nina arose from the dead!!!

It’s because she heard “Spinach-Artichoke-Crab Puffs” and shot right up.

Look at these two adorable munchkins.

And then Leia got Christmas’ed by her dad.

The look on her face is freaking hysterical.

Soon it was time to get the kiddos to prep their mini personalized pizzas.

There were lots of toppings from them to choose from — pepperoni, Italian sausage, caramelized onions, cheese, ‘shrooms and of course, homemade marinara.

It’s never too young to get them started with cooking…..because it means I can retire sooner.

Kaelani was so proud of her little pizza!

After the munchkins prepped, baked and ate their pizzas–we assembled larger ones for the grown folks to split.

Which means, throw EVERYTHING on and bake it up!

Which also included the leftover fillings from the Spinach-Artichoke-Crab Puffs.

Talk about decadent! They were delicious but super rich.

L slicing up pizza with flair!

As you may recall, birthday boy also requested steaks.

FATTY steaks to be exact.

So brother picked up a few prime steaks and dry aged them for a few days. He seared them on cast iron skillets that were screaming hot which gave them a beautiful crust.

And while they rested, he threw a bit of butter on top so that it could slowly melt and seep into all that beefy goodness.

Just a smidge of butter, right?

And I have to tell you guys, those were some of the best steaks I’ve had in a loooong time! The combination of great quality steaks that were dry aged to intensify the flavors were just fantastic!

Nina helped put the finishing touches on my Lentils and Arugula Salad topped with Burrata.

The funny thing that Dad often does when we cook for him is to look at the ingredients we use, ask what the name of it is, how to spell it—and then ends up taking a picture of it. He cracks me up.

See that photobomber in back?

Told ya…. FOMO.

If you ever have a doubt– throwing burrata on top of ANYTHING will always make it more delicious.

Quick pic of the spread!

So nice, I had to show you twice!

V’s face is hysterical in this pic. Now that’s true appreciation of one’s craft.

Don’t mind me while I stand in the corner taking pics and stealing bites off of people’s plates while drinking my Cosmopolitan (it was that month’s cocktail but of course, I forgot to take pics of them–DOH!).

V and Pops!

And the girls!

Minus Kaelani because at that point she was getting a bath to prep for bed. She was NOT happy about missing out on the rest of Fam Din.

Oh the woes of a 3 year old….

Speaking of missing out…..the fur babies were definitely not wanting to miss out on any of the good eats! Here they are patiently waiting for their grandpa to hook them up.

They didn’t get as much as they wanted (Dad can eat!!) so Nini hooked them up with all kinds of goodness!

Yeah…I realize they eat better than most humans but they are our bebes.

And then it was FINALLY time for dessert!

Leo asked for Cookie Dough Ice Cream for his birthday dessert. But here’s the thing, although P did one heck of a job making it from scratch, it’s not a dessert that those of us 13 and older were excited about. So she did us a solid and made us a second dessert – Alice Medrich’s Warm Mocha Tart.

YUMilicious!!

Um, T–hurry up and finish vacuuming or else Maya and Luna are liable to inhale the tart.

Look at birthday boy’s face!

Candle perched upon a huge scoop of his favorite ice cream –that he, of course, had seconds of.

And with that–another shenanigans filled, delicious Fam Din came to a close.

Happy, Happy Birthday Leonidas!

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This Month’s Family Dinner Menu

Cocktails: Cosmopolitans, Various Wine
Appetizers: Charcuterie Platter, Spinach-Artichoke-Crab Puffs
Entrees: Dry Aged Rib Eye Steaks, DIY Pizzas
Sides: Lentils and Arugula Salad topped with Burrata
Dessert: Homemade Cookie Dough Ice Cream, Warm Mocha Tart

Sunday Family Dinner

And the Family Dinner Antics Continue….

September 27, 2017October 5, 2017 The Culinary Chronicles1 Comment

How is it possibly Fall already with October just knocking on the door? Although, if you’re like SoCal these past few days, we’re still in a heat wave with the temps in mid-80s. The weather has been so strange lately that we actually got down to the low 60s last week (chilly for San Diego standards) and now we’re back in the thick of summer-like weather.

Speaking of summer, we had some brilliant Fam Dins over the past few months. The food is always great—even when it’s not dee best (flashbacks to my less than successful beef wellington or tarte tatin ). And there’s always more shenanigans than I can recount.

For this particular dinner, we were celebrating seester N and B.I.L. R’s birthmonth. But the day actually started early as we trekked down to Long Beach to cheer on Maya at her Hula/Tahitian performance at the Dragon Boat Races.

I mean, how freaking adorable is she?

After the festival and a quick bite of lunch, we headed back to Fullerton to get prepping on dinner. While we got to work in the kitchen, we sent the kiddos to the store to pick up a few extra items for us–just one of the perks of having munchkins that are of the driving age now.

For dinner, R wanted simply prepared dungeness crabs. But while at the store, seester ended up picking up some lobsters too.

I totally supported that decision.

The munchkins came back shortly after supplied with boba, slurpees (kids after my own heart) and a surprise they found at 7-11. More on that soon.

Nini saw the lobstahs and quickly picked them up and posed for a pic. I have at least a dozen pictures of her mom doing the same thing over the past few years–same genes and all.

Oh our boys…..

While the sibs were bustling away with prep, I turned my efforts to something extremely important.

Cocktails.

Since it was so hot out and because the kiddos had picked up their own slurpees, I whipped up a batch of Tropical Fruit Wine Slushies. Adult slurpees in my opinion.

In a heavy duty blender, I filled the pitcher with frozen tropical fruits (mango, pineapple, papaya), a whole bottle of sauvignon blanc, lime juice, simple syrup, fresh mint leaves and a few splashes of vodka. Everything was quickly blended and that’s it!

Deliciously cold and refreshing. Another one of those summer-in-a-glass types of cocktails.

Remember that surprise I mentioned that the kiddos found at 7-11?

It was henna paste!

And the coincidence was that earlier that day, we were trying to get T’s friend over that night to do henna for us but things didn’t work out because she was out of the paste.

Why did we want her to come over and do henna for us?

Why not?

Henna is a temporary body art that is imprinted on the skin through a paste made from ground henna tree. The paste the munchkins found were premixed and sold in little conical tubes for ease of application. Kind of a random thing to find at a 7-11 in Orange County–but sometimes you just got to go with fate.

And with that–we went into full henna mode! The gals had a wonderful knack for it and did all of these beautiful designs by free hand.

Seestrah and I are thinking of hiring them out for parties.

Kidding–not kidding.

Check out this dragon Nini did for me–isn’t she so talented?

Apparently having an actual dragon tattoo wasn’t enough for me so I needed a henna one too.

Mother of Dragons and all….

Okay, I’m more like Mother of Puggle but Bella has the heart of a dragon.

Or more like an appetite of one.

And then we all started getting a rumbly in our tummy. Apps time!

I made one of my go-to bites that I love having all summer long — Burrata Bruschetta with a Balsamic Reduction. Nina lent a hand by pan frying (yup PAN FRYING) the sourdough in olive oil and rubbed it down with garlic cloves. It was topped with chopped heirloom tomatoes, more fresh garlic, EVOO, red chili flakes, basil, ooey-gooey burrata and a drizzle of reduced balsamic vinegar.

These are great as apps but there are so many times that I whip this up for a quick light lunch when it’s warm out. Perfect.

And then it was time to steam those crustaceans!

We love crabs, lobstahs, ‘shramps, crawdads….actually, we’re pretty much into all seafoods.

And riverfoods?

Lakefoods?

Are those even things?

T also picked up some ginormous giant clams (yes, I know that was redundant but they were HUGE!) so we threw those on the grill along with some romaine for a salad.

And after the wine slushies were gone, there was just wine. Well, lots of wine.

The chardonnay from Starmont is the fuel T and I guzzle down every Black Friday to muster the energy to keep up with our other sibs’ shopping marathons. Without it, we would be passed out by 9am.

Speaking of passing out…

She had a VERY action packed day and was down for the count. But she still wanted to be in the midst of the action and decided to take her naps underneath us.

Here are those giant clams again. Once out of the grill, T spooned a butter-soy-garlic sauce into them and topped it with fresh cilantro. Those buggers were super meaty!

N made this rad salad with grilled romaine lettuce, cukes, tomatoes, and avocados which was topped with pickled red onions and a grilled flank steak that had an Asian inspired marinade. The salad had a light soy-sesame dressing and was delectable!

Since we went for a simple steamed prep for the crabs and lobsters, N upped the gluttony ante and made a big ol’ bowl of Garlic-Butter Noodles. YES PLEASE!

The terrible pic does not do the food its justice.

I had some dang impatience to eat so I couldn’t be bothered to fiddle with adjusting the camera.

Nope…I don’t regret it.

Happy Fam! (Yes, I used flash…cringe.)

I spy a glowing-eye Bella.

After gorging ourselves on savory, we turned to sweet.

Yin to yang, right?

For the birthday buddies, Maya helped me to make this Peanut Butter-Oreo Chocolate Icebox Cake.

Looking at it again, it kind of looks like an ice cream cake—doesn’t it?

Hmmm…there’s always next time.

And after dinner, the antics continued because random henna sessions weren’t enough. T busted out some new clay mask she got so we had to give it a spin, right?

What you don’t see is that we actually coerced R into letting us schmear that stuff on him too. He was less than thrilled so since it was his birthday dinner, I let him off the hook and decided not to post the pic I took of him. Plus he looked like we were rather torturing him so who wants that kind of stuff on-the-line?

Hehehe…

And that was it! Dragon Boat races, Polynesian dance performances, henna, clay masks, cooking, eating, drinking and a passed out a puggle.

Just another average Fam Din down in the books. ❤

Happy Birthday N and R!

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This Month’s Family Dinner Menu

Cocktails: Tropical Fruits Wine Slushies, Various Wine
Appetizers: Burrata Bruschetta with Balsamic Reduction
Entrees: Steamed Dungeness Crabs & Lobsters, Grilled Giant Clams with Soy-Garlic Sauce
Sides: Garlic Butter Noodles, Asian Flank Steak over Grilled Romaine Salad
Dessert: Peanut Butter-Oreo Chocolate Icebox Cake

Ratatouille Pizza

October 13, 2016 The Culinary ChroniclesLeave a comment

Ratatouille Pizza
You may not know this about me but I’m a Disney freak.

For years my movie library was primarily filled with the clam-shell VHS cases of animated Disney films. Yes, you read correctly — VHS.

I can recite entire movies without effort, enthusiastically sing (albeit, in a tone deaf pitch) every song, and have a rather impressive “who’s-its and what’s-its galore” collection of Disney chotskies.

So it should be no surprise that my inspiration dish for National Pizza Month came while watching Disney’s Ratatouille the other week. The movie is now near 10 years old but if you haven’t seen it yet—drop everything and watch it!!

Oh that Remy……

Ratatouille is a French Provençal dish that features veggies in a slow cooked stew. It was while Remy was layering the veggies for his remake of Ratatouille that I thought –HOT DAMN! Those flavors would be fantastic on a pizza! Eggplant, squashes, peppers, tomatoes, basil — perfect!!!

With those flavors in mind, I took to my beloved cast iron skillet method to fix up a gorgeous pizza. I smothered a generous layer of my homemade marinara that mimicked the stewed tomatoes of Ratatouille with its onions, garlic, oregano, and fennel. Next came a shingled layer of roasted eggplant, roasted zucchini and few slices of red bell pepper that I chose not to roast so that it could hold a bit of its crunch through the short cooking process. After the whole pizza broiled, I placed torn pieces of burrata on top because burrata makes everything better! And right before serving, I sprinkled the the whole thing with some sea salt, fresh cracked pepper, chili flakes and ribbons of fresh basil.

What do ya think? Isn’t it a beauty? And it tasted even better than it looked!

Remy would be proud.

HAPPY NATIONAL PIZZA MONTH!!!

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Ratatouille Pizza
Serves 2

Ingredients:

12-15 ¼-inch slices eggplant
12-15 ¼-inch slices zucchini or summer squash
olive oil, divided
kosher salt
5 ounces fresh pizza dough, rested and at room temperature
all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground corn meal
¾ cup marinara
1 teaspoon minced garlic
leaves from 2 sprigs fresh thyme
10-12 thin slices red bell pepper
3 ounces fresh burrata cheese, torn into pieces
sea salt
fresh cracked black pepper
¼ teaspoon red chili flakes
2-3 large fresh basil leaves chiffonade

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F. Place the eggplant and zucchini on a baking sheet. Brush each slice with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt. Roast the vegetables in the oven for 10-15 minutes until they are soft and become golden. Remove the sheet and allow to cool.

Turn on the oven broiler and adjust one of the racks to the top of the oven to rest directly under the broiler. Place a seasoned cast iron skillet (12-14 inches in diameter) directly under the broiler for 8-10 minutes. It may begin to smoke but you need the skillet to be screaming hot.

While the skillet heats, roll out the pizza dough onto a floured surface–you’ll want it a tad smaller than the width of your skillet. If you have a pizza peal, sprinkle it with cornmeal and transfer the pizza dough onto it. If not, you can also use a wooden cutting board. Brush olive oil over the dough.

Once the skillet has heated for the appropriate length of time, quickly and CAREFULLY remove the skillet from the oven. Slide the dough into the skillet. Quickly spread the marinara over the dough and sprinkle the minced garlic and thyme leaves over. Layer with the slices of eggplant, zucchini and bell pepper. Carefully replace the skillet in the oven so it sits directly underneath the broiler. Close the oven door and allow the pizza to cook for about 60 seconds. Open the oven door and rotate the skillet 180 degrees. Close the door and allow another 60-90 seconds underneath the broiler. Once the crust and bell peppers are slightly charred, CAREFULLY remove the skillet from the oven and place it on a cooling rack for 3-4 minutes. While the pizza rests, top with burrata cheese and allow the heat to melt it.

After the pizza has fully rested, sprinkle the tops with sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper and red pepper flakes. Sprinkle the basil over the pizza and transfer to a cutting board, slice up and enjoy!

*If you don’t want to use the cast iron skillet method, assemble the entire pizza (with the exception of the basil and cheese) on a baking sheet. Bake in a 500 degree F oven for about 15-20 minutes until the crust becomes golden brown. Remove the sheet from the oven and follow the remaining steps of the above recipe.

Pizzas

Burrata Caprese & Prosciutto Skillet Pizza

July 25, 2016July 25, 2016 The Culinary Chronicles1 Comment

It’s Monday y’all….

And yes, my struggle is real today…. yawn……

So to cope with those Monday blues, I’ve got something that will wake you up and help kick start your week – Burrata Caprese & Prosciutto Skillet Pizza.

Hellooooooo Beautiful!

It’s the final installment to my summer ode to Burrata Caprese while using my favorite way to make pizzas at home–in a cast iron skillet! The cast iron allows the pizza dough to puff up and get wonderfully crisp and slightly charred—mimicking a pizza oven. And it cooks the pizza in just a couple of minutes —WINNING!

As for the Burrata Caprese — you know how much I adore it. My other two posts featuring the combo highlighted the burrata in its fresh form. This time, I opted to add it to the pizza dough before broiling it so that it became ooey-gooey melted and creamy.

Trust me, it was the best decision I ever made! Or at the very least, the best decision I made that day. ❤

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Burrata Caprese & Prosciutto Skillet Pizza
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 heaping cup diced tomatoes
2 garlic cloves minced, divided
2-3 pinches kosher salt
2-3 pinches black pepper
¼ teaspoon red chili flakes
extra virgin olive oil, divided
5 large fresh basil leaves, julienned – more to garnish
5 ounces fresh pizza dough, rested and at room temperature
all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground corn meal
3 ounces fresh burrata cheese, torn into pieces
½ tablespoon grated parmesan cheese
1 slice prosciutto, torn into pieces

In a small bowl, mix together the tomatoes, half of the garlic, kosher salt, black pepper, red chili flakes, ½ tablespoon olive oil, and julienne basil. Set aside.

Turn on the oven broiler and adjust one of the racks to the top of the oven to rest directly under the broiler. Place a seasoned cast iron skillet (10-12 inches in diameter) directly under the broiler for 8-10 minutes. It may begin to smoke but you need the skillet to be screaming hot.

While the skillet is heating, roll out the pizza dough onto a floured surface–you’ll want it a tad smaller than the width of your skillet. If you have a pizza peal, sprinkle it with cornmeal and transfer the pizza dough onto it. If not, you can also use a wooden cutting board.

Brush the olive oil over the dough and sprinkle the remaining garlic over it. Quickly top with burrata cheese. Once the skillet has heated for the appropriate length of time, quickly and CAREFULLY slide the pizza into the skillet. Replace the skillet so it sits directly underneath the broiler.

Close the oven door and allow the pizza to cook for about 60 seconds. Open the oven door and rotate the skillet 180 degrees. Close the door and allow another 60-90 seconds underneath the broiler. Once the crust is slightly charred and cheese has melted, CAREFULLY remove the skillet from the oven and place it on a rack for 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle the top with parmesan cheese, prosciutto, tomato mixture and remaining basil leaves. Transfer the pizza to a cutting board, slice up and enjoy!

Pastas/Noodles · Vegetables/Vegetarian

Burrata Caprese Bucatini

July 12, 2016 The Culinary Chronicles1 Comment

Pasta makes this gal very, very, VERY happy.

Because, you know–carbs make the world go round.

Or does it make your belly go round?

Eh….it’s a gleeful thing either way.

As promised, here’s a scrumptious pasta dish that gives a big ol’ nod to my summer crush– Burrata Caprese.

It’s surprisingly light since it’s not laden with a heavy sauce and quite fresh from the heirloom tomatoes and basil. And can we talk about the burrata?

So dreamy….

Added bonus?

This beauty can be ready in under 15 minutes. A complete hero for weeknight meals.

Next up – Burrata Caprese & Prosciutto Skillet Pizza!

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Burrata Caprese Bucatini
Serves 2

Ingredients:

kosher salt
1/3 pound dried bucatini pasta (or other long strand pasta of your choice)
3 tablespoons quality extra virgin olive oil, more to finish
1 heaping tablespoon minced garlic
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes–more to finish
1 heaping tablespoon anchovy paste or 2-3 anchovy fillets
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese–more to finish
black pepper
1½ heaping cup diced tomatoes*
10 large fresh basil leaves, julienned
3 ounces fresh burrata cheese

Boil the pasta for approximately 7-8 minutes in heavily salted water until al dente. Drain the pasta and reserve ¼ cup of the starchy water that the pasta was cooked in.

While the pasta cooks, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes and cook for 1-2 minutes to infuse the oil. Add in the anchovies and stir until it melts into the oil.

Toss in the cooked bucatini and cheese — coating the pasta well. If you want a looser based “sauce”, add a tablespoon at a time of the starchy pasta water until you reach your desired consistency. Season with additional kosher salt and black pepper as needed. Toss in the tomatoes and basil. Plate the pasta and top with burrata. Sprinkle each dish with additional parmesan, red pepper flakes and a drizzle of olive oil.

Enjoy!

*If I can find them, I like using small heirloom tomatoes as they are often times sweeter but Romas or other ripe tomatoes are just as delish.

Vegetables/Vegetarian

Burrata Caprese & Prosciutto Bruschetta

July 9, 2016July 11, 2016 The Culinary Chronicles1 Comment

If you pop by mi casa in the summer, you’ll always find the kitchen stocked up on fresh basil, sweet tomatoes, cheeses and charcuterie. They are my absolute go-to ingredients during the warmer months when produce is beautiful at my local farmers markets.

That’s when I crave bright and fresh dishes that are relatively low fuss to make but still pack tons of flavor. Which means my summer lovin’ romance with Caprese kicks in again…..

Typically caprese consists of sliced tomatoes, sweet basil and fresh mozzarella. But these days I’ve been swapping out my usual Mozzarella di Bufala with Burrata.

Burrata is also a soft Italian cheese that looks like fresh mozzarella but friends, it’s more—so much more! The exterior is made from mozz’ but then it’s formed into a round pouch and filled with a luscious mixture of cheese and cream.

It’s rich, decadent and yet somehow light at the same time. I know–magic, right?

So magical that I’ll be sharing three different ways that you can enjoy this flavor combo. And you can be sure as heck that I added prosciutto to the party!

First up – Bruschetta.

This is the simplest of the three dishes that I’ll be sharing but I’ve got to be honest, I’ve made this at least 2-3 times a week for the past month. I’m a gal out of control but trust me–it really is that good!

Check out that cheesy goodness!

D-R-O-O-L-S.

I like serving this on a large slice of baguette as a main dish—protein, veg, cheese and carb. Major food groups, right?

Though if you prefer to go with the appetizer route, serve them as crostini on smaller “crusts of bread”. That bite would definitely pack quite the punch.

Just be sure to have a chilled glass of vino to go along with it all.

Salute!

Stay tuned—Burrata Caprese Bucatini is up next!

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Burrata Caprese & Prosciutto Bruschetta
Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 heaping cup diced tomatoes*
1 small garlic clove, finely minced
2-3 pinches kosher salt
2-3 pinches black pepper
extra virgin olive oil, divided
5 large fresh basil leaves, julienned – more to garnish
1 large slice of baguette bread, approximately 1 inch thick and 5-6 inches long
2-3 ounces fresh burrata cheese
1 slice prosciutto, torn into pieces
2 pinches red pepper

In a small bowl, mix together the tomatoes, garlic, kosher salt, black pepper, ½ tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, and julienne basil. Set aside.

Brush both sides of the baguette slice with olive oil and broil in the oven until golden brown.

Taste the tomato mixture and add additional kosher salt and black pepper as needed. Pile the mixture on top of the toasted baguette slice. Top the with the burrata cheese and torn prosciutto.

Drizzle the bruschetta with additional extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with red pepper. Garnish with additional basil leaves.

Enjoy!

*If I can find them, I like using small heirloom tomatoes as they are often times sweeter but Romas or other ripe tomatoes are just as delish.

Sunday Family Dinner

Sunday Family Dinner Celebrates the May Babies!

June 8, 2016 The Culinary Chronicles4 Comments

Last weekend, Sunday Family Dinner celebrated the May babies in our immediate family — Dad and I!

It was a casual menu for the evening with an iteration of surf and turf — my fav! We didn’t choose any dishes that required long periods of cooking and we managed to do a lot of the mise work earlier on in the day.

So when it came time for the actual “cooking”, it was pretty easy peasey. Which freed up my time to make/sip pre-dinner cocktails and snap a few photos.

And can we talk about how GINORMOUS these strawberries were???

I also wrangled Lucas into staying still for a moment to snap a pic with his fur-cousin. He looks so handsome with his fresh hair cut….what a cutie-patootie. And I intend to call him that until he’s at least 50 years old.

Me? Oh…I’ll still be 21 at that time.

Extra bonus points for those of you who caught the red SOLO cups target pyramid in the background.

It was a target…..

…..for their NERF gun competition.

And let’s talk about this pic below. I told them to give me a fierce, rugged look.

Lucas nailed it….Nina, um….not as much.

Bella hadn’t seen her Gramps in quite some time so she wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t forget what she looked like.

Grampa–do you see me?!? PET ME!!! Give me treats!!! And by treats, I mean–STEAK!!! HELLOOO–I’m right down here!!! Look at me, look at me!!!

She’s not needy at all….

Remember when I mentioned cocktails?

Yea…we had a few of them. And how could we help ourselves? They were so pretty in pink!

I called them Minty Blood Orange Sparklers. It started off with me making a batch of fresh mint simple syrup. After it cooled, I added a splash or two over crushed ice and threw in some vodka, fresh lime juice, Blood Orange flavored Italian Soda and some mint leaves.

Fruity, minty, citrusy, summery……

And the kiddos got MOCKtails—all of the ingredients mentioned above minus the vodka.

Speaking of kiddos, we put Maya to work this month. She helped her mom prep our appetizers for the evening — Grilled Flatbread with Ribeye Steak, Tomatoes, Burrata and Italian Salsa Verde.

Here she is whipping up the salsa verde in the mini food processor.

Her salsa verde had fresh cilantro, parsley, jalapeno, garlic lime juice, oil and S&P. Usually we add some capers and anchovies to the party too but we opted to nix them this time around –so it was kind of akin to a chimichurri sauce.

But who cares—it was fantastic!

And yes, there’s another one of those Yogurtland spoons…..we love prepping with them!

Beef time!

We tasked our B.I.L., Curtis, with grilling up the steaks for the flatbread.

Hello Beautifuls…..

And VOILA! The finished product!

Seester T lightly oiled the grates and threw some pizza dough that Maya and Nini had rolled out over them. After it had cooked through, she topped it all with the sliced steaks, ripe Roma tomatoes, burrata and salsa verde. It was lovely! Tons of flavor and would be a great summer meal on its own with a chilled glass of vino.

You could also sub out skirt steak for the ribeye and fresh mozz instead of burrata. But for me, I’m obsessed with burrata and love how creamy and luscious it is.

Earlier when I mentioned that dinner was easy peasy, I failed to say it was because we tasked the two older kiddos with the actual cooking of our main entrees – Paella! Paella seemed like an ideal way to get the “surf” component into our meal with lots of shrimp, clams and scallops all in one pot. Plus the chicken and chorizo added the “turf”.

YUM!

Nina and Nini our pros at making Paella and since we had to make a bunch to feed the crowd, we decided that each gal would make their own pot as a competition! They each got a Le Creuset dutch oven to use and all the same ingredients.

And then they were off!

This is Nina’s finished product….look at all of those colors!

And here is Nini’s….I could dive right on in!

They both were picture perfect right? And I was hard pressed to tell which niece made which pot.

Wondering who won in the end?

Maya did…….with this picture.

Okay, okay…. it was a tie.

Both were delicious and had lovely crispy socarrat. It would have been impossible to choose one from the other. My nieces are so talented and it’s rather comforting to know that they can cook for us as we get along in years.

Oh!

And during dinner, we enjoyed a lovely Caymus Vineyards 40th Anniversary Cabernet Sauvignon – THANKS Curtis!

Then it was time for BIRTHDAY CAKE!!

Normally I’m a chocolate gal but sometimes a light and fruity cake is just divine! So this month I asked Seestrah N to fix up a white cake with fresh berries and fluffy frosting. She came up with this behemoth of a layered cake with ginormous strawberries and frosting made of whipped mascarpone cheese and heavy cream.

Isn’t it lovely????

By the time we finished with presents, desserts and dishes….Dad was ready to head home. But we convinced them to stay for just a big longer…..

to PLAY BINGO!!!!!!!

Yup BINGO! Seester had gotten a BINGO set as a white elephant present and it was high time we cracked it open.

And the winners got lottery scratchers!

Here’s the birthday boy scratching away after winning a round of BINGO. Initially he said they’d only stay for one game…..but that one game turned into five 🙂

And wouldn’t you know it, neither of the birthday babies won the final blackout round — that went to my B.I.L. Rick!

Talk about happy camper! BINGO winner gets a BINGO scratcher!

All in all, it was a great Fam Din –which incidentally was the 4 year anniversary of our Sunday Family Dinners! Isn’t it rather wonderful that our siblings’ tradition has carried on?

Can’t wait for next month – and neither can the pups ❤

This Month’s Family Dinner Menu

Cocktails: Minty Blood Orange Sparklers and Vino
Appetizers: Grilled Flatbread with Ribeye Steak, Tomatoes, Burrata and Salsa Verde
Entrees: Paella
Dessert: Mile-High Fresh Strawberry and Cream Layered Cake