Inaugural Dinner Success!

Thanks to all who made it to my inaugural dinner! To everyone else, I look forward to eating with you soon.

So let's get down to it. What was on the menu? G, take it away with the photos...

  


Traditional bruschetta, (top) and sweet bruschetta (bottom). The strawberry and chevre was a great combination! Who would have thought that you can eat dessert for an appetizer!


Primi piatti: (with inspiration from Risotto) Bay scallop, clam and parsley risotto. This turned out wonderfully creamy mostly because of the nature of arborio rice, while maintaining a reasonable calorie content. Be sure to add the fish-stock slowly for this recipe.

Side: Homemade crunchy kale chips topped with salt, pepper and lemon, cut into squares, and placed (not crowded) onto a baking sheet at 350F for approx 15 mins.

Segundi piatti: (with inspiration from Julia) Poached tilapia in a scallion, butter and pinot grigio reduction. Turned out wonderfully tender without flaking, just like Julia says. (Insert ridiculous imitation of Julia Child's voice here). Too much wine by this point to remember the camera, so no photos, sorry!

Dessert: 
1. Canele from Market Day. Canele are a crunchy-on-the-outside and soft-on-the-inside cake-ish pastry that is way better than I can describe it here. Plus, nuns make it! (Maybe not, see photo)

2. Chile Mango Fruit Floes (Trader jOES pun). Mango at first taste, converts into chile flavor a few seconds after your first bite!






Wines: All white: 2008 Voga Pinot Grigio, 2005 Leaping Horse Chardonnay, 2006 Blue Nun Qualitatswein.

Next dinner to be announced shortly! Thanks again everyone!

Funky grilled cheese

Quick Lunch: 
Honey Wheat bread Cabot Sharp Cheddar, minced kalamata olives and Texas Pete hot sauce. Apple juice

Just another Monday

Mixed panko and regular bread crumbs to fully coat the Pan-seared chicken chops. The spinach/ricotta tortellini were a nice starchy addition, topped with a lot of fresh ground black pepper. These torts are salty, so you really don't need any additional cheese.

The Merlot was TJ's 3 buck chuck!  (thanks E and L)

I nearly forgot to mention and thank my friend, Renee, who has graciously sponsored the flowers for BarufFeast!

Want to buy flowers for your next event? Sikking farms is conveniently located at the Collingswood Farmer's Market (henceforth known as CFM)

Russ and Marie visit

As Marie astutely pointed out this evening after the meal, BarufFeast could also double as BaruffEast, since I am one of two Baruffi Brothers, one of whom is in San Francisco- "BaruffWest" AKA Russ.


(Here's Marie totin' the evening garden contribution: Fresh basil and sage, Pinot Noir grape, apples, peaches and some lettuce)

So what WAS dinner? Good question. It was my parents' turn to experience BarufFeast, and I had to make it a good one!


As arugula is my favorite salad base, so yes, I went with it YET AGAIN, and dressed it up with a basic balsamic vinaigrette and added some goat cheese.

I tempted fate a bit this evening as I planned the main course: Indian food-mild cuisine for my parents. Don't get me wrong, I love Indian food, but my parents haven't explored it much, so I had to tread lightly. Well, I think I've got them hooked with this recipe from the Better Homes and Garden's Cookbook. Pay attention, all you folks striving to pull your parents from their pasta-eating comfort zones, here comes Basil chicken in Coconut-Curry Sauce (p. 427).

Basil straight from Marie's garden, 4 chicken breasts, KPs fantastic old-country curry recipe, Onion, garlic, jalapenos and coconut milk. Since coconut milk can be high in saturated fat, instead of 1 can (14 oz) coconut milk, I used 1/2 can of coconut milk and 1/2 can of vegetable stock (no complaints)

I think that sweet fruit juice pairs best with indian food, so I would choose a Mango puree, but Acme disappointed, so I opted for the next best thing: Arizona Mucho Mango (which you can mix nicely with gin or vodka).

The recipe didn't call for this kick, I added a surprise ingredient: KPs famous homemade curry! 

 Russ, Marie and Gia at my new low-table. Thanks G and T!

  

A big thanks to Russ for his help with installing my shelves!

Marie and Russ signed their names on the BarufFeast chalk-board wall, now it's your turn!


Inaugural dinner to be announced tomorrow. Stay tuned!




-Baruff-East

Photos

Next time, I will post the photos and the words together! I'm still learning how to do this stuff!

Pre-Inaugural Dinners at 1212

Thank you all so much for your contributions for name ideas and welcome to my blog!

You can see which name received the (overwhelming) majority of votes. Second place was DanCanCook and third, to my dismay, was a pun involving the Philly-derived preposition "wit" (see How to order a cheesesteak in Philly for details)

As the blog evolves I'm sure things will change but for right now, here's my mission:

To provide an open space for friends and family who feel welcome to come and enjoy my variant of 'slow-food' dinners, 2 times per month. Bring friends, (but puhleeeeease RSVP at least 3 days in advance with how many and any diet restrictions.) Bring whatever you would like to contribute- it will be a much appreciated offset to my dinner costs.

Note: Once I list a dinner as "closed," you can still come and even bring people, just don't expect food, cuz I didn't plan to feed you!

The BarufFeast pre-inaugural dinners kicked off this past week with a small cohort of tasters who were serendipitously in town.

Below is the menu from the dinner (Friday) and the brunch (Sunday) of this past week with links to where each component comes from, should you be interested.

Dinner:

Arugula salad with locally made Feta cheese and lemon/ginger vinaigrette (modified)

Honey wheat crostini with homemade basil pesto

Whole wheat spaghetti with homemade turkey-sausage bolognese sauce

Participants: Christopher

Brunch:

Chive, thyme, sage and sundried tomato omelette topped with shredded Cabot sharp cheddar

Repeat of arugula salad listed above

Fresh, blueberry cinnamon buns wih crumb topping

Participants: G and T

Thanks to G and T for the wonderful housewarming ideas and photos that are sure to surprise and excite any future visitors with a creative side... Hint: you can now leave the chef a secret message on the wall!

Culinary inspirations from Marie (Pesto, Bolognese sauce) and Alice Waters (Vinaigrette)

Creative ideas from: the afterdinnersneeze