mother's day

So, tonight we finally caught up, and hosted Mother's day dinner for Mom Bornschlegel. Andi brought her new guy Mike, who is some unknown-amount allergic to cats, so we decided to grille outside.

I don't know how it was in Santa Cruz today, but all morning while i planned the menu and drank coffee, it was slate grey and windy as all hell here. While we were out getting groceries a lot of the clouds blew away, but it was still classic San Francisco windy. The wind subsided mid-dinner, but came back by the end - everyone was pretty happy to get back inside and wait for cake and coffee. And Mike didn't really suffer at all in our de-catted living room. Goblin being shy is sad for her with the cat-lovers, but is really helpful to the allergic folk.

They showed up at 6; we had prepped everything and taken it downstairs and started the fire before they arrived.
On the table:
--a bottle of Robert Sinskey Vin Gris de Pinot Noir
--a bottle of '97 Navarro Petite Sirah
--a bottle of '97 Eberle Zinfandel
--a large pitcher of ice water with lime and mint
--a cheese plate with some teleme
--a bowl of cherries
--a tray of olives

All the courses were served appetizer-sized: 3-4 scallops a person, etc.

Course one: Veggie Antipasti
i grilled a series of vegetables, and served them as they came off the grille. I often serve this with grilled toast, and cloves of garlic for folks to rub on the bread, but we had enough food coming that we skipped the toast tonight. First were orange and yellow peppers. Mike had a hard time believing they weren't marinated in something extravagent, but they were just rubbed with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Second to the grill were zucchini - quartered lengthwise, rubbed with olive oil, salt & pepper as well. I just think they are SO tasty over the fire.

Third i grilled off the artichoke hearts - according to Schlesinger's 'Artichokes Johnson' recipe. Cut the top third off, snip off the tops of the rest of the leaves, and parboil in salted water for 15 minutes. Slice in half,pull out the heart, and coat liberally in olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill until carmelized, and squeeze lemon and drizzle olive oil over the top. These are something special, even for artichoke lovers.

Course two: Scallops with prosciutto
Directions: Wrap half of the scallops around the circumference with proscuitto. Thread onto skewers, alternating wrapped and unwrapped. I like to start and end with wrapped ones. Wrapping them just before you put each on the skewer is easiest for me. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill over medium heat. Pull 'em off the skewers, squeeze a lime over them, and server. (I forgot the lime until we were one scallop in - oops - then added it.)

Course three: Spicy Grilled potato salad
This was another Schlesinger recipe. Two thumbs up. Red creamer potatoes, parboiled, halfed, and threaded onto skewers. Grilled over medium-high heat. Tossed with olive oil, mustard, chopped garlic, chopped fresh parsley, and hot sauce just off the grill.

Course four: Grilled peppered filet with roasted garlic toast and blue-cheese butter
This really is just what it sounds like, and is another Schlesinger recipe. Really, if you like to cook over live fire, these are books for you. Grilled toast. Peppered filet, seared over fire. Roasted garlic on the toast, filet on top of that. Blue cheese mashed with butter on the steak. *tasty*. Russell, of course, bypassed the blue cheese portion of this course.

Everyone ran up and down the stairs, carrying up the preptrays and dishes. Russell's mom did just enough dishes to get her hands warm, and then we made her stop. Brewed coffee (both kinds: caf and decaf. No Heather, not espresso and brewed.) Andi employed the kitchenaid to turn the manufacturer's cream into whipped cream, with some Germain-Robin brandy and sugar & frosted the torte she brought. Topped half with skor bars and half with raspberries. Some of us might have used the extra whipped cream on our coffee, but we're not telling. The cake was so, so good. Andi says it had three ingredients: butter, sugar, and chocolate.

A bit of chatting, water, coffee and wine later (yeah, we did look at the French Laundry menu and cookbook; fanchildren we are), the Mountain View contingency headed south and the goblincat emerged. A successful gathering, i think!

Posted by meriko at June 01, 2002 11:01 PM