Family Dinner!

Hi All!

It's Meghna! I recently managed to cook dinner for 8 people and after careful planning and much stress it came out to be a complete success!! First of all let me explain why this blog post is entitled family dinner! I guess we got it from MTV's Jersey Shore, where every Sunday the whole house sits down for a "family dinner".  Only at our family dinners, there aren't any paid actors playing a role being forced to eat dinner with one another.  After two years of living together, our little Stone house really has become into a weird family.  Our family consists of the 5 girls who live in a box of a house on Stone Street. How we function, no one will ever know, but somehow we make it work.   We started recently, to have family dinners on random Friday nights, where one of us (mainly me or Vida) cook for everyone else.  It's just another way for us to bond.  Now I KNOW this blog is suppose to be a vegetarian blog, but cooking a family dinner for meat-eaters, I had to make meat!

The family, minus Stef and I.

On the menu:
1) Stuffed Mushrooms
2) Mussels in a garlic tomato sauce
3) Linguine with homemade marinara sauce
4) Kale & Ricotta Salata Salad
5) Steak with a basil pesto
6) Balsamic Strawberries with Whipped Mascarpone Cheese

Once again, it was Italian themed, seemed fitting for a bunch of hungry loud college students.

The food!!!

Kale & Ricotta Salata Salad
makes 6 servings
Ingrediants
- 1 pound of Kale, stems and center ribs discarded
- 2 Tablespoons finely chopped shallot
- 1.5 Tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 ounces coarsely grated Ricotta Salata (this can be found in Italian-specialty stores or in the cheese department of your supermarket)

Preparation

1) Working in batches, cut Kale cross wire into very thin slices

2) Whisk together the shallot, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a small bowl, then add oil slowly whisking until everything is combined

3) Toss Kale and ricotta salata in a large bowl with enough dressing to coal well, then season with salt and pepper

Stuffed Mushrooms

serves 20-24

Ingredients

- 2 Tablespoons olive oil

- 24 Large mushrooms, (I used simple white button mushrooms that you find everywhere). stems removed and chopped with the caps still in take

- 1/2 cup chopped fresh fennel bulb (many grocery stores call it anise in the produce section)

- 1/4 cup chopped, drained oil- packed sun-dried tomatoes

- 3 garlic cloves, chopped

- 1/2 cup Fontina cheese

- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

- 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

- 1 large egg

Preparation

1) Preheat oven to 350 F

2) Brush baking dish with oil to avoid sticking

3) Heat 2 Tablespoons of oil in a skillet, add mushrooms stems, fennel, tomatoes, and garlic.  Saute until the stems and fennel are tender.  This takes about 12 minutes.  Transfer to a bowl and let it cool for a 10 minutes.

4) Mix in cheeses, then basil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Then mix in the egg. (The egg serves as a binder for all the ingredients)

5) Mound the fillings in mushroom cavities

6) Bake the mushrooms for about 25 minutes.

The Mushroom Caps with the stems taken off

The Stuffing for the Stuffed-Mushrooms

Stuffed Mushrooms

Mussels in a Garlic Tomato Sauce

Tomato Sauce

makes 5 cups

Ingredients

- 2 medium onions, finely chopped

- 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

- 6 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

- 2 24oz cans whole tomatoes in juice

- 1 teaspoon salt, to taste

Preparation

1) cook onions and garlic in oil for 6-8 minutes until softened

2) Add tomatoes, salt and simmer for 1.25 hours

3) Add basil

Mussels

Ingredients

- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

- 1/4 teaspoon dried hot pepper flakes

- 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

- 1 cup dry white wine

- 1 cup tomato sauce

- 4 pounds live mussels, scrubbed and beards removed

Preparation

1) Cook garlic and red pepper in oil in a 6-8 quart heavy pot over moderately low heat, sitting until the garlic turns pale

2) Add wine and boil on high for 2 minutes

3) Add tomato sauce and mussels and cook over moderately high heat, covered.  Stir the mussels occasionally, until the mussels open wide, this will take 6-8 minutes.  Any mussel that doesn't open should not be eaten.

4) Garnish with fresh parsley and serve immediately!
**A side of crunchy bread will go wonderfully with the mussels, to scoop up all of that delicious sauce!

Mussels in a Tomato Sauce

Steak with a 3-Herb Pesto

This pesto was favorite part of the meal =]

3-Herb Pesto

Ingredients

- 1.5 cup fresh basil leaves

- 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

- 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese

- 1/4 cup fresh Italian Parsley

- 1/4 cup fresh Tarragon leaves

- 2 Garlic cloves

- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Preparation

1) combine the basil, garlic, pine nuts, parsley and tarragon in a food processor.  Blend until herbs are finely chopped.

2) Add oil and blend to a coarse purree

3) Remove the pesto and put it in a bowl, then add the Parmesan and mix until the cheese is incorparted. 

4) Season the pesto with salt and pepper

**Tip**

To toast your pine nuts, put them in a skillet and turn the heat to medium.  Toss the nuts and remove from the skillet once you see them turn golden brown.  This won't take long, because pine nuts are rich in oil no oil or butter is necessary to toast them.

Steak

- 1 Tablespoon fresh black pepper

- 1.5 Tablespoons salt

- 5 8ounce ribeye steaks

- 5 sprigs of rosemary, chopped, stems removed

- 4 garlic cloves minced.

Preparation

1) Pat dry any excess mositure from the steak

2) Add salt and pepper to both sides of the steak

3) In a pan drizzle oil and let it heat up slowly.  As soon as the oil becomes hot add the garlic and rosemary and immediately remove from heat.  Let the garlic and rosemary cook until the oil stops sizzling.  This allows the rosemary and garlic to infuse the oil without completely cooking it.

4) Spread both sides of the steak with the marinade

5) Cover the steaks and refrigate for 4 hours

6) Take the steaks out an hour before cooking 

7) Preheat the oven to 500 F

8) On an oven-proof skillet add oil, as soon as the oil becomes smokey add the steaks.  After 30 seconds flip the steaks and cook for another 30 seconds.  Then place the skillet in the oven for 6 minutes, remove the skillet and flip the steaks one more time and place it back in the oven for another minute.

9) Remove the skillet and let the steaks rest for 10 minutes before cutting.

The marinade

Raw steak marinading

The final product

Linguine with homemade Marinara Sauce

Marinara Sauce

Ingredients

- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

- 2 small onions, finely chopped

- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

- 2 stalks celery, finely chopped

- 2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1/2 freshly ground black pepper

- 2 24 oz cans crushed San Marizano tomatoes

- 2 dried bay leaves

Preparation

1) Heat oil, add onion, garlic, and saute until the onions are tender.  About 10 minutes.

2) Add celery, carrots, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper.  Saute until all the vegetables are soft about 10 minutes.

3) Add the tomatoes and bay leaves. Simmer on low heat for 1 hour

4) Remove and discard the bay leaves

5) Season the sauce with salt and pepper

Linguine

Ingredients

1 pound linguine

Preparation

1) Bring a 6-8 quart pot of water to boil. Season it with salt

2) Cook till it's al-dente (cooking times vary with different brands of pasta)

3) Toss the linguine with sauce and top with fresh basil and Parmesan cheese.

Linguine with Marinara Sauce

Balsamic Strawberries with Whipped Mascarpone Cheese

makes 6 servings

Ingredients

- 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

- 2 Tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons sugar

- 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

- 1/2 cup chilled mascarpone cheese

- 1/2 cup chilled whipping cream

- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

- Strawberries

Preparation

1) Combine vinegar, 2 teaspoons of sugar and lemon juice in a heavy small saucepan.  Whisk over medium heat until the sugar dissolves.

2) Boil until the balsamic vinegar reduces to 1/4 cup, about 3 minutes.

3) In a medium bowl, combine the cream, mascarpone, vanilla and 2 tablespoons of sugar.  Whisk until thick soft peaks form.

4) Combine the berries and balsamic syrup and let it stand for 30 minutes.

5) Serve with a dollop of the mascarpone on the berries.  Garnish with fresh mint.

Sorry about the picture, I started eating it =]

Reviews:

Well, I can't really review much about this dinner seeing that I didn't eat half of it.  However, there was zero leftovers and my roommates left the table happy and in a food coma.  If you don't want to make two different types of tomato sauce, you can use the same tomato sauce for the mussels and the linguine.  Also, the tomato sauce, the balsamic syrup, and the pesto can all be made a day in advance.  I did this because a college student simply wouldn't be able to make all of this food in one day.  I will definitely be making those stuffed-mushrooms again.  In fact the only thing that I would do differently and maybe try out a new technique in cooking steak.  The best part of the meal, was that it was affordable!  People that ate steak and mussels paid $12 for the dinner!

The aftermath, it really did come down to the shells.

Get in the kitchen! Try out these recipes and let me know how it turns out!

Happy Cooking!!