Girl's Night In

What's better than going out with your girlfriend for dinner? Staying in and cooking dinner together!

I had a quite house this last weekend so I invited my friend (Amy...the one who bakes - which will now be her Dances with Wolves name) over to cook, chat and eat. Our job was to come up with two dishes each that we could cook and both eat. I was armed with movies to have playing while we cooked and I made us mojitos - yummy. I was careful not to start drinking the mojito too soon in the cooking process and have the meal come dangerously close to looking like the "Lemon Drop" Thanksgiving where the stock accidentally went down the drain.

Helpful tip...always, always put a bowl under your colander when straining stock or you have no gravy. You would think that this is a "duh" statement. I am living proof that it is not.

Side note: I was having issues with the lighting and picture quality so trust me when I say that the food tasted better than a few of the pictures gives it credit.

Course 1:
Watermelon and feta salad.
When Amy told me the ingredients for this salad, I was all "whaaaaat"? I am now a believer. It has simple ingredients but the taste that you get is so complex. The Tabasco (I know right?) gives a little kick and balances out the sweetness of the watermelon and the tangyness of the feta out nicely. We both agreed that we could have just kept on eating it ....but we needed to save room for the other yummies.

Course 2:
Fresh Italian Tarts
All my favorite food groups: bread, tomatoes, cheese and basil. Fine, they aren't all actual food groups..but they tasted as good as they sound.

Course 3:
Stuffed Zucchini
Pick smallish zucchinis for this one. You want them firm but not too seedy. Pre bake (to soften) and fill with a mixture of potatoes, cheese, tomatoes, garlic and basil. What's not to like?

Course 4:
Fish Tacos
I love fish tacos. I have wanted to make them for at least a year or so and now seemed as good a time as any. I combined a few recipes for this one and did something I don't usually do....I winged it. *gasp* I know. I know! But it paid off this time. I think the secret to this was the Chipotle Tabasco used for the fish. It added a smokey flavor without being overpowering somehow. All I know is Amy doesn't like very many fish dishes and she ate this one - so something worked! The pictures are kind of tone-on-tone (white plate, white sauce, white cabbage) but you get the point.


Recipes:
Watermelon and Feta Salad
Ingredients:
1 Small watermelon
1 Small sweet onion julienned
Crumbled Feta

Dressing:
Juice of 1 fresh lime
1 tsp Tabasco
Black pepper to taste

Cut up the watermelon and onion. Add feta to desired amount. Mix the dressing and toss together. Dish up, eat, repeat!

Fresh Italian Tarts
Ingredients:
1 Chunk of frozen bread dough
Fresh basil
Fresh tomato
Gorgonzola or Blue cheese (we used Gorgonzola)

Thaw dough. Cut into circles with a biscuit cutter and place on an oiled cookie sheet. Cover dough with cheese, basil and 1 slice of tomato cut in half. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until dough is golden and cheese is melty. When you take them out of the oven, brush the edges of the dough with olive oil and enjoy.

Stuffed Zucchini
Ingredients: (this recipe makes 4 but I cut it down for two)
4 medium zucchini
olive oil
3 medium red potatoes or whatever you have
1 small/medium onion chopped fine
5 garlic cloves minced
3 medium tomatoes
1/3 cup julienned basil leaves
1 1/2 cups shredded Monterrey Jack cheese. I could only find white cheddar/jack so I used that.

Put one oven rack on the upper middle and one low in the oven. Put a baking sheet on each rack and heat oven to 400.
Halve each zucchini lengthwise. Scoop out seeds and most of the flesh so that the walls of the zucchini are about 1/4 inch thick. Season cut sides of zucchini with salt and pepper and brush with oil. Toss potatoes with about 1 tbl oil, salt and pepper in a bowl and spread in a single layer on the baking sheet on the upper rack and roast for about 12 minutes. Roast zucchini until slightly softened and skins are wrinkled, about 10-20 minutes depending on your zucchini. Flip zucchini over and set aside.
Heat 1 tbl oil in skillet and saute onion until soft and beginning to brown. Stir in garlic until fragrant (about 30 seconds). Add tomatoes and cooked potatoes; cook, stirring occasionally until heated through (about 3 minutes). Off heat, stir in basil, 1/2 cup of cheese and salt/pepper to taste.
Divide filling evenly among zucchini halves and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Return to oven (upper rack) and bake about 5 more minutes until cheese is spotty brown.

Fish Tacos
Ingredients:
White flaky fish (I used fresh Tilapia from Costco)
Olive oil for sauteing
Salt and Pepper to taste
Chipotle Tabasco Sauce
1-2 limes
Small tortillas
Cabbage sliced thin

Sauce:
1/2 cup plain yogurt (I used Greek)
1/2 cup mayo
Juice of 1 lime (I just bought a bag of limes from Costco)
1 jalapeno pepper minced
1 tsp capers drained and minced
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp dill weed
1/4 - 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Mix all the sauce ingredients and set aside for the flavors to marry. Heat olive oil in a saute pan and saute fish turning occasionally until done. Sascha, I can't give you exact times on this step....but I think it took my fish about 15 or so minutes. I tend to over cook fish rather than under :) Salt and pepper to taste while cooking and when almost done..squeeze lime juice over fish and shake about 5 or 6 shakes of Chipotle Tabasco (or until it looks Tabascoey enough). Warm tortillas, place fish..white sauce and cabbage on and enjoy.

Mojito (for 1 drink):
1 1/2 Rum
Club soda
12 mint leaves
1/2 lime
2 Tbl simple syrup (1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water. Heat until sugar is dissolved and then cool). Basically, equal parts. I use super fine sugar (left over from my Martha Stewart obsessing days)

Muddle mint in a glass. Add lime juice and the lime if you want. Add 2 tbl simple syrup. Add ice. Add rum and top with club soda. Stir.


A lip smackin good time was had by all......