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Cooking Frenzy

I'm about to launch into a cooking frenzy, a food festival of sorts. Pantasia, my daughter's steel band concert, is this coming Sunday, which means that tomorrow evening is the date of my Pantasia dinner. I host this thing every year, inviting the visiting steel drum clinician, staff from the school music department, which ever daughter is playing in the band, and her friends of choice.

I never like to repeat myself with these dinners, which is ironic as I tend to repeat myself quite often when I speak. So, this year, we'll serve some new things:

Smoked Salmon mousse with crackers
Cheese, Herb, and Sun-dried Tomato Phyllo Rolls
Savory Parmesan Shortbread Rounds (recipe below)
Tomato and Feta Salad

The main course will be Ina Garten's kitchen clam bake with clams, mussels, shrimp, and lobster tails simmered with chorizo sausage and new potatoes.

So you can join in on my food fest, here are two recipes to play with. I won't be serving the wasabi dip at the big dinner, but I used it just for myself to make a wonderful salad with roasted chicken, fingerling potatoes, and shallots. Yum! It's also great for dipping with veggies.

Wasabi-Mayonnaise Dip

1 cup mayonnaise
4 teaspoons soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons wasabi paste

Whisk together mayonnaise, soy sauce, sugar, lemon juice, and wasabi paste until sugar is dissolved.

•••••
Savory Parmesan Shortbread Rounds

These tasty cookies are kind of large for snacking, especially when they are served as part of a buffet with other stuff, so I plan on making them smaller.

Makes 24

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 1/2 ounces)
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/2 small garlic clove, minced
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix flour, 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, salt, garlic, and cayenne pepper in processor. Add butter and, using on/off turns, process until dough begins to come together. Gather dough into ball. Divide dough in half. Roll each half into 12-inch log, and cut each log into 1-inch pieces. Roll each piece into ball. Arrange dough balls on prepared baking sheet, spacing about 1 1/2 inches apart. Press each ball into 2-inch-diameter round. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese over.

Bake shortbread rounds until tops are dry and bottoms are golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer shortbread rounds to rack and cool completely. DO AHEAD: Shortbread rounds can be made 1 week ahead. Store rounds in airtight container at room temperature, or freeze up to 1 month. (from Bon Appétit, December 2007)

And for even more potential cooking obsessiveness, I have joined a recipe exchange sponsored here.

Comments

dive said…
Can I come, please? It sounds delicious!
Though I misread 2 teaspoons of wasabi for 2 tablespoons and made a kind of involuntary "Eek!" sound, much to the amusement of my workmates.
7:45 AM
Mrs. G. said…
I hope the concert is a success. I know the food will be.
12:54 PM
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