Ladies Night Supper Club

Last Thursday night, my book club got together for a supper club. This was hosted by Chef Jen Palmer, of Anna's Kitchen. We started at 6:00 pm and had the following on our menu:

• Tapas - Bacon wrapped dates and steamed clams with Chorizo
• Chicken breasts stuffed with Prosciutto, Pesto and Mozzarella
• Spinach and Mushroom Ravioli
• Italian Antipasto Salad
• Chocolate-Hazelnut Gelato

The class was hands on and since there were nine of us, we had to take turns jumping in and getting our hands dirty. The first thing we made was the gelato so it would have time to freeze. Easy enough - but a good lesson in making a custard and tempering the mixture in order not to scramble the egg!

Next we made the tapas. Chef Jen was smart - since we all had brought bottles of wine, she knew we needed food to soak up the wine! The bacon wrapped dates were so easy and amazing - they were wrapped with a smoked almond in the middle - yum....and the clams were great too. I only wish we would have had some bread to sop up the yummy sauce and chorizo! We moved onto the chicken breasts - these were sliced and pounded and then spread with pesto and stuffed with the mozarella wrapped in proscuitto. These were put in the oven to bake.

Then came the part I was excited about. As a young child, my Italian Grandmother babysat me quite a bit and some of my fondest memories were helping her make home made gnocchi and ravioli. I hadn't made ravioli in about 25 years so I wanted to try again. This was so much fun! Chef Jen had premade the dough - but we all took turns running it through the pasta machine. Each piece had to go through the machine 6 times and it was so cool feeling the difference in the dough each time. We then laid each piece out and ran them all through. Then we sliced a completed one into strips, brushed them with an egg/water mixture, added the spinach/mushroom filling, and sealed them up. These were dropped into a pot of boiling water. Chef Jen also made a mushroom tomato sauce for the topping.

Once these were done, the chicken was done too. Time to eat! The ravioli and the chicken were good, but the mushroom/tomato sauce made them great! I loved this sauce. It used finely chopped mushrooms which almost gave it the texture of a meat sauce - but no meat. Loved it.

While were eating Chef Jen made the Antipasto Salad which had Butter, Romaine, and Iceberg lettuce, with Salami and provolone, italian beans, and a red wine vinaigrette. Very good dressing - I enjoyed the salad - though I didn't eat much because I was saving room for dessert!

Now dessert....ah....it was the Elise's, the host for the evening, birthday and I got Chef Jen to make a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. We served this with the chocolate hazlenut gelato. Let me tell you this gelato was TO DIE FOR!!!! I loved it. The cake was perfect with it! I have gotten cakes from Chef Jen before - they are all gorgeous and reasonably priced. She is my go to girl for all birthdays now.

Chef Jen also has a catering business and we have used her for my 40th birthday party, an engagement party we hosted, and for a number of birthdays. She is amazing! Her food is great and she works with you and within your budget. I can't say enough good things! Her website is: http://www.akcaters.com/index.htm check out her cake photos!

I am attaching the recipe for the Chocolate Hazelnut Gelato - If you make it let me know what you think! I will post pictures later this week from the class and more recipes!

Chocolate-Hazelnut Gelato

2 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup sugar

6 egg yolks

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup Nutella

1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted and crushed for garnish

In a saucepan combine milk, heavy cream and sugar over medium heat. Cook until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl whip the egg yolks with the remaining sugar using an electric mixer until the eggs are light yellow and thick, about 4 minutes.

Carefully and slowly pour half the warm milk mixture into the egg mixture. Add the mixture back to the pan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 7-10 minutes.

Place a strainer over a medium bowl and pour the warm custard through. Stir in the vanilla and Nutella until it dissolves.

Chill completely. Process custard in an ice cream machine according to manufactur's directions.

To serve, scoop gelato into serving bowls or in a cone and top crushed hazlenuts.

Enjoy!

Vietnamese and Steak in Texas

I was in Dallas Sun-Tuesday this week for work and had two great meals while I was there. I got in late Sunday night and settled for a couple of glasses of wine and french fries at the bar at Hotel Zaza. The people watching there was food enough! Then on Monday a co-worker recommended a Vietnamese restaurant called - Vietnam. A group of 10 of us went there and had a wonderful Vietnamese meal. I had the vermicelli with grilled chicken. I love Vietnamerse food because of how fresh it is. This did not disappoint me. It was served with cilantro, lettuce, basil, and with some Siracha sause on it was a steal for $8! I will definitely go back next time I am in Dallas.

Monday night we went to Nick and Anthony's for dinner. We were with a co-worker who is a big meat eater, so we decided to go for steak. We chose Nick and Anthony's after I found it on this website: http://www.wherethelocalseat.com/ a great resource for when you are traveling. The restaurant was dark and played Sinatra - a quintessential steakhouse. I loved it! I ordered the cold seafood special which was raw oysters, clams, crab meat, and two giant shrimp. It was served steaming cold on a bed of ice with 4 (yes, 4) sauces to accompany them. Very tasty and fresh. I opted out of a salad, and orderd the ribeye and grilled asparagus. Both were done to perfection. The steak was cooked to medium rare and seasoned perfectly. I had two glasses of wine with dinner. The server brought out caviar pre-dinner for the group and a glass of port post dinner on the house for us. Very nice touch. My dinner came to about $110 including tip. Very excellent meal.

Dining on the James

Went to dinner on Friday night with my husband and grandmother. My 86 year old Norweigan grandmother was visiting from Minnesota and she being a Norweigan loves water, so I decided to take her to the only place in Richmond that you can dine on the water, The Boathouse at Rocket's Landing. They don't take reservations, but they do allow you to call ahead. I called as we left our house (in the Short Pump area) and the table was ready when we got there.

The restaurant is beautiful and if you are lucky enough to be by a window, we weren't, the view is spectacular. We ordered drinks and were promptly served. The menu is mostly seafood, and the specials of the day were John Dory and another fish. My Grandma ordered sea scallops ($20) I ordered rockfish ($24), and my husband ordered the John Dory ($19). We got the boathouse salad for an extra $4. The salad was good, a lettuce wedge with bacon, blue cheese, and ranch dressing. The food was delivered very quickly. All of the dishes were served with rice. My rockfish was served with crab on top and a lemon butter sauce. It was good - but very rich. The rice cut it a bit. My husband had a sauce on his as well. The scallops were huge and they had 5 on the plate. I took a taste and they were really good. All of us thought some green veggies served with it would have made it more appealing.

All in all, the food was good, not great, but good. The atmosphere was great, loud though. Very trendy and crowded - but it was a beautiful Friday evening. We did see Chef Jimmy Snead walk through the restaurant - so I am wondering if he is now involved with it. While we were there, on the bank of the river next to the restaurant there was a wedding reception going on. It looked like they were having a great time.

I would definitely go back for drinks and appetizers in the outdoor bar area. Has anyone else been there?

Stress Release

For those of you like me who have an aging body that needs a little TLC once in awhile - have I got a tip for you!

I have been going to see Claire Berresford, from Core Elements, for massages for the past 3 years. She rocks. I have been a big fan of massages for the past 10-15 years and no one has been able to identify and ease my aches and pains the way she does. I regularly go to see her about twice a month. I wish I was like Bob Hope and George Burns who are rumored to have gotten a massage every day - perhaps that is why they both lived so long!

Claire's office is conveniently located off of Hungary Springs and Broad in the West End. She is offering a first time 60 Minute Massage for $50 if you mention you saw this on the Urban Suburban Mom blog. Rates after that are negotiable for ongoing appointments. Her number is 804-283-5221 to schedule an appointment.

If you get a massage from Claire - I welcome your feedback to see if you enjoy it as much as I do.

Happy De-Stressing!

Best Caesar Salad Recipe EVER!

I love this recipe for Caesar salad and get raves from people everytime I make it. It is from the Signature Salads cookbook by Debi Shawcross which has the best salad recipes.

Enjoy!



Caesar Salad with Parmesan Croutons

Dressing;
3/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese grated
1 2 oz package anchovies, drained (or 2 tsp's anchovy paste)
3 medium garlic cloves minced
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 tsp salt

Combine first 6 ingredients in bowl of food processor. Blend until smooth. With processor running, slowly add olive oil. Mix until just blended. Refrigerate until ready to use. (may be made 4 days in advance.

Croutons:
1 baguette sliced into 1/2 inch peices
1 1/2 cups salted butter
1 clove garlic
1 1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp dried sage leaves
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/3 cup parmigiano-reggiano cheese finely grated

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place butter in a large microwave safe bowl and microwave for about 1 minute or until melted. Add garlic, dry seasonings and cheese to bowl. Add baguette and toss well. Spread croutons onto a large baking sheet and bake 15 minutes or until well browned. Allow croutons to cool. (may be made one day ahead and stored in an air tight container).

Salad:
8 cups thinly sliced hearts of romaine lettuce
3/4 cup parmigianno-reggiano cheese finely grated

Place romaine and croutons in a large bowl. Add dressing a little at a time and toss well to combine until salad is well coated. (you will use about 1/2 of the dressing and crouptons in one recipe). Arrange salad on plates and garnish with a sprinking of cheese and freshly ground pepper.

Melting Pot Redeaux, Bouchon, and Capriccio's Pizza

Well in the past week I have managed to eat my weigh (ha ha get it - so much for the spring diet!) through three restaurants that are blog worthy. The first one was actually Capriccio's Pizza in the TJ Maxx shopping center off of Broad. We went there last Thursday night for my book club (book was Shanghai Girls by Lisa See -a worthy read). There were 11 of us and the place was slammed when we got there - but they did have our table ready for us - it helped to call ahead. The service was a bit slow - it took awhile for our wine and beer to arrive, but water was there right away and it had my favorite type of ice - crushed. We ordered salads, the greek and the Italian antipasta. Both were good - though the antipasta was more of an appetizer plate than a salad - nary a piece of lettuce on the plate. The cheese was all good quality though on both plates. We ordered three types of pizza - pepperoni, the white pizza, and a special one with artichoke hearts, prosciutto, green olives, and mushrooms. I liked in the same order. The pepperoni was perfectly sauced, cheesed, and meated. I loved it. The white pizza was good - but would have been better with the addition of spinach or artichoke hearts. The last one was pretty good - but a bit soggy for my taste. I will be back.....Check it out if you are a pizza lover!

Next up was Bouchon, my mom is in town so we had a free babysitter and went out on Saturday night with another couple. First off, I love the update to the restaurant from when it was Pomegrante (this is on Broad Street in the Slip - next to Tobacco Company). It is a very modern, cool looking place. We ordered a bottle of red wine (a bordeaux - I suck at remembering the french wines! I need to write them down!) and we all ordered salads. I had the arugula salad with a goat cheese crostini. Very good. My husband was thrilled because they had a beet salad - his fave. The bread that was provided was very very good. Crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy in the middle - anyone know who supplies it?
For dinner I had the trout with a brown butter. The chef was nice and exchanged the haricort verts for spinach for me, I had green beans three times already that week (costco bag) and I was over them. The trout was very good and the sauce a perfect match. Anne had the monkfish special, and the guys had flounder stuffed with crab. For dessert, my husband and I tried the creme brulee, well prepared and yummy, and Anne and husband had the crepes, which they liked. All in all, the meal and company made for a great night out.

Finally, Monday night I took my Mom and 6 year old back to the Melting Pot to use my free Dinner for Two that I received from my 4 hour marathon dining experience back in February. I am pleased to say that we had a very good experience. The food was all great, this place really knows how to do their salads, every one I have ever had there is fantastic. The best part is that we were in and out of there under two hours! Yeah! My mom loved it - first time and Parker (my 5 year old) is becoming quite the expert at cooking fondue (she cooks far more than she actually eats! - oh well). The key is not to go with more than 4 people at your table to have a reasonable dining time. The service was very good I am pleased to report.

Anyone else have any similar experiences with these restaurants? Would love to hear your take.

This weekend we are off to the circus - first time for me in years - this should be interesting.

Wilco and Mekong

My husband and I went out on a school night this week to check out a band that we both really like, Wilco. And taking advantage of having a babysitter, we decided to go out to dinner. Neither of us were really into bar like food, so we decided to go to one of our old favorites, Mekong. We haven't frequented it as much since we moved to the burbs and Da Lat is closer and very good. The husband got the beef Pho, and I got the shrimp and beef mixed grill. We both could have eaten that! The food was fresh and light. We split a 22 oz IPA that was quite hoppy and good. Best thing is that the whole dinner came to $32!

We then headed down to the National to see Wilco. It was a great show! They played for about 2 1/2 hours and we really enjoyed it. It was definitley worth being tired the next day!