Finger food contest AKA pick the right glass!

After a few days in which my italianhousewifeness gave its best, I restored the cosmic balance of poshness with a finger food night, that was a very enjoyable rehearsal for a very special event yet to come ^__^

5 judges tasted 6 different dishes, all arranged into small cups. Cups are horrible, I know, but the german el-al security is the one to blame for this as they spotted a possible threaten for Israel in my pink Vivienne Westwood shoes and shipped them separately, delaying all my afternoon schedule. (BTW, the only threaten that those shoes might have is that Israeli girls will understand that in Israel they don't know how to make shoes and book a flight to Heathrow)

Back on track: the judges were extremely helpful with their suggestions, but hey, I hope the people attending the event will be a wee bit easier to please or I will have to take a month off only to study the presentation! :D :D :D

DE-STRUCTURED CAPRESE

Tomato cream at the bottom is made by blending a few red tomatoes with salt, oil EVO and fish gelatine. The white layer is mozzarella and the quenelle on top is made with basil and courgettes pesto (basil, parmigiano, oil EVO, pine nuts and pan-fired courgettes). Sort-of-borrowed from www.giallozafferano.it.

ROASTED CAULIFLOWER IN TEHINA DIPPING

This is very similar to what I made here (but with no crunchy quinoa and no chicken)

BARLEY AND ROASTED PEPPER FLOWERS

I boiled the barley until tender and seasoned it with thyme leaves and oil EVO. I roasted the peppers in the over for 45 minutes and then peeled them, seasoned with salt and cut them in stripes to make the shape of the flower.

AUBERGINES WITH FETA AND TEHINA

Aubergines are grilled in the oven for 45 minutes, then peeled and seasoned with chilli, basil, mint, salt and oil EVO. Feta is cut in small cubes and seasoned with chilli too.

PEA BALLS WITH SESAME SEEDS AND TZATIKI

I cooked the peas in a pan with a spoon of oil EVO. When ready, I blended them with one egg, parmigiano and cubes of bread from the day before. I made small balls and covered them with sesame seeds. The tzatziki is explained here.

BRIE, PEAR AND HONEY

Superfast but super tasty…. this is nothing more than pear and brie cubes with honey on top

RTD or UTD?

Ohhhhhh, cooking. That sweet relaxing and satisfying thing you can do when you have gas and you cannot do when, instead, the gas tank is empty and the gas guy keeps standing you up like the worst of the boyfriends :D

I came back on scene with a great show at my friend O's place. The menu was discussed on Saturday morning at around 5:30 AM in front of a succulent burger with chips that made its job in giving me the strength and the lucidity to get back home, plus to put together a respectful menu. These dinners always give me the opportunity to make some masterpieces of italian cousin without feeling the moral need to decrease the amount of saturated fat and increase the lavishness of the dish name. One example is the notorious RTD aka Ridicolously Tasty dish aka Parmigiana di melanzane (layers of fried aubergines, tomato, mozzarella and parmigiano) that by now I give for granted in every italian dinner. But something else made its way into the olympus of italian dishes that cannot be missing in such events: the UTD, aka unbelievably tasty dish:

UNBELIEVABLY TASTY DISH

Boil some milk and add rice, stirring from time to time and adding more milk if needed as if it was a risotto. When it is ready, add nutmeg and parmigiano. Cook spinach leaves for some minutes in boiling water and dry very well the leaves. Oil a baking tray and add breadcrumbs; then place layers of rice, layers of spinach and layers of smoked salmon. Cook in the oven @ 180 for ~30 minutes.

        

The breadsticks in the first picture are another big classic of my italian dinners, aka puff pastry with one egg on top, parmigiano and poppy seeds.

For this, as usual all the credits go to S1 that is becoming amazingly in both taste and aspect of her cupcakes ^__^