Everybody needs a friend like Jenny V. (of Peach Honey fame). Everybody needs a friend who takes the bull by the horns (or the fish by its fins?) and organizes things like a seafood party that you can just show up for and cook. When I say organize, I mean she chose the recipes, thoroughly thought out every detail of multiplying recipes, and meticulously created a shopping list that any foodie can admire: it was broken down into supermarket aisle categories and listed exactly how much of each item we needed.We spent a week talking about the menu, a week waiting to see who would/could attend the soriee, and a 15 hour day to shop (visited five different stores that day) and cook a portion of the meal plus five hours before the party to cook the rest of the meal. It was intense but as always, so satisfying and fun. Everyone also needs a friend like Jay who has a gorgeous (and large) house and who also is great at grilling and steaming fish.
The menu consisted of:
Crab Dip
Shrimp "pizza" dip
Bacon-wrapped scallops
Spicy shrimp
Mini crab cakes
Grilled Swordfish
Steamed Flounder
Tomato, Basil, Garlic pasta salad
Vegetable Pasta salad
Heirloom tomato salad
Grilled corn on the cob
Cheddar biscuits
Confession: We didn't really cook everything. We ended up getting frozen bacon wrapped scallops from Costco. I know, I know. It broke my heart to do that but in the end, it was the right choice since our party had turned into a party of 25 and our cooking adventure was becoming daunting. I agreed to get the frozen bacon wrapped scallops but in my heart, I promised myself that I would make a fresh scallop dish for myself soon.
Confession #2: I spent so much time enjoying myself that I didn't get as many pictures of the food as I could have. Thank you to Amy Jean for providing some of the pictures of the food.
Here is the recipe we used for the Spicy Shrimp. It is very easy to make, turned out very tasty, and was a crowd pleaser. We also got two loaves of French Baguettes so that people could dip it into the sauce that formed from the shrimp juices and butter.
Ingredients purchased at Costco and Harris Teeter:
Shrimp - $8.50 per pound
Butter - $1.62 per pound
Olive Oil - $9.99 for 51 oz bottle
Tabasco - $1.99 for 8 oz bottle
Worchestshire Sauce - Free from previous purchase
Lemons - $0.60 each
Salt - Free from previous purchase
Pepper - Free from previous purchase
Shrimp - $8.50 per pound
Butter - $1.62 per pound
Olive Oil - $9.99 for 51 oz bottle
Tabasco - $1.99 for 8 oz bottle
Worchestshire Sauce - Free from previous purchase
Lemons - $0.60 each
Salt - Free from previous purchase
Pepper - Free from previous purchase
You give me way, way too much credit--this was completely a collaborative team effort, and an awesome one at that! It was so much fun and I, at least, learned so many valuable things for the next time we tackle one of these things (lesson #1: when grocery shopping, bring someone who will force you to face reality and not let you buy enough food to feed a small army!) Thank you for making my OCD list organizing sound like a positive thing! And I'd say everyone needs a friend like Sylvie, who gets just as excited as I do about entertaining people, will jump in and do whatever needs doing at any given moment, has fantastic ideas, and then gives other people the credit for them!
ReplyDeleteIt was def. fun. After re-reading this post, I realize that I forgot an important element. Our goal was to make a great seafood dinner for about $10 a head and asked that our friends for a contribution. We provided the food and alcohol and they provided some cash. In the end, I think we spent about $12 per head which is still a great deal compared what it would have cost for us to all go out to eat.
ReplyDeleteThe food was amazing and the company even better. You ladies (&jay) throw a killer party!!!
ReplyDelete