Invite your friends over for appetizers that are really dinner! Instead of 2 larger dishes, we’ve got 4 small dishes with all the intense flavors you love, plus an easy dessert to just pop in your mouth. We're breaking all the rules today with this easy sit down meal.
Gameplan
2 Days Before Party
Scoop out individual balls of ice cream for Creamy Orange Bon Bons.
Melt chocolate to coat Creamy Orange Bon Bons.
Chop vegetables, combine with tomatoes and lemon juice for Gazpacho.
Coat re-frozen ice cream scoops in powdered orange, coat in melted chocolate, and re-freeze for Creamy Orange Bon-Bons.
1 Day Before Party
Coat and braise artichokes and place in oven for Roasted Artichoke Pesto on Crostini.
Saute shrimp, halibut and clams on the stovetop to combine in the Gazpacho.
Leave mixture on oven on stovetop to reduced.
Coat and refrigerate goat cheese rounds to top tomatoes for Grilled Goat cheese on Tomato Rounds.
Puree and refrigerate Roasted Artichoke Pesto.
1 Hour Before Party
Combine blue cheese and cream with other ingredients, and begin to reduce for Blue Cheese Fondue.
Skewer and marinate skirt steak for Pesto Marinated Skirt Steak Skewers with Blue Cheese Fondue.
Remove Fondue from heat. Reheat right before guests arrive.
Grill Pesto Marinated Skirt Steak Skewers.
Saute Goat Cheese Rounds for Tomato Steak, place on tomato slice, top with herb salad.
Mix seafood and popcorn with gazpacho and serve.
Eat and Enjoy!
Christmas is a state of mind but it's a difficult state to achieve if you finish work on Christmas Eve and are expected to be as mellow as a tipsy Santa the next day, Ice Queen more like! Nigella's answer is to start early by filling her shelves with home made seasonal Beetroot and Ginger Chutney, bright red Chilli jelly (fabulous with cold ham and spiced beef), Spiced Fruits steeped in Ximinez Sherry (poured over Cornish Ice cream) and Winter Spiced Vodka. This episode is not just about condiments, Nigella will be making her Christmas Puddini truffles destined for the store cupboard but unlikely to last there for long. Nigella's Christmas cookies are welcome gifts but the most comforting aspect of all this work is the sense that Christmas doesn't have to come "off the shelf". This Stocking Filler will create a sense of homely Christmas industry but it isn't all solitary work. Nigella opens her doors to a few friends for a pre-Christmas Brunch. Featuring an Espresso martini, Triple Cheese and Onion Strata, a Glazed and toasted Vanilla Cake 'Brioche' and an Anti-oxidant Fruit salad, which could come in handy for the weeks ahead!
It's a Halloween tradition in Michael's neighborhood - every home serves a special treat so the parents can socialize while the kids tank up on sugar. Michael's got peanut butter cups, s' mores, vampire blood punch with eyeballs, and Garlic Soup to Go.
Gameplan
2 Days Before Party:
Coat muffin cups with chocolate for Peanut Butter cups and refrigerate.
Boil vegetables in salted water for Poached Garlic Soup until soft
Puree for smoothness, cover and refrigerate
Freeze hand and face ice cubes for Vampire Punch
1 Day Before Party:
Prepare peanut butter mixture for hardened cups
Add banana chip on each cup, refrigerate for hardening
Cut graham crackers into Halloween shapes for S’mores
Morning of Party:
Blend sweets for the Slimedoo Fondue until melted
Mix in green food coloring, place in fondue pot for serving
Re-heat soup, mix in cream, and serve in warm bowls
15 minutes Before Party:
Mix juices for Vampire Blood Punch, put in body ice cubes and serve
Got too many tomatoes? We've got just as many ways to fix them. Its use 'em or lose 'em time as Michael hosts this fun cook along party. Guests bring their extra crops and cook up enough for everyone to stock their freezers. At the end of the day - the annual tomato fight!
Gameplan
Morning of Party:
Blanche, peel, strain seeds and excess juices from tomatoes, puree and refrigerate setting aside the strained juice.
2 Hour Before Party:
Prepare tiella, and put in oven to bake
Assemble basil ice cream, replace in freezer until ready to serve.
1 Hour Before Party:
Used strained tomato water to assemble and serve Mozzarella Martini with Fresh Tomato consommé.
Season steak
Grill and mix together the Salsa Cruda
Grill steak and bread.
Assemble steak on top of bread and top with Salsa Cruda before serving.
Wine Recommendation
Garguilo Vineyard Pinot Grigio; Stonefly Vineyards Cabernet Franc
Everyone has their weak moments. Chef George Stella reveals low carb secrets to satisfy the most urgent of cravings. His low carb vegetable and "mega-meat" pizzas made with a soy flour crust, "mock" fettuccini primavera using spaghetti squash, fresh fruit margaritas with blueberries, cantaloupe and strawberries, and the biggest one of all, cannoli parfaits with chocolate chip covered ricotta and whipped cream will get you through those tough times.
Top 5 Tips
1. Pre-made spaghetti and pizza sauces are discouraged due to their high sugar content, but tomato paste or sauce in a can without added sugar is allowed. Just remember to always read the labels!
2. Once the spaghetti squash starts to resemble strings, it is ready. Take out immediately and put in an ice water bath to stop the cooking process. If not, you'll end up with squash squash, not spaghetti squash.
3. The spaghetti primavera has 8 net carbs per serving, but don't worry about the carbs. Spaghetti squash is full of fiber and everyone needs that!
4. Each cannoli serving is 7 net carbs, but you can always trim your carb count by dividing into six servings and then you'll have 5 net carbs per serving.
5. Fresh fruit is allowed on a low carb diet as long as you pick the right fruit. Honeydw, cantaloupe, strawberries, and blueberries are all great choices.
Michael shows you the Chiarello version of the classic Lobster bake including recipes for Grilled Potato & Green
Onion Salad; Grilled Baguettes w/Old Bay Butter plus Cake Doughnut Bread Pudding
Gameplan
Day Before Party:
Zest lemons for Old Bay Butter
Simmer Old Bay Seasoning and Extra Virgin Olive Oil, cool in an ice water bath, and blend in food processor with sweet butter, lemon zest, gray salt, and black pepper. Cover and refrigerate.
Slice and boil potatoes for Potato and Scallion salad. Toss boiled potatoes with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Slowly cook bacon for Potato and Scallion salad.
Whisk leftover bacon fat and olive oil, mustard, champagne vinegar, shallots, Italian Parsley, salt and pepper for potato salad vinaigrette.
Season Scallions with salt, pepper, and bacon fat mixture for potato and scallion salad.
Grill scallions and potatoes. Slice ingredients for potato scallion salad and separate onto a plate. Cover and refrigerate.
1 Hour Before Party:
Start charcoal for lobster bake.
Fill galvanized tub with seaweed, lobsters, corn, partially boiled potatoes, clams, and chardonnay. Cover with damp burlap and set tub on charcoal to bake for 45 minutes.
Break up donuts and raisins in the bottom of a pan for bread pudding.
Cream sugar and sweet butter in a food processor for custard. Mix in eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, and cream. Pour custard over donuts. Cover with foil and bake.
At the Party:
Pour out the tub of lobster onto a newspaper covered table. Serve with lemon, Old Bay seasoning, and salt.
Lightly grill linguisa on the grill.
Toast baguettes on the grill and smother with Old Bay butter.
Combine ingredients for potato and scallion salad. Cover with vinaigrette and season with gray salt.
Remove foil from bread pudding and crisp in the oven for 10 minutes.
Melt butter for Rum sauce. Stir in powdered sugar and thin sauce with dark rum. Pour sauce over bread pudding and serve.
Eat and Enjoy!