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Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Twice-Fried Green Plantains with Garlic Dipping Sauce - Saveur.com

SERVES 6

You can flatten the tostones between two pieces of plantain skin, but the bottom of a small pan or a flat pot lid will work, too.

FOR THE MOJO:
3–4 cloves garlic, crushed and peeled
Salt
3–6 cilantro sprigs, leaves chopped
2–3 culantro leaves, trimmed and
chopped (optional)
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

FOR THE TOSTONES:
3 green plantains
Vegetable oil
Salt

1. For the mojo: Put garlic and a generous pinch of salt into a mortar. Crush to a rough paste with the pestle, then add cilantro and culantro (if using) and crush until bruised and fragrant. Add oil while grinding in a circular motion. Adjust seasoning. Set aside.

2. For the tostones: To remove tough green skin from plantains, trim off both ends with a sharp knife, then make a few slits through skin the length of each plantain. Push your thumb between skin and flesh; pry skin away from flesh. It will come off in pieces, like bark from a tree. Trim off any woody fiber stuck to plantains. Cut plantains into 1"-thick rounds.

3. Pour oil into a large heavy skillet to a depth of 1", then heat to 325° on a candy thermometer over medium heat. Fry plantains in two batches until lightly golden and hollow-sounding when tapped, about 3 minutes. Transfer plantains with a slotted spatula to paper towels to drain. Working quickly, press warm tostones with the clean bottom of a small pan or a flat pot lid, flattening them to about half their original thickness.

4. Return flattened tostones to oil and fry in batches until crisp around edges and deeply golden, about 2 minutes more. Transfer tostones to paper towels to drain and season to taste with salt while still hot. Serve tostones hot with mojo as a dipping sauce.

Twice-Fried Green Plantains with Garlic Dipping Sauce - Saveur.com

Saturday, February 05, 2011

Date Night Dinner

John is responsible for tonight’s menu

2007 Lambert Bridge Cabernet Franc

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

2010 Smith-Roberts Winter Holiday Party

I'm late getting the post party update out...it definitely took me longer to "recover" from the party this year. Not sure if that was because I had such a good time or if it is age related. Thank you to Becky, Karen, and Dan!! This party is only successful because they make it so we all have everything we need through out the evening! Thank you!!

Here are the numbers! We raised $1296.00 for the Dayton YWCA Women's Shelter. Thank you for your generosity!!! That brings the total raised for 2010 to $3616 and the total raised since 2008 to $8516. It continues to amaze me how much we have been able to raise through our very generous friends. We love that we can all come together and make a difference.

In case you didn't realize because I certainly didn't, 100 people celebrated the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011 with us consuming 8 lbs of beef, 9 lbs of pork, and 8 lbs of shrimp. In addition, we went through 2918.75ml of liquor (seems low to me), 32 bottles of beer (and no they were not on the wall), 16 bottles of red wine, 10 bottles of champagne, 11 bottles of white wine, 23 cans of pop, and 80 bottles of water.

As always, here is the menu and recipes:

Saturday, December 11, 2010

2010 Holiday Party Menu

It's final! Finally!!

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