Dinner Parties | Go Meat Yourself

All posts in Dinner Parties

By Jessica | July 21, 2010 | Dinner Parties, Featured, Seasonal, Snackin, Salads and Apps | No comments

And not in a gross, “I’m not eating that” kinda way, but in a “Whoa, this MUST be tomato season” kinda way.

And instead of getting my rocks off about heirloom tomatoes, I thought I would go straight China-import pesticidal, bright reds. Psyche. But really, I did start with some nice looking Sweet Cherry Tomatoes on the vine – you know the kind I’m talking about. They come in a flat plastic container of like 12 or 15. You should do this, it’s a beautiful thing.

Olive Oil Poached Sweet Tomatoes with Garlic
olive oil poached tomatoes

Keeping them on the vine, simply place the tomatoes in a heavy baking dish that fits them all snugly-like. I used an enameled cast iron which worked pretty well, you can also use a glass one which is all kinds of pretty. Shove barely wrapped garlic cloves all up in the cracks and pour in enough olive oil to cover. Using a brush, coat the tomatoes and garlic so its all oiled well, season with salt and pepper. Pop er in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes-ish or until the tomato skin starts to split but before they completely turn to mush. Bake for less if you want them more firm – up to you. Once or twice while cooking, use a brush to re-coat the veg with the oil.

olive oil poached tomatoes

Now dip!

Alts: add fresh herbals like thyme or basil or the sticky icky.

Serve with crusty bread for dipping and for mashing the juicy (and very hot) tomatoes and soft-as-shit garlic into.

Left overs? We are going to turn it into a lo-fi pasta sauce. Stay tuned bizzes…

By Jessica | March 17, 2010 | Dinner Parties, Main Courses, Projects | No comments

Look. I’m sick of all these bloody stereotypes of Irish people getting drunk and eating potatoes, throwing up and pissing green beer and shit. That’s why I’m trying to affirm a different association this St Patrick’s Day. Once that includes cheap, hardy, corned food and Guinness. And Jameson. And car bombs… And limericks. Shut up.

I made a corned beef, which let me let you know, is pickled beef brisket, boiled in water cause guess why. Back in the day, they’d slaughter some cows right?, and preserve what they couldn’t eat in a salty bath, and boil the last of the shit in March (St Patty’s Day), right in time for Lent, when there was no meat anyway. Goddamn, religion is so conveniently explained.

Ok, the other shit Ima put on you is a little local establishment I like to get my rocks off to and that’s Los Paisanos. Cause not that I told any of my guests that night, but Los was brining the beef for days before my paws got ahold of the slab. Let me proceed with the St Patrick’s Day menu…

Menu: Corned Beef, Red Cabbage Slaw, Individual Shepards Pie, Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Baileys Frosting, Car Bombs. Check it:

Corned Beef: A) It turns red all on its own. B) Bought 5 pounds of meat. C) Got like 2 pounds of meat and 2 pounds of fat. Look at them blobs!

Individual Shepard’s Pies: A) I didn’t do anything sexy here, just wanted the ol school shit. B) Except for the middle layer of kale that’s not usually in a Shepard’s or Cottage Pie. C) Shepard’s Pie is with lamb, Cottage Pie is with beef.

Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Bailey’s Frosting: A) I used an Epicurious recipe, go there, but lose the baking soda for a denser, more brownie like thingy. B) Frosting is 8 oz of soft cream cheese, a cup of confectioners sugar and 2 big glugs of Baileys. C) B dropped my phone.

*Craic, pronounced “crack,” means “fun” or “good times” or you can say something like, “what’s the craic?” for “what’s happening?” or “whats going on?” THANKS B for your hot Brit Butt!