Monday, October 15, 2007

Food, friends and fun

We finally have internet at home. Woo to the hoo. Serdic will understand when I tell him I kissed the Rogers guy after he hooked the modem up, right?

We hosted our first joint dinner party in our new home Saturday night. A good time was had by all, I think. The Greek and You Look Like A Nail and their lovely wives were our guests (thanks for coming out, you guys!) and they were gracious enough to ignore the still unpacked boxes stacked in the dining room and elsewhere, and we all enjoyed the evening. Serdic and I were especially relieved to discover that we can share a kitchen and work together to have all the dishes ready and on the table at the same time, without killing each other. So that was a good sign. I made a glazed ham, which is apparently quickly becoming my specialty, and also made some tzatziki as an appetizer. Serdic contributed scalloped potatoes, asparagus, carrots, and a caramel flan with fresh berries for dessert.

I have been asked to post the recipes, so here they are (you'll have to wait for Serdic to post the recipe for the potatoes):

Tzatziki

2 1/2 - 3 cups plain yogurt
1 firm cucumber
salt
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1-2 tbsp olive oil

Place a coffee filter in a sieve. Spoon in the yogurt, and set it in the sink to drain.

Peel the cucumber, grate it coarsely, and put it in a bowl. Mix in 1 tsp salt and let it stand for 10 minutes to draw out some of the liquid. Transfer the cucumber to a colander and with a spoon press out as much liquid as possible. Mix it with the drained yogurt in a bowl.

Peel the garlic, push it through a garlic press, and add it to the other ingredients in the bowl. Stir in the vinegar and oil, and add more salt to taste. Optional: add chopped mint leaves to taste.

Baked Ham with Marmalade Mustard Glaze

8 lb semi-boneless ham
1 cup Madeira, port wine or white wine
2 cups orange juice

1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup orange marmalade
2 tbsp dijon or grainy mustard
1 tsp low-sodium soy sauce

Remove skin and fat from ham and place fat side up in roasting pan. In saucepan bring wine and orange juice to a simmer; pour over ham. Bake in 325 degree oven, basting occasionally, for 1 hour and 45 minutes for fully cooked ham, or 2 hours and 15 minutes for cook-before-eating ham.

In small bowl combine sugar, marmalade, mustard and soy sauce. Brush one-third of the glaze over the ham. Cook for 45 minutes longer, brushing with remaining thirds of glaze every 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes before slicing.

4 comments:

Kiy said...

I am totally amazed that you could do this, with just having moved. The only people I have allowed in my house (let's all remember, we moved in in EARLY July) are my folks and I was still stressing over all the boxes still lined up along the walls. They are still there, funny enough.

The umph to unpack just isn't there right now. Go figure. :)

Dinner sounds wonderful and lovely. Gosh, you two can put on a spread!

Cheers!

Travelling Greek said...

I think serdic would understand if you had SEX with the Rogers guy. I mean, there's women and there's internet. Just don't ever ask us to choose. ;)

The food was out-f'in-standing! MMmmmMM!!

Thanks for having us.

Serdic said...

She had carte blanche for the Rogers guy. Hell, I would have had sex with him.

And yeah, the boxes... oh, the boxes. They're still there. Just hidden. We'll make a final push this week, since the official housewarming is coming up.

Lythrum said...

Cooking together is a true test of a relationship, kind of like hanging wallpaper. I'm glad that you two are getting settled in your new place, and have good food to share. :)