In a previous post, I mentioned a “cooking weekend” which I hosted at our lake house with my friends Nancy and Jenni, and I posted the recipe for the delectable Thai Summer Stew which we made for a dinner.
This time, I would like to post the accoutrements of that meal.
First, from Eating Well magazine, a recipe for Strawberry-Coconut Daiquiris. Usually when you see a coconut daiquiri recipe it included the very high fat cream of coconut, but this one used coconut rum. I subbed unflavored rum and coconut liquer, and it turned out to be a repeater. What more can I say—strawberries, coconut, and rum! As for an accompanying photo… I didn’t really think of taking one!
Strawberry-Coconut Daiquiri
Recipe from Eating Well
Makes 6 servings, about 3/4 cup each
Ingredients
2 ½ cups chopped fresh or frozen (not thawed) strawberries (about 12 ounces)
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons lime juice
3 cups ice cubes
¾ cup coconut-flavored rum, such as Malibu
Instructions
Combine strawberries, sugar and lime juice together in a blender. Blend until smooth. Add ice cubes and rum and blend until frothy. Transfer mixture to a pitcher and serve.
Nutrition Information
Per serving: 112 calories; 0 g fat (0 g sat, 0 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 12 g carbohydrate; 0 g protein; 1 g fiber; 3 mg sodium; 113 mg potassium.
Nutrition bonus: Vitamin C (70% daily value).
1 Carbohydrate Serving
Exchanges: 1/2 fruit, 1/2 carbohydrate (other)
As an appetizer, I prepared Thai Chicken Skewers from Cuisine at Home .
Chicken breast is marinated, then threaded on skewers, broiled (I grilled), and served in bibb lettuce leaves with cucumber and red bell pepper, drizzled with a heavenly sauce of brown sugar, lime juice, red curry paste, peanut butter, shallots, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic. Delicious!!! We commented that we could be very satisfied having only these for dinner, but then that wonderful stew changed our minds… Anyway, no photo for this one, either. I should have, but we were just too busy eating.
Thai Chicken Skewer Wraps
Makes 16 skewers, about 2 cups sauce
1 cup fresh cilantro leaves, packed
6 T. brown sugar, divided
6 T. fresh lime juice, divided
2 T. Thai red curry paste, divided
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
Salt to taste
2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast, sliced into 1/4” thick strips
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup shallots, chopped
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 T. fresh ginger, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
16 Boston or bibb lettuce leaves
16 strips each red bell pepper and cucumber
Lime wedges
Blend cilantro, 4 T. brown sugar, 2 T. lime juice, 1 T. curry paste, pepper flakes, and salt in a food processor till smooth.
Pour over chicken, toss to coat, and marinate 10 min. Preheat broiler to high with rack 6” from element; coat a broiler pan with nonstick spray.
Process 2 T. brown sugar, 4 T. lime juice and 1 T. curry paste with peanut butter, water, shallots, soy sauce, ginger and garlic in the processor (no need to wash the bowl) until smooth. Transfer to a serving dish.
Thread chicken onto 32 skewers. Arrange 8 skewers on prepared pan; cover ends of skewers with foil to prevent burning. Broil chicken in batches till browned and cooked though, 6 min.
To serve wrap a lettuce leaf around 2 strips of chicken, remove skewers, then add bell pepper and cucumber. Drizzle with sauce and lime juice.
And, finally, dessert.
The previous weekend, for a larger weekend-long party, I had prepared two strawberry ice cream pies which I had planned to serve with a strawberry-black pepper sauce. However, a friend added a couple of extra courses and by the time dinner ended, everyone could barely see, much less eat dessert. Which, actually, was a good thing since I had royally screwed up the sauce earlier that evening (I need to work on my caramel-making skills).
The pie itself was a simple recipe—softened strawberry ice cream mixed with a dash of cinnamon and some chopped fresh strawberries, spooned into a graham cracker crust and refrozen.
I hoped that my friends would not mind being “re-desserted”.
This time, I went with a tropical-style sauce for the strawberry pie. It was simple as well. I reduced a can of guava nectar by almost half, added about a half teaspoon cornstarch (mixed with a teaspoon of water) to thicken it a bit further, stirred in a squeeze of lime juice and some finely chopped fresh pineapple. This was cooled to room temperature then served over each slice of ice cream pie, and sprinkled with toasted coconut. It was a hit, with both my friends and with Jack, who had a piece a couple of days later.
Note, take the pie out of the freezer for 5 minutes prior to serving.
And, in a complete turnaround from the above two menu items, no recipe, but I do have a photo! :)
