The Joy of Cooking for friends

I get the greatest satisfaction and have some of the most fun when I cook especially for my friends. I like to pick a large menu of their favorite dishes and cook them slowly, deliberately from my recipes, always checking to see if I can improve something. Interestingly enough, to me at least,  is that I have been cooking more since Jamie died and I closed the restaurant than I have in years.  I have to admit that when I had the restaurant, they would prep, though not cook, everything for me and it was good but not the same as going to the green market for your veggies, your favorite fishmonger for your fish, or to Fairway for the rest.

Photo Michael Sofronski ,  www.michaelsofronski.com

I’m always happy that the recipe for my fish hash tastes and turns out exactly as I remembered it taking in consideration that I used tilapia instead of red snapper. Tilapia is much cheaper than red snapper and can be found all over the country,Sure, its not exciting and has less flavor than red snapper but, in his recipe that.s okay because the preparation is so full of flavors hitting your mouth at different times until they bloom when you swallow.

Chorizo with Potatoes -photo Alex Uballez

Besides the fish hash , I served queso fundido with homemade chorizo (cheese fondue with homemade sausage) which, believe it or not, is a snap to make. The trick is to get the right chiles or powdered chile. More trouble but more satisfying were the flour tortillas,  Believe me, while you can get decent (not great) corn tortillas the flour tortillas available commercially here are plain awful. But if you let the dough rest properly after you knead it and, then again after you make the little balls, it’s very easy to roll it out. I made over 30 tiny tortillas in less than 15 minutes.  The heat on the griddle was perfect and they puffed up beautifully into luscious layers.

When I put a little hash on the first one I cooked and took the first bite, it transported me right back to the ranch.

Even more popular than the red snapper hash, were the chilaquiles, the dish that best exemplifies my style of cooking–layers of flavors. Here it is achieved by treating each ingredient separately –cook the chicken with herbs, shred it, saute with onion and garlic;which makes it a very time-consuming affair. I explain that to readers who want the recipe but they are determined and well-intentioned. Invariably one or two will write back to complain that it did not turn out like the one in the restaurant and “after all that work”

I decided to do the recipe step-by-step as instructed and it was perfect. The only change I made was to triple or quadruple the amount of cilantro to the sauce but this is to taste. I cooked and shredded the chicken a day or two before and covered it with chicken stock to keep it from drying out and for added flavor. I sauteed it after draining well; fried the tortilla chips, shredded the cheese, mixed the cream with cilantro and onion and made the sauce. Only then the process of assembling could start and it was worth it.

Conclusions:
The recipe does work
You have to have a real antojo or hankering for the dish or be madly in love with the person who does to take on the project. That could be you!

But that was not all.  Here is the complete menu with links to already published recipes.
I had taken photos of the table, potato cakes and the flourless cake but my media card got damaged and will have to wait until I retrieve it or make them again. Sorry. I just found some on my iphone!

The menu was big and designed to encompass all sorts of flavors and textures:

APPETIZERS included red snapper hash, queso fundido with homemade chorizo, and potato patties with red chile sauce.

DINNER: Chiles en nogada, chilaquiles casserole, sopa seca de fideo (pilaf-style fidelini) and a special corn dish

DESSERT Manu’s flourless chocolate cake and another chocolate cake that Ratso loves and has lots of whipped cream which is something I don’t like.