Happy Hour!!
Episode 4: I took notes so you didn’t have to….We talked about the following in this episode….
Making Sushi at Home: don’t be intimidated by this…it’s a lot of fun and a great way to use up those little pieces of veg left in your fridge from the week!
Let’s start with the sushi rice… This is a great recipe from Gimme Some Oven.
Here’s a few essentials I mentioned in the episode that you will need:
Bamboo Mat for sushi rolling
Rice Wine Vinegar (you can find this at your grocery store as well verse buying 3 bottles here. Unless you love rice wine vinegar, if that’s the case then go for it and buy three bottles!)
Let’s get rolling! Here’s another great video to get you started from Gimme Some Oven!
How to spice up your happy hour at home:
The blind taste test! It’s a lot of fun! Just remember when you do it think of the theme and try to get as many of the same things as possible in that one theme. For example if you pick popcorn, pick a flavor or plain and buy as many as possible…taste away! It’s so much fun! Or if that doesn’t do it for you do a fun zoom with friends or make your partner play a card game with you like Skipbo, Phase10 or Farkle. We actually always bring one of these with us to a brewery or on vacation. They take up next to no space and are super fun to play with just two people.
Appetizer Ideas:
This vegan dip is AMAZING! Here’s the chili garlic sauce I mentioned. I use this in a lot of my stir fry sauces I make and it saves me from chopping up additional garlic in the sauce because I think it’s garlicky enough! Serve it with some pita chips or cut up veggies. It’s really filling and packed with flavor.
Oh these cauliflower wings are incredible! Pro Tip with the wings… when I made these the coating did get a little too “wet” from the egg mixture. I added a little flour into the coating once it did get a little too wet and it seemed to help. Going slow and doing just a couple at a time and making sure shake the extra egg mixture off the cauliflower pieces before you dip is key. I turned these into tacos for a week night dinner and also made a simple avocado lime crema, added a little shredded cabbage and put them in a small flour tortilla.
Avocado Lime Crema:
1 avocado
1/4 cup of sour cream
1/2 of a juicy lime
1 TBSP of freshly washed cilantro
Season with sea salt and pepper
Put everything in the food processor and blend well
Here’s the cooling rack I use to turn my oven into an air fryer on the convection setting!
Bruschetta Bar Ideas:
Try to visualize two or three finished bruschetta ideas. Like for example a classic tomato with basil, a port wine mushroom with taleggio, roasted cherry tomato and whipped ricotta with aged balsamic drizzle or roasted butternut squash, creamy goat cheese and fried sage leaves. Once you pick a couple grab those ingredients and put everything out buffet style so your guests can mix and match themselves and go on their own little mini food adventure!
For the oven roasted cherry tomatoes:
1 or 2 containers of cherry tomatoes still on the vine if possible
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
Set the oven to 350 degrees, place the wash and dried cherry tomatoes on a sheet pan with a good drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. Give them about 10 - 15 minutes in the oven until they just start to split. Pull them out and set them aside. If you can leave them on the vine that’s great for presentation!
For the mushrooms:
1 - 1/2 lbs of mixed sliced mushrooms (cremini, white button, shiitake and whatever else you can get your hands on)
1/2 of a small shallot finely diced
Sprig of fresh thyme
1 teaspoon of port wine or marsala wine
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
Sea salt and pepper to taste at the end
Over medium heat in a sauté pan add in about tablespoon of olive to start. Once this is warmed put shallot in the pan. After shallot is softened and translucent, about three minutes, add in the additional tablespoon of olive oil, sliced mushrooms and sprig of thyme. If the olive oil is soaked up immediately by the mushrooms you can always add a little more. Make sure the mushrooms are coated well in the oil and then just leave them alone. Let them caramelize and brown up a little in the pan for about five mins and then give them a stir. Leave them for another five minutes to caramelize a little more. Once they are looking beautiful, cooked and caramelized add in the teaspoon of port wine. Stir everything together and let the alcohol cook off, it should only take a minute or two. Pull off the heat and season with a little sea salt and pepper.
Crunchy Maldon Salt which comes in both a classic and smoked. The salt is gently smoked over oak. This is a finishing salt and really elevates your dishes!
Nicky, aka Poodle and Chad’s Ranch Dip:
16 oz container of sour cream
16 oz container of chive cottage cheese
1 packet of hidden valley ranch powder dip/dressing mix
Mix everything together in a bowl and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours. Serve this with your favorite seasonal cut up veggies, pita chips, pretzel chips…well pretty much everything goes well with this!
A few extra apps we love in our home:
Grilled, broiled, air fried shishito peppers, Here’s a great recipe from Skinnytaste.
These chicken parm rolls are really yummy too from Skinnytaste and worth the little extra work.
If you love ChexMix as much as we do then you will love this recipe from Smitten Kitchen.
If you have leftover pulled pork from last night’s dinner, make these from SpoonForkBacon!
And of course our amazing chat with Sarah! We talked all things wine and I learned so much! Here’s a link to the NY Times article, we both encourage you to read this and help amplify their voices. If you get into “blind” tasting, which turns out doesn’t mean with a blind fold, here’s a link to the deductive tasting sheet.
If you are interested in doing more of a deep dive watching the Somm series, here’s a link to the second movie.
Remember “shelf talker” cards = bad… “staff pick” card = good and always ask the wine shop owner or buyer for the shop for help and advice. Try to support your local smaller retailers if possible too.
A few great local shops around here in the New England area that Sarah loves and may sell some great organic wines (if you are interested in trying them) are the Wine Bottega in the North End of Boston on Hanover St. (I personally love this spot and remember when it first opened as I lived next door!). Social Wines on West Broadway in Boston is also great. Don’t forget Maine and Loire on Washington St in Portland and if you are in Portsmouth, NH go to Raleigh Wine Bar which is currently closed but will reopen in March.
If you want to keep learning more about wine, please head over to the Wine Folly site. She has an amazing amount of information and great passion for what she does.
And of course if you want to connect with Sarah directly to speak with her more about wine, hire her to stock your personal wine collection, hold a virtual wine tasting with your friends or handle the wine for all of your events you should! She’s amazing and we love her. Her personal email is sarahmackinley181@gmail.com or her instagram is @sarahmackinley .
Beth Fuller is a Boston based Food, Product and Lifestyle Photographer. One of the best ways to support the podcast and Beth is to write a review wherever you listen, like the podcast on your favorite platform and please keep Beth in mind for any photography projects as a gal has got to pay her bills!
If you have a question and want it to be featured on the podcast please email either the question or a voice memo to letsgoonafoodadventure@gmail.com. Are you on instagram? Tag me in your food adventures, @letsgoonafoodadventure. Do you want to work together with food and product photography, drop me a line here!
xoxo
Beth
