Stick A Fork In It - Stromboli (of sorts)

This was so easy and somewhat unexpected!

My friend came over for dinner at the last moment--we had plans to meet elsewhere but the weather was decidedly inclement and I did not want to venture outside. But what to serve? A tube of Pillsbury crescent rolls coiled inside the refrigerator beckoned; I had some sliced pepperoni and fresh mushrooms in there too. I whipped up an easy Alfredo sauce as I already had butter, heavy cream (sometimes for coffee, eeek), garlic and Parmesan cheese on hand.

After concocting the sauce, I let it simmer on low heat. Meanwhile, I sauteed the mushrooms in butter and put the crescent dough in the oven flat-out on a baking sheet for half the suggested cooking time (a mere five minutes) before taking it out, slathering the sauce evenly upon it and topping the whole thing with the mushrooms and pepperoni. It went back into the oven for another five minutes or so until nicely golden brown. When cool enough to handle, I rolled everything into a log, like an ersatz Stromboli and finished it with steamed spinach.

Et voila! Dinner! A stiff red wine is good for this, and perhaps some green beans almondine. A simple salad lightly dressed with balsamic vinegar and a little olive oil is also a nice accompaniment. Why not serve a gelato of some kind such as pistachio or stracciatella for dessert? Do enjoy!

FreshDirect House Party

Alright, I'll admit it. I'm fairly obsessed with FreshDirect. I've spoken of my love previously here on Evenings With Peter so I won't belabor the point. Suffice to say, I won a House Party promotion from them and threw the event. Besides a $100 e-gift certificate to use for the food I ordered, I received a Party Pack that included reusable shopping bags, special offer brochures, notepads, aprons and a host of recipes that all our guests took home. We also giddily raffled off a FreshDirect oven mitt!

FreshDirect asked us to choose a theme, so Baby and I went retro with Pot Luck and things that people used to bring to actual house parties ever so long ago.

Tonight's Menu
Pigs in a Blanket
Mac n' Cheese
Green Bean Casserole
Meatloaf
Vanilla Ice Cream

Although the basic set up for our menu was simple enough, everything we made was slightly different and there were no chafing dishes involved.

Produce played its part on the table and I put herbs such as rosemary, dill, and parsley in a pitcher instead of flowers.

Hebrew National franks filled Pillsbury crescent crusts and our Mac outfitted with Campbell's cheese soup was scooped out in individual spoons.

The green bean casserole however did not involve Campbell's mushroom soup; it was a riff, made instead with creamy bechamel sauce and we sauteed our own wild bunch of mushrooms in butter and olive oil. Refined haricot verts subbed for everyday green beans and I frizzled fresh shallots instead of using Durkee's onions from the can. The bechamel in preparation...

 The finished dish!

The meatloaf was pulled from an old Martha Stewart recipe that I love, with homemade tomato jam for slathering. Cut to the chase and use a judicious amount (a scant tablespoon) of Chinese Five-Spice Powder instead of dealing with the cinnamon sticks, ginger, cloves and star anise. I used homemade bread crumbs I already had on hand, mixed with panko breadcrumbs as well. Also, I subbed celery salt for celery and didn't use additional salt at all, as the recipe suggests. Here's the meatloaf, about to go in the oven.

Of course, I had to light something on fire. Ben & Jerry's gorgeous vanilla ice cream came out with ripe blackberries and burnt walnuts in a flaming buerre noisette sauce with brandy. It was so much fun.

Baby looked rather sporting in his apron.

A hundred dollars fed ten people (actually it was $99.66, like on The Price Is Right--the items I ordered didn't go over). And it was fabulous. Fresh Direct. Get to it.

Fresh Soundtrack: Herb Alpert, Whipped Cream and Other Delights; Mongo Santamaria, Watermelon Man; Lettuce, Rage; Parliament, Greatest Hits; Prince, Lovesexy.