This is the outstanding dish our friend and neighbor brought to our house last night. The recipe comes from Epicurious, and makes 12 servings. Very refreshing!
I believe she might have changed out some of the herbs. Perhaps she’ll go to the comment box and tell us how she made this recipe her own creation.

3/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 Tsp. salt
3 large galic cloves, chopped
1 red jalapeno or serrano chile, seeded, chopped
3 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp. oriental sesame oil
1 1/2 Tsp. grated lime peel
12 ounces green soba or chuka soba (Japanese-style) noodles
1 large English hothouse cucumber, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced crosswise
1 large ripe mango, peeled, halved, pitted, thinly sliced crosswise
1 cup chopped fresh basil
1 cup chopped fresh mint
1 cup chopped toasted salted peanuts
lime wedges

Warm vinegar, sugar, and salt in small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. Stir in garlic and jalapeno. Cool. Mix in lime juice, sesame oil, and lime peel.
Cook noodles in large pot of boiling water until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain well. Rinse under cold water; drain again. Transfer noodles to dish-towel-lined platter to drain. Transfer noodles to large bowl. Add dressing to coat. (Can be prepared 6 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
Add cucumber, mango, basil, and mint to noodles and toss gently. Arrange salad on platter. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts. Garnish with lime wedges. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.)

Last night there were four of us, here at our house, and not through any specific planning we ate vegan. This recipe is from Women’s Health Magazine and the wonton’s were delicious, but I have three suggestions: don’t cook them for as long as they suggest, make twice the amount of orange ponzi sauce and you might want to cut this recipe in half. I had a lot of stuffing left over, and I filled all fifty of the 4″ square wontons that I used. That being said, it was a fun meal and as soon as I get the recipe of our friends dish, I’ll post it with a photo.
Surprisingly we only went through two Cosmos and one bottle of Robert Foley “The Griffin”!

Gyoza:
2 cups finely chopped cabbage
4 cups finely chopped shitake mushrooms, stems removed
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
3 green onions, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 Tsp. minced fresh ginger
1 Tbsp. roasted sesame seeds
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 Tbsp. roasted sesame oil
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup panko bread crumbs
flour for dusting work surface
1 package gyoza or wonton wrappers (40-50)
1 Tbsp. canola oil, plus more if needed

Orange Ponzu Sauce:
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
3 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 Tsp. fresh orange zest
1 Tsp. sugar (optional)

1. In a mixing bowl, toss cabbage, mushrooms, onions, garlic, ginger, and sesame seeds. Combine soy sauce, roasted sesame oil, and sugar and add all at once. Stir until well combined. Fold in panko.
2. To assemble the gyoza, dust your work surface with flour and have a small bowl of water ready. Set out 10 wrappers on the floured area and place 2 teaspoons of gyoza filling in the center of each.
3. Use your finger to moisten the edge of 1 wrapper with water, then fold it over the filling (as if you were making a turnover) and press the edges together. Pinch the edge with your index finger and thumb as though you were fluting a piecrust. Repeat with remaining wrappers.
4. Warm canola oil in a skillet over medium heat for 1-2 minutes. Working in batches, add gyoza and cover with a lid. Cook for 3-4 minutes on one side, or until golden brown. (I flipped ours after about a minute or a minute and a half) Use a slotted spoon to transfer cooked gyoza to a plate; keep warm. You may want to wipe the pan and add more oil as needed between batches.
5. Whisk together all ingredients for the orange ponzu sauce. (I did this ahead of time and put it in the fridge) Serve with hot gyoza.

This recipe was given to us by Lynn, our good friend and neighbor. Pour yourself a green beer and have a delicious St. Patrick’s Day!

Ingredients

1 pork shoulder butt (firm) It has a thin wrapping, be sure to remove.
1 green cabbage, cut into 8ths
1 Lb. green beans
5 medium russet potatoes
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
water, to cover ingredients

Cover cabbage and beans with water, bring to a boil. Cook until cabbage wilts down a bit. Add pork shoulder, simmer for 1 hour. Add cut potatoes, simmer for 1 more hour.

Last night we had dinner at the home of our good friends Judy and Peter and, it was there that we met their good friends Art and George. What a wonderful evening filled with great stories, movie discussions and a lot of laughing.
And, of course…..Peter was cooking so that meant an outstanding meal was to be enjoyed by all. We made dessert, but before I give you the recipe for an easy, delicious and impressive cake (from Giada de Laurentiis, Everyday Italian cookbook) let me tell you what Peter served.
We started the cocktail portion of the evening with Brie covered in melted honey! I could have eaten that all night. I will be trying that in our home. We drank Prosecco. We then moved into the dining room where the dinner started with homemade porcini gnocchi. Our main meal was pork tenderloin stuffed with cheese and spinach, asparagus drizzled with a thick balsamic and white barley accented with sauteed onions and peppers. We drank Robert Foley, The Griffin.
Peter…..as usual, you put your all into a dinner party and as usual, it was a smashing success!
Then there was our dessert: (what you don’t see in the photo is that right before running out of the house with the cake we decided to surround it with fresh raspberries) What you also don’t see is that Sandy snuck in a couple of small brown paper sacks filled with Irish potatoes from Crossroads Bakery!

Chocolate Amaretti Cake

Butter-flavored nonstick cooking spray
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup (about 2 ounces) baby amaretti cookies (we used the regular size cookies and measured out 2 ounces)
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons grated orange zest (approx. 1 orange) (we left this out)
4 large eggs
About 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, for sifting

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick spray and refrigerate.
In a small bowl, microwave the chocolate chips, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and smooth, about 2 minutes.
In a food processor, combine the almonds and cookies, and pulse until finely ground. Transfer to a bowl. Add the butter, sugar and orange zest to the processor and blend until creamy and smooth. With the machine running, add the eggs one at a time. Add the nut mixture and the melted chocolate. Pulse until blended.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the center puffs and a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes. Transfer to a platter, sift the cocoa powder over, and serve.
(as I said above, we then surrounded it with fresh raspberries)

Yesterday was another sunny day, so what better time to cook all foods outdoors. We got a bag of 50 littleneck clams, put them into a roasting pan with a little water and steamed them on the grill. We found an herbed butter recipe in Bon Appetit, put it on the steamed clams once they opened and served it with fresh, crunchy bread.

Herb Butter

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill
1 Tbsp. chopped scallion
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Mix first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl until well blended. Season herb butter to taste with salt and pepper.
When clams open, dot with herb butter; let stand until butter melts. Serve warm with lemon wedges alongside for squeezing over.

Wine served: Hacienda Dl Plata Reflejo Rose, Mendoza, Argentina