Date Night Recap

First--The Banana Bread Bread Pudding was a hit! Josh said he would definitely eat it again. That's good--there's a ton left.

Now, to go back to the beginning of the meal. On Sunday I made a dip for raw veggies for our Cocktail hour. We watched Rachel Ray make a dip of ricotta, sour cream, garlic and chopped green olives (I've made this before--it's delish!). Josh thought it looked tasty but he doesn't really like olives. So I made it without olives. I used chives and green onions instead (I also added a little cream cheese; it was in my fridge and it wasn't getting any younger). I think it's yummy and on Sunday when Josh was tasting it as I working it out, he liked it too. Last night, however, he told me it only had "one note"--meaning the garlic. That's okay with me...it leaves more for me to eat this week.

We had our usual cocktail--Manhattans. We didn't think that the Manhattan could be improved upon, but as our Rye and Bourbon (we like Maker's Mark) were both coming to the end of the bottles, we mixed the two (this was several months ago). Noone was more surprised than Josh to find that we liked it as well, if not a little better. Somehow it seems a little spicier. So that's what I made last night. (Josh, if you're reading this, I broke one of the glasses while I was washing them. I'm sorry.)

Dinner was a big hit. I'm very proud of myself. I made flank steak. "Big deal," you say. Last week you made a turkey breast; flank steak doesn't seem like a big deal at all. Fine.

Have I mentioned the I am one of America's Test Kitchen recipe testers? Well, I am. Sadly, they very politely asked me not to share the recipes until they show up in print. I'm pretty sure this was the first recipe I tried for them. Since I didn't print it or save the recipe at all, but made it from memory, I feel okay about sharing it with you. I mixed chopped garlic, chopped rosemary, salt, pepper, and olive oil into a paste. (I used my Kitchen Aid mini-prep to do this.) I scored both sides of my flank steak in a large, diamond pattern and then smeared the garlic/rosemary paste all over it. I sealed it in a zip-top bag for 24+ hours. Now this next step is kind of important--whether you grill the steak (I've done that before) or broil it, as I did last night you want to WIPE OFF THE GARLIC/ROSEMARY PASTE! Nobody want's to eat burnt garlic or rosemary. Not "good eats" as Alton Brown would say.

I accompanied my steak with Rachel Ray's Pepin Potatoes. She adapted this from a Jacques Pepin recipe:

Yukon Gold Potatoes: Jacques Pepin Style

Ingredients

• 3 pounds baby Yukon gold potatoes
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 to 3 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley leaves

Directions

Place the potatoes in a deep skillet and add salt and pepper, to taste. Cover potatoes halfway with chicken stock, about 3 cups, add the butter and cover skillet with a lid. Cook the potatoes in the stock until almost tender, about 5 to 8 minutes, depending upon the size of the potatoes. Remove the lid and allow the stock to evaporate, about another 5 minutes. Once the stock has evaporated pop each potato using a ladle or large spoon, creating a small crack in each, but do not smash. Allow the potatoes to brown on each side, another 5 minutes, and re-season with salt and pepper, if necessary or desired. Remove the browned potatoes from the skillet and place onto a serving platter, garnished with the parsley.

I served these with sour cream, bacon, chives, and green onions. Not all on the potatoes, silly...on the table so we could dress them as we pleased. They were good plain, as well.

Additionally, I steamed some broccoli. Josh liked all to the potato toppings on his veggies, too.

Now, to get back to dessert. Mmmmm. I served it with a dollop of whipped cream and Irish (decaf) coffee. Whoever it was who thought to put whiskey in coffee is to be commended. Hat's off to you sir!

Irish coffee led to science fiction. (Makes so much sense, doen't it?) One of Josh's favorite sci-fi authors is a gent named Larry Niven (his other favorite is Jerry Pournelle). Larry Niven has a thing for Irish Coffee. He is often pressed into service at Sci-Fi Conventions to open an Irish Coffee Bar. If you'd like to read a little about his love affair with Irish Coffee and sample a bit of his writing, you can do it here. Keep in mind that Josh read this to me at the table while we ate our bread pudding and drank our coffee. He continued to read to me as the evening progressed. It was very comfy and cozy.

So that's all for last night's date night.

My questions to you are these: What do you think I should try for my next Date Night? What would be your ideal at-home-date-night? (Many people tell me a movie and pizza.)

Okay, Kristen out