dinner for mom and dad

Hi,

My mom and dad come to visit only once a year and I make them dinner in my little studio apartment. The kitchen is sorely lacking in cupboard space.

I am on a Mexican kick and have three of Rick Bayless' cookbooks. Sadly, mom and pops are not into H.O.T.
I know salad is on the menu and I'm thinking of roasting some green beans in olive oil w/salt and pepper........Can anyone recommend a fairly simple ( I have to work that day) main course that will knock their socks off? I am thinking something using scallops or fish.....sorry this is so vague. I've been browsing online and feel lost.

Hi Funghi,

if you want to stick with Mexican food, how about a first course of ceviche and then make a stew of puerco en salsa verde, leaving out the green chiles? In other words, cook the pork with tomatillos and lots of cilantro (and onion and garlic), and have some hot sauce handy that you can add on the side to your taste, for your own dish.

I've made this chile-less version for my mother, who also avoids picante food.

good luck,
Amata

p.s. I think Erik M posted a link to a chile verde recipe on LTH, if there isn't one in Bayless that you want to adapt.

This is my favorite very easy salmon recipe, modified from one of my favorite cookbooks -- Betty Fussell’s I Hear America Cooking (from the section on the Pacific Northwest):

Puree together in processor or blender:

1 cup orange juice
½ c. olive oil
2 pressed cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon each black pepper and dry mustard.

Add a pinch of crushed red pepper after pureeing.

Use half this sauce to marinate 2 pounds salmon fillets overnight. Remove fish from fridge ½ hour before grilling or broiling fillets. To make a yummy sauce to accompany fish (though it’s delicious on its own and I often skip this part – so I’d only make ½ the sauce above):

Combine in blender:
Remaining sauce
Rind of 1 orange, grated
3 green onions, chopped
4 anchovy fillets

Blend till smooth. Melt one stick butter, then pour slowly into blender while it’s running.

This obviously isn’t Mexican but will go nicely with the other dishes you plan to serve. The only thing you'll have to do when you get home from work, obviously, is cook the fish (with your sides) and make the sauce if you like. I’ve made it for my in-laws who don’t eat anything spicy and they’ve liked it very much, as have other guests with more demanding palates.

Funghi,

With seafood, specifically scallops, there is this dish which might go nicely this time of year, with fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden or farmers' market:
Spaghetti with scallops
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=3723#3723
I make this dish a little spicy if it's up to me but there is no problem leaving out the red pepper and applying some crushed flakes to your own dish at table.

*

Another seafood and pasta dish, this time more Catalan in style, I wrote up here:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=67862#67862
Again, the red chile can be left out without problem. If you don't have a paella, that's not a problem either: I used my stainless steel Belgique Dutch oven for these sorts of dishes for many years before getting the paella and still do so if the quantity I'm making exceeds my paella's capacity.


Either of these dishes could function as a main sort of a dish or as a primo. In the first instance, I would make a bunch of complementary antipasti and conclude with a salad and cheese. In the second case, I would probably be inclined to stick to fish for the second course, but then something maximally different -- baked or poached, no tomato, maybe with a strong herbal aspect... etc. ...

I hope that's of some use and good luck.

Antonius


Links to other recipes and cooking notes by this writer: http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=55649#55649

Thanks everyone....I appreciate your help!

ToniG wrote:This is my favorite very easy salmon recipe, modified from one of my favorite cookbooks -- Betty Fussell’s I Hear America Cooking (from the section on the Pacific Northwest)

ronnie_suburban wrote:
ToniG's Marinated Salmon by Octarine

Ronnie_suburban's great photos from the LTHForum 1,000-Recipe Potluck, June 22, 2008, appear here, including this shot of the easy marinated salmon, as prepared by Octarine. (The label in the photo refers to a different salmon recipe because Octarine changed his mind about what he was making late in the process.)