A Birthday Lunch Party
Finally, I got another chance of having a "bigger crowd" to taste the dishes that I had been working on to perfect all these time. Well, there's no other opportune occasion than on my birthday party! Playing safe still, because the event was intimate, made up of my closest friends, no one would dare to comment negatively LOL!
The lunch treat was sort of a haphazard decision taken at a very short notice. But I made it up to myself by devising a good preparation plan, which resulted for it to be less stressful and fun. I juggled work and the party-related matters, within a 72 hours timetable. The most overwhelming task ahead of me was house cleaning. I overcame it by doing it in a staggered manner. Did the dusting on the first day, vacuumed and mopped the floors on the second. On the third, I interchanged food prepping with some chores. My hoarding of serving dishes and related buffet utensils were all taken out of storage and washed. The living room was re-laid out and tables were designated for various functions.
Grocery shopping was done 2 days before, with the freshest ingredients bought at the very day of the gathering. Savory meals and desserts that could be done ahead of time were freezed. Vegetables for the salad were chopped, sliced, spun to dry and stored in ziplock bags. Meats were marinated and tenderized on the eve. On the day of the event, the kitchen was already up and running with a roasting aroma wafting through the air as early as 6 am, as the first of the five batches of chicken were grilling and the rice cooking.
Ran for last minute errands and returned home with a team, composed of dear friends, to help me out on all the "2 hours before guest arrived" details. With extra helping hands, things became a lot faster and enjoyable as well. We joked about being chefs and restauranteurs. We were like in a scene of a cooking competition, running around, sweating and under pressure.
We made it on time, the main table were laden with the hours de'overe, and entrees. Another feature of the affair was the shabu-shabu corner, fully done and set upped by a pal. On such a hot weather, ice cold mint lemon juice is the perfect quencher alongside my homemade ice cream for dessert.
Well, here's a glimpse of the Asian / European cuisines served on my special day...
GREEN SALAD WITH GRILLED CHICKEN
Iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, grilled chicken fillet with Italian dressing.
SIOMAI (dumpling)
Minced chicken, finely chopped yellow onions and carrots, are what each delicate dumpling are made of. Kept moist with dashes of sesame and olive oils, seasoned with salt and pepper and bonded by eggs. Samosa wrappers cut into squares substituted wonton. Froze the dumplings days before and into the steamer on the party day. Condiments are toasted garlic with the oil where it's cooked, soy sauce with chopped red chili and lemon halves on the side.
BUTTERED PRAWNS
Unpeeled prawns were sauteed with garlic and onion on butter, seasoned with salt and pepper and drizzled with soda. To avoid overcooking and for a tender result, the liquid was reduced, to speed up the evaporation.
OVEN GRILLED WHOLE CHICKEN LEGS
My secret "weapon" for this grilled comestible was the marinade. It cannot get any simpler because it is the bottled Italian dressing which I discovered to be so good in one of my kitchen "experiments". All the while, I thought I was the inventor of this till I searched online =(
BEEF MECHADO (braised beef)
My best buddy dubbed this as my signature dish. Well, my Mom has another reason to be proud of me =). This is her recipe that I had been trying for years to replicate. Being a braised dish, it is an easy one to make but requires a lot of patience to tenderize the meat.
This traditional viand uses a Spanish culinary practice of threading strips of pork back-fat through thick pieces of lean beef to render them more tender and less dry. Hence the name mechado from the Spanish mecha meaning wick. The larded pieces of beef are then marinated in vinegar, soy sauce, calamansi or lemon juice, crushed garlic, black pepper and bay leaf, browned quickly on all sides in hot oil or lard, and then slowly braised in its marinade with the addition of soup stock, onion slices, and fresh tomatoes until tender and the liquid is reduced to a thick flavorful gravy.
I alternated the pork fat with that of beef but skipped the wicking process and instead had the fat amongst the braised meat. Fried carrots and potatoes are the garnishings.
SHABU-SHABU
My colleague who made this at my bash, might not be Japanese by nationality, but can sure pass as one because of his passion and knowledge in Japanese cuisine and not to mention his expertise in martial arts. His presentation was so appetizing, that it had created additional excitement and sure did earned praises. Instead of having soup as a starter, the shabu-shabu bar opened at the end of the main course. Original shabu-shabu uses thinly sliced beef as its meat but why we have prawns instead is another story. Medley of veggies such as bokchoi, bell peppers, zucchini, iceberg lettuce (replacing napa cabbage), scallions along with mongo sprouts and tofu surrounds the boiling broth. Bean thread noodle was the substitute for the "of all the time to be out of stock" udon.
As a finale, I served my homemade cookies n' cream and strawberry flavored ice cream.
