Home Edition: big dinner

one of the inner circle was about to embark on a big journey, so we decided to fest him the night before the big day. a. and i decided to do seafood since that's one of his faves. we went a little nuts, but what else is new?

we started with some tasty olive bread, rice crackers, brie, and semi-dry iberico cheese. nothing crazy...but always tasty.

our simple salad was a mixture of arugula, romaine hearts, baby tomatoes, red onion, and cucumber. i dressed it with a clean lemon, olive oil, anchovy, and salt/pepper dressing. bright and sharp!

the pièce de résistance was the seafood medley. a. and i picked up fresh alaskan spot prawns, mussels, manila clams, and king crab. one of my favorite shellfish preparations is also one of the simplest: 1. clean shellfish, debeard mussels; 2. sautee red onion, garlic, and chili flakes in olive oil; 3. when translucent, add all shellfish, one can of stewed tomatoes, fresh halved baby tomatoes, salt/pepper/oregano, and a heavy pour of white wine; 4. cover for 2-3 minutes or until shells open; 5. uncover, sprinkle fresh flatleaf parsley, and mix; 6. serve.

we sure enjoyed ourselves! hope you try out this recipe as well while the weather is still nice.