Last week I hosted a last minute evening of cocktails and
nibbles for some friends in the neighborhood.
My son is away camping which usually allows me with some free time that
I otherwise wouldn’t have. I didn’t
expect everyone to make it since it was very impromptu but ended up with a few
yeses, a few maybes and a final count of four. What I hadn’t
thought of was what to serve, and I didn’t have much time to shop with my work
schedule. Luckily I generally keep a
stocked pantry and freezer for just such occasions. Here’s what I was able to pull together
without going to the store:
- Yellow squash sticks & Pita chips with store bought Hummus
- Mango & Nectarine salsa with Tortilla chips
- Grilled Shrimp marinated with chilies, lemon zest, cilantro & turmeric
- Belgian Endive with a filling of Greek yogurt, radishes & watercress
I even whipped up a very light cocktail with gin, homemade watermelon
juice (I had made some earlier in the week with watermelon, ginger, mint &
lime juice), cucumber soda (I order the RW Knudsen brand which is not sweet)
& lime juice. It was refreshing
without going to our heads since I only used ½ Cup of gin for the pitcher. There is always wine & beer in my house in
case someone didn’t want the cocktail.
How did I manage this?
I always have most of these ingredients on hand. Shrimp can be frozen and thaws out in
minutes which makes for quick last minute scampi with linguine in a pinch. I always have yogurt, limes,
lemons, chilies, cilantro & various kinds of fruit for my daily meals. Watercress, endive & radishes were in my
fridge for my salads that week. I mix up
different salad ingredients each week. It
could have easily been arugula, cucumber & sprouts. Since I eat veggies and hummus for an
afternoon snack, I usually have those on hand too. I only had one ripe mango and one not so ripe
nectarine. Combining the two gave me
enough quantity on the salsa and the mango helped tenderize the hard nectarine by the time I
served it.
So here are a couple of the recipes:
Mango-Nectarine
Salsa
1 ripe mango
cut into small cubes
1 nectarine
cut into small cubes
½ red onion
chopped finely
¼ cup
chopped cilantro
½ jalapeno
chopped finely (remove seeds & veins to reduce heat level)
Sea salt to taste
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir well. Serve at room temperature with tortilla chips.
Grilled
Shrimp
1 lb jumbo
shrimp
½ jalapeno
finely chopped
½ cup
cilantro finely chopped
Zest of one
lemon
Juice of ½ lemon
Sea salt to
taste
Freshly
ground black pepper
½ tsp
turmeric
Peel,
devein, wash & dry shrimp thoroughly.
Combine remaining ingredients and add to the shrimp in a bowl and mix
well. Allow to sit for 20 – 30 minutes
but not longer. Heat the grill (indoor
or outdoor) and cook the shrimp for approximately 1 minute on each side till it
just turns pink. Do not overcook as it
will get tough. Serve immediately.
Gin-Watermelon Cocktail – I don’t have exact proportions for this as I usually taste and add ingredients to taste until it’s what I’m looking to achieve. But here are approximate quantities:
½ cup gin (I
used Tanqueray Rangpur)
2 cans
cucumber soda
2 cups
watermelon juice (Juice has ginger & mint in it)
Juice of 1
lime
2-3 mint
sprigs
Muddle the
mint in a pitcher with a wooden spoon. Add all other ingredients to the pitcher. Add ice just before serving. Stir and serve in martini glasses garnished with
a slice of lime.
So, it's true what they say - when you have lemons, make lemonade. What can you
pull together for an impromptu evening with friends?
