FBM Rooftop Potluck #2

You know why people wish they hung out with me?  Because I – okay, fine, my friends and I – have amazing ideas and we execute.  Execution is key. 

So one fine Saturday in August – we lucked out and it wasn’t oppressively humid and hot out, it was actually really nice – we gathered, once again (first time here), on a rooftop terrace for a potluck – this time hosted by my food nemesis, Chris!  And we gorged ourselves to high hell and back. 

I arrived a few minutes too late to take a picture of this in its pristine condition, but this proves that looks aren’t everything; Casey’s banana pudding was amazing.  I never posted about it, but I was obsessed with banana pudding a few months ago, and this kicks everything else out of the water.  She even shared the recipe:

1 1/2 cups water
2/3 cup vanilla pudding mix
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
3 cups cold heavy cream
1 (12 ounce) box vanilla wafers
4 ripe bananas, sliced

Whisk together the water, pudding mix and sweetened condensed milk until will mixed. If not using instant, refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. If using instant, it will be ready to go within 15 min.

When pudding is ready, whip the heavy cream in a chilled bowl until soft peaks form. Fold the pudding mixture into the whipped cream until well incorporated.

In a deep glass bowl (or pie pans or whatever you want to use to layer…but honestly the deeper the bowl the more it will all ‘mish mash’ together), layer the pudding, wafers, bananas and pudding again. Continue until all the mixture is used up, ending with either wafers or pudding. Don’t end with bananas because they will just turn brown and end up looking unappealing. I sprinkled crushed wafers and walnuts on top of mine.

Refrigerate (the longer that you have it in the fridge sitting all together, the better it seems to taste).

She also made mini brownies (aren’t they adorable?!):

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cold large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup walnut or pecan pieces (optional). I’ve also used white chocolate.

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F.

Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium heatproof bowl and set the bowl in a wide skillet of barely simmering water. Stir from time to time until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth and hot enough that you want to remove your finger fairly quickly after dipping it in to test. Remove the bowl from the skillet and set aside briefly until the mixture is only warm, not hot.

Stir in the vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended, add the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer, then beat vigorously for about 40 strokes. Stir in the nuts, if using. Spread evenly in the lined pan or in sprayed mini muffin tins.

Bake until a toothpick plunged into the center emerges slightly moist with batter, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack.

and hummus:

“I don’t measure anything, but I will give you an approximate recipe using ONE can of chickpeas (I used two on Saturday).

1 16 oz can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans
10/15 small green olives (with pimento) with about 2 tablespoons of olive juice (depending on taste)
3-5 tablespoons lemon juice (depending on taste)
1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
1 clove garlic (half of a large or one small)
3 tablespoons olive oil”

Really delicious, the olives gave it a certain tang that was lovely. 

Last but not least, she also made fried onion dip (Casey went all out!):

2 large yellow onions
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup good mayonnaise

Cut the onions in half and then slice them into 1/8-inch thick half-rounds. (You will have about 3 cups of onions.) Heat the butter and oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the onions, cayenne, salt, and pepper and saute for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 more minutes until the onions are browned and caramelized. Allow the onions to tcool.

Place the cream cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until smooth. Add the onions and mix well. Taste for seasonings. Serve at room temperature.

Absolutely delicious – I am going to make this for FeistySis’s next party. 

Cheese stuffed meatballs, courtesy of TT. 

Shrimp Cobb salad, from Hungry.  I stupidly took some and didn’t even notice the shrimp until someone mentioned it later, but I loved the wheel-shaped pasta, the avocado chunks, yum! 

Momofuku pork buns, also by Hungry – another win!

Tandoori chicken by CT!  Very flavorful… I was really sad when AHEM SOMEONE THREW OUT THE REST WITHOUT ASKING IF WE WANTED THE LEFTOVERS >:T

Japchae by Esther of Ambitious Delicious(ness).  Recipe here!  Really good, I have to figure out what kind of vermicelli noodles to get so I can make this 🙂

Chicken marsala by S-E-a-L – another delicious dish. 

Also from Esther – dwegi bulgogi or spicy Korean pork.  I only had a little as I’m spicy-sensitive, but it was quite tasty!  Recipe here.

Megan’s 7 layer dip – I have a feeling 7 layer dip is going to be our phantom guest at every potluck now 😉

My big tray of roasted broccoli in an attempt to be semi-healthy.

Of course, my other offering was magic chicken fingers, so I negated all health benefits of the broccoli… 😉

Magic Chicken Fingers

A couple pounds of chicken breasts, sliced up (I found packages sliced up already at my Chinese supermarket for $2.79/lb, while not-sliced-up was $2.29/lb… cost differential wasn’t enough for me to slice up myself)
Soy sauce
Brown sugar
Couple of cloves of garlic, peeled
Panko crumbs
Flour
Egg wash
Oil for frying

Bring soy sauce, brown sugar (about equal parts) to a simmer on the stovetop with garlic cloves.  Let cool.  Place chicken strips into a big gallon zip bag with cooled marinade, and marinate overnight in the fridge. 

Remove chicken from marinade, reserving the excess marinade.  Add excess marinade to egg wash* (this is the secret step that makes it taste extra yummy). 

Flour/egg wash/panko crumb each piece.  If desired, repeat the egg wash/panko crumb step. 

If you have a deep fryer, deep fry each piece for about 3-5 minutes with the oil at 375.  If not, you can pan fry them in a half inch of oil, turning once, when the chicken starts to look like it’s cooking through on top. 

Drain on a rack or paper towels, sprinkling with a little salt while still hot. 

Serve and enjoy! 

They balanced out my food nemesis’s dish perfectly: sous vide short ribs.

Sous Vide Short Ribs (done two ways)
– Half batch cooked in galbi marinade (soy sauce, garlic, onions, sugar, sesame oil, scallions, sesame seeds)
– Half batch cooked in a marinade of soy sauce, garlic and Chinese 5 spice

Sous vide for 60 hours at 56.5C.  Quick post-sous vide sear at high heat in grapeseed oil.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chris6sigma/4906590904/

Tomatillo Salsa
– 5 ripe tomatillos
– 1/2 of a white onion
– 2 jalapenos, seeded
– 1 lime, juiced
– half a bunch of cilantro

Blend ingredients, simmer for 10-15 mins.  Cool.  Season to taste (I augmented with extra salt and arbol chili powder).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chris6sigma/4848181563/

Ghetto-ized Korean Slaw
– Half a head of napa cabbage, roughly chopped
– 1 1/2 cups of kongnamul (cooked bean sprouts, tossed w/sesame oil, pepper and garlic salt)
– 1 1/2 cups of buchukimchi (kimchi’d garlic sprouts, garlic)
– toasted sesame seeds
– Dressing made from soy sauce, sesame oil and mirin (roughly 1/3 ratio of each liquid), gochugaru (korean red pepper flakes) and garlic powder to taste

All this put together = Korean short rib tacos!  Super fancy and super delicious.  NOM 😀

The BeerBoor’s pork green chili – a little too spicy for me, but tasty (I took home some leftovers and topped with sour cream, raw onion and cilantro… mm mm good)

Goats’ two feet of cheesesteaks (unfortunately he wasn’t able to get the bread he likes for this, so there was a bit of suffering, but the meat and cheese part was seasoned perfectly deliciously, the bread just slightly off in terms of texture)

My first plate, a little bit of everything.  Except what I brought cuz, um, I can make that anytime!  Oh, and for some reason, I didn’t take a picture but there’s also Cheese’s bruschetta on the 9 o clock position on my plate – the fork is jammed under it.  Everything was delicious, not one thing I didn’t like! 

Close up of the Momofuku-style pork buns. 

BlindBaker brought a checkerboard cake. 

I tried to take a picture of the inside, but my camera battery was dying because like a complete ding dong, even though I’d told myself to charge it the night before, I’d forgotten.  Grrr.  This is the only one that came out half decent. 

BlindBaker also brought a buffalo chicken dip, which I failed to get a picture of before my camera died completely.  It tasted really good though as we wound down our day on the roof… everyone sufficiently snookered (from excessive alcohol consumption, ha). 

Buffalo Chicken Dip
4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts, cooked and broken into bite-sized pieces (shred it by hand).
1 cup hot sauce
1 cup blue cheese dressing
1 brick cream cheese (8 oz)
1 8oz package of shredded Taco/Mexican cheese
Fritos Corn Chip scoops (either 1 large or 2 small bags)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large saucepan, melt the cream cheese on a low flame. Mix in the blue cheese dressing.
3. Continue to stir, adding the hot sauce.
4. Add the cooked chicken, and stir until the meat is thoroughly soaked in the dressing.
5. Pour mixture into a 13×9″ baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until hot and bubbly
6. Remove from oven and top with shredded cheese. Serve with Fritos once the cheese has melted.

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And a bonus recipe for the signature cocktail of the day!  (I probably should have made these for people instead of just giving vague instructions, but I was drinking, too, and feeling lazy…)

Honeydew Melon, cut into chunks or if you have a melon baller like I do, balled

I sprinkled the balls of honeydew with elderflower syrup, which can be purchased at Ikea (though it’s not on their website, BlindBaker found it for me at the Ikea located in Hicksville for about $6).  Letting them sit in the syrup infused them with it but also caused the balls to release a lot of liquid as well. 

I skewered these onto picks, popped them into my cup, and poured an ounce (or two, okay?) of Bombay Sapphire over the balls, added some of the honeydew syrup that the honeydew balls had given off, then topped up with seltzer.  Alternatively, you can use Sprite or Sprite Zero if you prefer a sweeter drink, and a twist of lime would have been nice, but I made do with what was available.  And if I do say so myself, my first attempt at creating a cocktail… was a success.  Yum!  Delicious and helped encourage the drinking to continue…

Thanks again to Chris for hosting, and thanks to all the wonderful FBM’ers for sharing their delicious food (and recipes) with me!!!  (Feel free to post your recipes below if I didn’t manage to get them before I wrote this!) 

Love you all… awww 🙂