Happy Birthday Uncle Dean!

Today is Dean's birthday. To celebrate, we had people over last night for what was supposed to be a 'play cards and eat cake' night. Ended up just being a 'eat snacks and chatting fest' but I think everyone had a good time.

Birthday boy!

Not wanting to be overwhelmed with serving an actual dinner, I kept it to finger foods and guests could help themselves.

We had veggies (zucchini, cauliflower and celery), spinach dip, olive-cream cheese tea sandwiches with pumpernickel bread and herbed goat cheese bruschetta.

Our kind neighbors brought over a cheese and salami tray which was great because it fit in beautifully with the spread.

Dean thought there should be a picture of me so here it is.

For dessert we had German Chocolate Cake. We made it for Dean last year and he requested it again this year. We had a few issues last year (over beating the egg whites and the frosting never set up) but practice makes perfect and it turned out great! Next thing I need to work on is how to decorate.

The recipe called for 3 9" round pans. We only had 2 and used a square pan for the third.

This year I cooked the frosting for 30 minutes instead of the 12 minutes which was the suggested time on the recipe. It set up beautifully and I was so happy not to have to frost the cake with a slotted spoon again!

It was moist and the frosting held up well on the cake.

I placed the square layer on the bottom so even with a round cake, if someone wanted a corner piece, they could have one! :-) A Carrie original.

Happy Birthday Uncle Dean!!

Cioppino

Dean requested Cioppino for his birthday meal. I've heard of the dish but never had it myself so I was up for the challenge of making it. I went online and found this recipe by Giada De Laurentiis for Cioppino. It was fairly easy to make and very tasty!

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced (it was labeled sweet anise at the store)
  
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 large shallots, chopped
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 3/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes, plus more to taste
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes in juice
• 1 1/2 cups dry white wine
• 5 cups fish or chicken stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 pound mussels, scrubbed, debearded
• 1 pound uncooked large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 pound scallops
  
• 1 1/2 pounds assorted firm-fleshed fish fillets such as halibut or salmon, cut into 2-inch chunks

Heat the oil in a very large pot over medium heat. Add the fennel, onion, shallots, and salt and saute until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes.


Add the garlic and 3/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, and saute 2 minutes.

Stir in the tomato paste. Add tomatoes with their juices, wine, fish or chicken stock and bay leaf.

Cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until the flavors blend, about 30 minutes.

Add the mussels to the cooking liquid. Cover and cook until the mussels begin to open, about 5 minutes

Add the scallops, shrimp and fish. Simmer gently until the fish and shrimp are just cooked through, and the clams are completely open, stirring gently, about 5 minutes longer (discard any clams and mussels that do not open).

While at the grocery store, the check out lady asked what I was going to do with the fennel. She said she never cared for the flavor of black licorice but tried fennel once and became a fan. I too had never tried fennel because I am not a fan of black licorice but was excited none-the-less to try it out in this recipe. She wished me luck with the meal and added that Cioppino is not complete without a nice crunchy bread to soak up the juice. Luckily we had bread left over from Dean's party from the night before.

Greg and I bought the seafood at Costco the day we made the recipe. Next time we need seafood, we'll go to Ranch 99 for our seafood needs. Half the mussels didn't open or they were already cracked when I went to wash them off. Very disappointing to say the least.

Overall it turned out great. I will definitely try this meal again and change up the seafood ingredients to add a different taste to the dish.