Dark Tones of Flavors

Yesterday night I thought of pushing my sauce experimentations using some Zinfandel from California. During my last catered dinner, I came in touch with Shiitake mushrooms for the first time and I thought that their decisive taste could compliment well the red wine. So here we go:

Zinfandel-Shiitake cream sauce

Ingredients:
- 1cup Zinfandel wine;
- Few pieces of sliced cooked ham;
- 1 three fingers pinch of sugar;
- 6 dried Shiitake mushrooms;
- Ca 1tbsp heavy cream;
- Few drops of Worcestershire sauce;
- Salt and pepper.

Procedure:
To start with, soak the mushrooms in 1 cup of warm water, cover and let them aside. In the meantime, start reducing the wine with the ham and the sugar. When the wine would have reached 1/3 of a cup in volume, discard the ham from the saucepan, add the cream and let reduce slightly. By now the mushrooms should be ready, chop them in quarters. Add the mushrooms and the sifted soaking water to the saucepan and reduce back to roughly 1/3 cup of liquid; season with the Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper (and a splash of fresh wine).

Fast and furious: Dining for a lazy mood.

Tonight it was one those nights. You know what I mean:
"Honey, what's for dinner?"
"Sweetie, do you the red or the green tin?"
That's it, laziness... I wasn't feeling like staying behind the fires for long so I opted for potato croquets but, since I am not so easy, I wanted to couple them with a dip. There we go again, interrogating my brain... Ok, tuna and parsley with some wine and spiciness. Dip done!
To summarise:  Potato croquets with parsley and tuna dip.

Parsley-Tuna-White wine Dip

It’s ShowTime: Alexander’s birthday dinner.

Last Saturday, the 12th of September, I was asked to prepare the birthday dinner for a friend of mine, Alexander. The location was the same as the last times and only one of the guests was new to me. This time I felt the menu preparation a bit differently, probably for laziness I pushed it almost to the last minute. That did not feel right while cooking at all... Still having doubts about the interplay of the different dishes featured in the dinner can feel like a weight and impede you in the movements. Anyhow, I managed to deliver the dinner and the guests seemed pleased with the food, which is what counts.

As inspiration this time, I opted for going in Asia and be influenced by the Chinese culture. In my usual potpourri, I even added a Mexican and Italian touch to some dishes. Long story short, the menu read like this:
• Spicy pineapple salsa over whole-grain crackers;