Tapas

So I guess I should follow up Joe's Post about our party with my contributions. The food was good, the style of party was great. I agree about how nice it was to be able to taste everything without stuffing up on one food. My family came with 2 dishes, and one cheese. I'll relate here my part, and leave Kelly to discuss her part.

My main appetizer was some tasty chicken quesadillas, with (according to Alton's Rules) a sauce and a dip. The quesadillas were straightforward flour tortillas with cheese and grilled chicken. The chicken was rubbed before cooking so it was well seasoned, but the quesadilla's purpose was to be a tool to try out the dip and sauce.

The 'sauce' was actually just a store bought salsa. I can't find a link for it, but "Meza" brand fire-roasted garlic salsa, which occasionally is available at Costco has quickly become my favorite store-bought salsa. It's not all that hot (although a hit of sauce can help that), but it has this amazing garlic flavor that really makes it stand out on it's own, more than well worth it.

The Dip was the part I made that really stood out (imho). I started my caramelizing an onion with some fresh garlic (out of my garden). After I had gotten almost the color and crust I wanted, I hit it with some sherry cooking wine, and recaramelize some of the nice crusties back. I then mixed this with a basic cream dip base (mayo, sour cream, lemon juice, salt, pepper), and some crusties from cooking the chicken. Tasty.

As for our weird cheese, we actually just picked up a bit of Jarlsburg, because my wife claimed she had never heard of it.

Now Kelly can blog about her customized fresh raspberry/blueberry/strawberry cobbler!
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