Happy hour dinner at home

First of all, bad on us for not blogging.  Its a busy time and that means less cooking, but also taking less time to write about cooking.  We'll call this a two weeks into the new year resolution to improve on that front.  Moving on.

The concept of happy hour at home stems from one of our favorite practices of hitting the good happy deals which generally means something in the neighborhood of half of drinks and half off appetizers.  This generally leads to an inexpensive night of having some drinks and eating a variety of good food.  Taking this concept home just means preparing a number of small side dishes and feasting on them while having a little something to drink as well.

Last night we opted for a few different dishes.  The first being roasted brussel sprouts.  Brussel sprouts have often earned themselves a bad reputation because they actually taste like a vegetable.  Oddly enough, we actually like vegetables, so it is a delicious and nutritious add on to a meal.  In the past we've gone the boring route and just boiled them, it works, but it isn't as delicious as it can be.  I had heard Rocco Dispirito extolling the virtue of roasting the sprouts on Adam Carolla's radio show, se decided to give it a try.  Elizabeth took on this task so I'm not entirely clear on the details, but here's what I remember her doing.  Clean and half the sprouts and place them in a casserole dish that has been layered with olive oil cut side down.  Drissel some more oil and a little balsamic vinegar on top of the sprouts.  Throw in a few whole garlic cloves for a little added flavor.  Turn the oven to 450 degrees and cook for about 20 minutes.  Ideally the sprouts should be cooked well on the outside, a little crispy, and tender on the inside.  The garlic adds a nice flavor but also leads to having some tasty roast garlic as well.

While Elizabeth worked on the sprouts I made some sweet potato fries.  This is a nice little addition to a meal because you can spice it anyway you want to go for a particular flavor.  Garlic, rosemary, and even curry powder can work well with this type of potato, but this time I used a bbq rub that I got from a brilliant spice shop in downtown Littleton.  Before all that though I peeled the spuds, chopped them into fry shaped pieces, which is important because big chunks take way longer to cook.  Rubbed some olive oil on the pieces after placing them on a cookie tray and then did my best at covering each fry with the bbq rub.  These went into the oven just a couple minutes after the sprouts, on the bottom rack of the oven, also at 450.  The end result was a tangy fry that was a little mushy, but in the good, melt in your mouth kind of way.  We also got out a little blue cheese to dip the fries in.  If you are more accustomed to a non mushy fry then you'll either need to deep fry the fries, or bake them for a little less time.  I would recommend not doing this because while the fry is more stable, the flavor doesn't quite explode in your mouth the same way.

While all this was cooking we did some quick and easy appetizers.  A little hummus on some bread takes about 3 seconds to prepare and is a good starter.  We also brought out a classic that our friend David put us onto, which is a twist on cheese and crackers.  Take your favorite cracker, or a variety is nice, spread on to it a soft cheese (brie, camembert, goat cheese, etc.) and spread a little habenero jam.  Primo makes some excellent varieties that Whole Foods carries, but the mix of a little sweet, a little spicy, and cheesy goodness on a cracker bed has addictive properties.  This one is good to have with other food so it is taken in moderation.  In other words don't just pull this out on an empty stomach.

Finally I made some dirty martinis.  Unfortunately this did not blend as well with the habenero jam as I would have liked, but we didn't have any wine, which would have been more appropriate.  Anyway, I've been sucking down this martini recipe a lot lately, because it is so delicious, so I could probably drink it and eat cotton candy at the same time.  If you don't have a martini shaker (we just got one) this is the best way to do it.  Throw a couple of ice cubes in a blender, add 3 oz of vodka (use good vodka please, we've been using grey goose), 1 oz of dry vermouth, and 1/2 oz of olive juice.  Blend this until the ice is broken down into small parts, in fact you may want to break the ice down a little before adding the booze.  Pour into a glass and the end result is nice because the little bits of ice keep the martini ice cold for the entire time your drinking it.  The little twist I add, after stealing it from the Cheesecake Factories "Well Mannered Martini" is to pull out the pimento of the olive and stuff it with blue cheese crumbles.  It doesn't get much better than a martini soaked olive, stuffed with blue cheese.  After finishing your drink you will want to make another equally for the martini and the olives.