In the Kitchen: And on the menu last weekend

As I said in my previous post, I had the wonderful opportunity to host some of my most beloved friends and celebrate my very first friend from Butler's bachelorette extravaganza (seriously, we met the VERY first day we were there our freshman year!). To kick things off I wanted to start the day with a meal. What else?

I wanted to keep things light, simple and celebrate some of the great tastes of Spring. Because I also had so many crafts going at once, and lots of activities planned I wanted to keep the menu as low maintenance and low cost as possible. So, here's the spread:

Spinach Salad with Gorgonzola and Cranberries

A pretty typical yet tasty starter. They day of I threw some spinach and balsamic vinegar together and set it in the fridge to cool. Right before the ladies arrived I threw in some Gorgonzola crumbles and dried cranberries and tossed. Easy as 1,2,3.

Pesto Pasta Salad

 This was really easy and perfectly fine to make a couple of days in advance. Two days before, I boiled some penne and mixed in a jar of gourmet pesto. To keep thing fresh on the day of, I sliced a lemon to lay atop the salad and picked some fresh chive blooms from my herb garden to add a pop of color and a bold taste.

Zucchini pancakes

It was as if the stars aligned for this recipe to happen. My mom and I both grew a hefty amount of zucchini in our gardens last year therefore I had a few bags of pre-shredded zucchini in my freezer that I was hoping to use in some other capacity than zucchini bread. One day I came home from work and saw the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten, make these yummy treats and decided to give them a go. They were surprisingly SO easy. The were the only dish that needed to be cooked right before guests arrived so I was able to give each pancake a little extra TLC which totally paid off. I also decided to pair it with my very own curry-yogurt sauce (one cup Greek yogurt, one tbsp curry powder). The cold sauce with the warm pancakes and the kick of curry totally hit the spot.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 medium zucchini (about 3/4 pound)
• 2 tablespoons grated red onion
• 2 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
• 6 to 8 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Unsalted butter and vegetable oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
Grate the zucchini into a bowl using the large grating side of a box grater. Immediately stir in the onion and eggs. Stir in 6 tablespoons of the flour, the baking powder, salt, and pepper. (If the batter gets too thin from the liquid in the zucchini, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour.)
Heat a large (10 to 12-inch) saute pan over medium heat and melt 1/2 tablespoon butter and 1/2 tablespoon oil together in the pan. When the butter is hot but not smoking, lower the heat to medium-low and drop heaping soup spoons of batter into the pan. Cook the pancakes about 2 minutes on each side, until browned. Place the pancakes on a sheet pan and keep warm in the oven. Wipe out the pan with a dry paper towel, add more butter and oil to the pan, and continue to fry the pancakes until all the batter is used. The pancakes can stay warm in the oven for up to 30 minutes. Serve hot.

Peach Champagne Spritzer

Finally, since champagne is a celebratory libation (and we had much to celebrate!) I wanted to make a cool and refreshing champagne drink. I decided to mix about a cup and a half of triple sec with two bottle of champagne. I also wanted to make sure that the mixer stayed chilled throughout the lunch without getting watered down, so I decided to throw a cup of frozen peaches in. It was fruity, light, and bubbly. A perfect pairing for the bold herbalicious tastes of the food.

All in all, we had a wonderful lunch. Food always tastes better when you are enjoying it with friends.