Party at My House

I love throwing parties. Sure, they can be a bit of work, but who cares about that once the food is served? Other then under seasoning the potatoes (my fault!) , everything was super delicious. My husband manned the grill with his bro cooking up some delicious Italian sausages. I also got to make beer can chicken -- loved it!


Hot Italian Sausages : We started off with some of these delicious sausages. They were spritzed with lemon and accompanied by grilled panini bread and tzaziki.


Mussels : My mom made these - for the first time ever! They were steamed with wine, garlic, tomatoes and onion. The juice was great for bread dipping too.


Mushrooms: I added onions, bell peppers and red chilies. They were further flavoured with salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.


Salad : Mixed greens, peppers, onions, tomatoes, etc.


Zucchini Fusilli : A simple pasta with zucchinis, and a homemade sauce made of plum tomatoes and spices.


BBQ Potatoes : These poor guys were under seasoned. Woops.


Meat : T-Bone, Prime Rib and Strip loin steaks, and pork chops. Wicked.




Beer Can Chicken : My proud moment that day! It is best right out of the oven, but it was still delicious when company arrived. I used a Montreal chicken rub for the marinade.

Unfortunately, dessert was forgotten, picture wise. I will make up for that the next time around.

Feta Pie with Homemade Filo Dough

My in laws gave us a tonne of feta cheese - A TONNE! So, I decided to make a feta cheese pie using the filo dough I make for my spanakopita. This is the first time I made it, and it turned out really well. Next time however, I will add more cheese, and will cook the pie longer. Once again, I don't have exact measurements to off .. woops.

Dough
1 soup bowl flour
1/2 cup vegetable oil
some salt
1 table spoon vinegar
warm water

Filling
10 eggs
lotsa feta cheese
pepper
parsley

1. For the dough I use my trusty Kitchen Aid mixer, but I have done it by hand as well. Add the flour, salt, vinegar and oil to the mixer and slowly mix with he dough hook attachment. Slowly add the water until a nice soft dough is formed. Set aside.

2. For the filling, whisk all the eggs and then crumble in your glorious feta, and then add the parsley and pepper. Set aside.

3. Now the fun part - rolling the dough! I was using a smaller baking sheet for my pita, so I divided my dough into 4 balls the size of a tennis ball.You will need 2 sheets of dough for the bottom, and 2 for the top.

4. Until this site has video, the description here may be a bit vague. You will need to roll the dough out as thin as you can, rotating the dough, and flouring it in between turns. Lay the first sheet on the bottom of the baking sheet, and drizzle some olive oil over it, and spread it around.

5. Make your 2nd sheet, and place it over the first one.

6. Pour the egg mixture over top.



7. Roll out your 3rd sheet, and place it over top the entire pan. Let the edges over hang. Drizzle with olive oil.

8. Roll out your final sheet and place over top. You can crimp the edges if you like.




9. Place the pie in a 350 degree oven.



See how it is bubbling up? When the egg mixture becomes more solid, you can pre-slice where your pieces are to let the steam escape.



This is before I cut the pieces...



.. and after. Now back to the oven to finish cutting.



Ideally, it should be a lot more brown, but i was worried the filling may be too dry. The entire pita was very moist, tasty and flaky. Definitely a recipe I will do again.