Sunday, April 20, 2008

My Birthday Dinner!

Our grilled Yellow Tail Snapper with our version of Latholemono

Last year for my birthday we rented a Hummer Limo and took a bunch of my friends to dinner. This year I opted for something much quieter and more intimate. Even after having numerous friends volunteer to take the girls for me so that T. and I could go out I still wanted a nice quiet meal at home. I also couldn't see any reason to deprive the girls of a night they were soooooooo excited about.

Very fresh Yellow Tail Snapper

For dinner I told T. that I wanted some Snapper. We are fortunate living here that we have an abundance of seafood at all times. Snapper is one of my faves. Locally we are able to get Yellow Tail and Mangrove Snapper. When T. went to the fish market the Yellow Tail was the freshest. The 2 fish that he brought home had just been munching on shrimp last night!!! The inspiration for this meal was my friends Peter's blog, Kalofagas - Greek Food & Beyond. Last week he posted a grilled Red Snapper with Latholemono. His pictures made the fish look incredible and it was all I could think about for days (yeah...how sad is my life that that is what over takes my thoughts at times??? Some people get songs...I get recipes!)

Anyway we had the Yellow Tail Snapper as well as a large salad with feta and home made dressing. To me this was a perfect meal. We ate outside by the pool and as soon as we were done the girls went out to the play set to play so we got to sit and enjoy. I tried fish eyes for the first time and had free reign over the cheeks. It was an incredible evening and one that would not have been anywhere near the same in a restaurant!

Salad with feta cheese and poblano peppers

Latholemono (our version-definitely not true but it was what we had fresh and available)

1/2 shallot (finely chopped)
1 clove garlic (minced)
1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 Tbsp fresh Greek oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp crushed pink peppercorns
juice of 2 small lemons
1/4 olive oil

Place all ingredients in a container with a lid and shake well. When the fish is done cooking on the grill simply pour this over the fish and serve! (Peter, I will follow your recipe to a tee next time as promised!)

One of my favorite wines with dinner (thanks Sarah!)

I won - the dog got NONE of this cake!

Sorry about the flash but I loved that way the layers were - lemon curd, buttercream and fresh berries on each layer!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

7 comments:

Lunch Buckets said...

Happy Birthday! It sounds like you all had a wonderful evening. Except maybe the dog :)

Danni said...

Happy, happy birthday, Judy! Was it yesterday? I love pinot grigio - perfect for warm summer evenings. We'll hopefully have some of those this year...
It sounds like you made your day exactly what you wanted it to be.
My mouth is watering over that cake. I need to go back to your older post and find that recipe...you did post the recipe, right? Mmmmmm.....

Peter M said...

A Happy belated...I'm sure the entire evening was fun (wink-wink) and as for yellow-tail snapper, one of my faves.

Thank you for the mention...cheque's in the mail! lol

Judy@nofearentertaining said...

Thanks Lunch buckets it was a great day!

Oh farmigirl I hardly see you anymore! It was on Friday. The cake is great but do it in 2 stages. Bake the cake one day and assemble the next day. Otherwise it would take the most of a day!

Yep Peter it was great! Thanks for the inspiration. I'm waiting for the check-LOL!

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

This is a perfect way to spend your birthday at home surrounded by delcious foods and family Judty. Happy Birthday once again. I was deep sea fishing off the coast near Sarasota and caught 2 red snapper:D

Judy@nofearentertaining said...

Thanks again Val-Very cool catch. Hope you took those babies home and cooked them up? Or at least had someone else cook them up. Sarasota is real close to us.

Danni said...

Oh, I know, sigh. I'm so behind in my blog reading...between my laptop dying and the plumbing problems and trying to finish the coop, I, myself, feel like a chicken running around with my head cut off! (not a pretty sight!)
Sorry that I missed the actual day...happy belated bday again!