We’re at Rehoboth Beach, DE for the weekend, with a bunch of friends in a shared house. We do this every fall — after the season, it is calmer and you can really enjoy the town.
We rent a house together, and for the past few years, we have cooked in several nights instead of going out every night we are here. My turn to cook tonoight, and with the cooler weather and a big storm off the East coast, I felt we needed hearty food, and I dug deep in the files for older inspirations.
I made a cajun-inspired feast for us:
- Crabmeat cheesecake with mushroom sauce meuniere
- Red beans and rice
- Cucumber and red onion salad
- Collard greens
- biscuits
- white chocolate bread pudding
I did the bread pudding after breakfast so I could put it on the fridge to chill all day, and I boiled the beans right after so they could soak all day. We went out shopping at the outlet malls and then came back, and I really got to cooking. Started at 4, cooked til 7:30 when it was all ready and we stuffed ourselves. Red beans prepped and cooking by 4:30, pot likker for the greens on after that, then the crust for the cheesecake, so I could fill it and bake it with enough time to make the biscuits right before we ate (alwyas the best right from the oven). While the cheesecake baked I made the cucumbers, which you salt and drain, before dressing them with a seasoned vinegar and lemon juice dressing to steep for at least an hour to pickle slightly. Then the rice — Carolina gold, which I cook then steam in its pot (covered by a dish towel to absorb the excess moisture as the rice finishes). Sauce meuniere was the last thing I made, so it could go right to the table when it was done.
Hardest thing to learn over the years about cooking for a party — timing each dish. How long does it need for prep and cooking? Can you do it early, or does it need to be done at the moment? I am pretty good at building both the menu and the timings for every dish, so they are all ready when I want to put them out for service. Tonight I was very happy to hit my target within 5 minutes — harder to do when you are in an unfamiliar kitchen. I think part of what I enjoy about our beach trips is managing that challenge.
It was all tasty and we ate too much. A good dinner….