Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Lobsters and Collard Wraps stuffed with Sweet Potato, Mango and Avocado

Tonight was the first time that we had a "theme" night. It was supposed to be surf n' turf but in the end, it was just 'surf' night. Which, I guess, was a good thing since we were all stuffed to the seams. Collard Wraps also made an appearance. J introduced them a couple of months ago and they were a hit. Same the second time around.

Serving size: Tonight there were approximately 14 people, recipes would be enough for 20 people (except the lobster).

Collard wraps (serves 15-20 people)

For the wraps:
A bushel of collard greens, each leaf can make 2-3 wraps depending on how many people you are feeding
6 medium sweet potato
9 medium sized carrots
1 onion, chopped
3 mangoes, cubed
3 avocados, cubed
3/4 cup tahini sauce
1 T olive oil
2 cloves chopped garlic

For the peanut sauce
1/2 cup melted peanut butter
4 T soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped cilantro




1. Preheat your oven to 350C or start the grill.

2. Peel and slice the sweet potato and carrots, sprinkle with the chopped garlic and olive oil. Place in a pan and put in your oven or grill. Grill for 15-20 min or until potato and carrots are soft. Once soft, mash the grilled sweet potato and carrots with the onion and tahini sauce.

3. As you're waiting for the grilled potato and carrots, cut up the mango and avocado to cubes and set aside.

4. To assemble the collard wraps, take a leaf of the collard and place a good heap (approx. 1/2 cup) of the the mashed sweet potato and carrot with tahini sauce in the middle of the leaf, sprinkle the cubed mangoes and avocado. Fold the bottom inside and then the sides, roll until you have a wrap. Depending on the size of the wrap, cut into half or thirds for individual portions.



5. To make the sauce, heat the peanut butter over the stove top or a microwave until it's melted. Be careful not to overburn.

6. Mix in the soy sauce and brown sugar (optional). Add a couple of teaspoons of water if you want the consistency to be less thick. Mix in the cilantro and salt and pepper to taste. Serve on the side.



Beet and pear salad
5 beets, sliced
3 pears, sliced
3 kohlrabi, sliced (optional)
1/2 cup blueberries (optional)

Dressing
1/2 cup yogurt
2 T walnut oil
Juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper to taste


1. Peel and slice the beets, pears and kohlarabi. Soak the sliced pears and kohlrabi in cold water for 10-15 minutes.

2. On a separate bowl, mix the yogurt, walnut oil, lemon juice. Add salt and pepper to taste.

3. Mix the sliced beets, pears and kohlrabi. Drizzle the salad dressing and top with the blueberries.

Lobster
8 1.5 to 2 lb lobsters (can serve 7-10 people depending on how many each one eats). Where to buy: Oriental harvest in Chinatown, just north of Dundas on the West side of Spadina. Usually sells for $7.99/lb.

1. Put lobsters in freezer for half an hour to overnight to make them sleepy.

When cooking lobsters, show no fear! Put in head first to kill them quickly and lessen the pain.

2. Boil water and add some salt. Put lobster head first. Boil for 5 minutes for each lb of lobster, and an extra 3 min for each additional lb. The water will cool down once you put the lobster in the boiling water so let it boil again. Once it boils, lower the heat to medium and wait until lobster looks red and juicy.

3. Let lobster cool (5-10 min), cut off the claws and head (J said you can make lobster bisque with the head, but I usually discard it because of the lobster brain guts). Place in bowl and serve with lemon and butter. Yum yum yum.

The Start

Hello,

We're a group of friends who were virtually strangers and/or loosely connected when we first got together in the Summer of 2009. One of our hosts spent a summer testing out Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) for his parents' farm. Each week, J would bring the veggie harvest, there were so many vegetables that he and N (or second host) would host dinners with the leftover veggies. As a result, total strangers became good friends. The weekly dinners created such a great community from virtual strangers that we continued them after summer passed. We also realized that there were so many recipes coming out of the dinners that we had to document them for easier sharing.

One year later, this is the attempt to create the Tuesday Dinner Recipe Book.

Love,
Tuesday Dinners

ps. If you're a stickler for measurements, you might have trouble with this blog. A lot of times the recipes do not adhere to strict measurements, but rather "to taste". I've tried to give the approximate time and measurements as best as I can.

pps. The recipes in this blog works well for those entertaining a large group of people. Some recipes' measurements can be parred down for smaller dinner servings.