March Birthday Dinner Menu

A dinner party in honor of three friends' birthdays

Three of our closest friends have birthdays within 10 days of each other (March 10, March 15 and March 20), and that called for one dinner to celebrate all three. For whatever reason, I wasn't in gear to make any fabulous appetizers, so we made do with whole-grain tortillas filled with cream cheese and Goldwater's pineapple salsa (quesadilla-style with cheese and salsa between two tortillas, refrigerated and then cut into wedges), and chips with more cream cheese and salsa. Thinking about it now, I'm a bit embrrassed, but I did get out of that rut and hope that I redeemed myself with the remainder of the meal.

A visitor recently asked why I never post images of food I cook on this blog, so this time I did -- sort of. I remembered to take pictures of the set table, the cake after I frosted it and the soup before I called everyone to the table, but then, I got too busy and too distracted to snap more. Better than nothing, I suppose.

Menu

Cream of Curried Broccoli Soup ( I found a recipe for a curried zucchini soup, changed vegetables, tinkered with the proportions and added the heavy cream to make a cream soup, which is always a hit. My adaptation* follows.)

Boneless Turkey Breast Stuffed with Basil, Ham and Jarlsberg Cheese
Basil Sauce
Parsleyed New Potatoes
Steamed Asparagus with Butter

Birthday Cake - yellow cake filled with lemon curd, and topped with maple icing** and finely chopped walnuts

Wines were a Benziger Family Winery Sauvignon Blanc 2006 and a Rubicone Sangiovese Merlot 2005. We were ready to uncork a bottle of celebratory bubbly too, but surprisingly, none of our guests wanted any.

*Cream of Curried Broccoli Soup

1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
3 tbsp. olive oil
2 heads of broccoli, cut into flowerets with upper part of stems coarsely chopped
1 quart vegetable stock (I used one container of Imagine brand organic, low-salt stock)
2 tbsp. fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. garam masala
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup plain yogurt

1. In a large saucepan, heat oil and saute onion and garlic until softened (about 5 minutes).
2. Add broccoli, ginger, curry powder, garam masala and broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook, covered, until broccoli is tender.
3. Transfer mixture to food processor or blender, and puree.
4. Return soup to saucepan, heat gently and whisk in heavy cream. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Serve hot or cold with a large dollop of yogurt in each soup plate.

Serves 8.

**Take Note of This Cake Note

Any old yellow cake recipe would do (or any other cake flavor you like, such as white cake or even perhaps chocolate cake). I reserve special kudos for the maple icing that I found in Randi Lee Levin's book called Baking at High Altitude. Uncharacteristically, I didn't change it at all. I baked the cake in two layers and used lemon curd for the filling because I figured it would balance of the sweetness of maple syrup and the sugar in the icing, and then I added the chopped nuts on top, because maple and walnut flavors go together so well. They did.