The Mexican Feast

We invited our friends Adam and Nell for dinner, and I decided to go all out. Since I had the time and inspiration today, I decided to cook a Mexican Feast. I started preparations at 10 am this morning for our 7 pm dinner. There was time off for a shower, grocery shopping, internet browsing and a half-hour nap, but otherwise, it was pretty labor intensive. Not hard. Just time consuming. I got most of the menu from the June 2009 issue of Bon Appetit.

The Mexican Feast Menu:
Drink
Rose sangria with pineapple and guava
This was a nice twist on sangria because it was made with a rose wine base. Dan and I have been obsessed with rose lately so it fit right in. It was very tropical and spiced with cinnamon which gave it a nice kick. We spiked ours with a little rum. I wouldn't be surprised if I wake up with a headache tomorrow...but so worth it.

Appetizer:
Chile corn custard squares
Little corn squares topped with cheese, sour cream and salsa. Yum, yum, yum. My favorite part of the meal.

Main:
Mexican seafood sautee with avocado-mango salsa
The seafood sautee was made with shrimp and scallops drenched in tequila and lime. It was my first time making scallops ever. Very easy. Looking at this recipe now made me realize I forgot an ingredient. Oh well, no one noticed. Everyone seemed to like the salsa.

Sides:
Rice with summer squash, red peppers, and roasted pepitas
The weakest link of the bunch. Not bad, not wonderful.

Spicy black beans with chorizo and chipotle cream
My second favorite part of the dinner. I think that everything tastes better when there's sausage involved. I usually buy beans in a can but decided to make these from scratch (another first for me). It was worth it. I would definitely make these again.

Dessert:
S'mores cookies (from the July/August 2009 issue of Everyday Food):
Cool idea: Cookies that replicate s'mores: cinnamon cookie, chocolate and marshmallow. The scary part was that I had to use the broiler to brown the marshmallow. I hate the broiler. I avoid the broiler. I am terrified of the broiler. No matter what it always make the fire alarm go off. I took the risk because the cookies only had to go in there for a minute and everything went fine. Dan said the cookies were too dry but I saw him eat like five of them. They did taste better right out of the oven.

The feast was a complete success and everyone left feeling full and (a little) drunk.

I was planning to take pictures of the entire Mexican feast and all the elements, including our guests, but then I forgot. Here's the only pitiful pictures I have:


The sangria.


Black beans.


S'mores cookies.

I think I will sleep well tonight! Well-worked and well-fed.