Having a dinner party is really stressful. Some pointers: bread is already cooked and heated at the last minute; desserts either already cooked as in a pie or cake or frozen as in an ice cream or brought by someone else (the best solution!); factoid: if your main dish is finished in the oven, your veggies and side dishes are finished on the stove: if the other way round then the other way round! Believe me it is a lot less stressful.
My sweetie made an awesome GUMBO, I made rice, salad was brought as was an appetizer, I also made pralines and coffee. We had wonderful wine to go with everything. What an evening. Look at that table…is that eclectic or what?
New Orleans Pralines
A modified Fannie Farmer recipe that makes about 22 pralines. You must have a candy thermometer to make these. Prepare all ingredients beforehand, including wax paper that has been slightly oiled with something like canola oil sitting on a cookie rack.
Add together in a saucepan:
1 1/2 C sugar
3/4 C brown sugar
1/2 C plus 2 T half and half
1/4 lb. butter
Boil together and turn down heat to a low boil until the candy thermometer reads exactly 239 degrees! EXACTLY. Remove pan from heat and add:
1 1/2 C lightly toasted pecans, some broken up and some halved
1-1 1/2 tsp vanilla (I love Mexican vanilla)
Stir mixture vigorously until it gets creamy and cloudy. Immediately drop by tablespoon on wax paper. Either add a little warm water to the last of the mixture if it starts to harden up, or more fun is that two people drop the pralines at the same time!
20 Comments
Thanks, biscuit, for giving me photo ability!!! Yea!
Those pralines look divine, Scotia. And where did you steal my dining room chairs?? I have the same ones, with the lyre backs and all. I like the look of your table, even if you did not steal my dining room chairs – it looks lovely and inviting.
Your guests are lucky people. Dinner parties can be tense-making for the hostess, but people really enjoy them. I want some of those pralines, and the cook is kinda cute, too. Does he hire out?
Really…the same chairs? I inherited this set from my Mother. I have the table with 3 leaves, sideboard and 4 chairs. I bought an armed chair later that was close but not a match. I love the red mahogany, The finish is sooooo deep. Where did you find yours?
The cook makes gumbo, clam chowder, Texas Red chili, soups, sauces, and BBQ, and sews, and cleans, and does laundry, and is a great sous-chef! He also has devastatingly beautiful blue eyes!
He might be talked into it in February when we are down in Austin for my daughter’s wedding. )
I got mine at, of all places, a neighborhood moving sale! They don’t match my dining room table, but they are so pretty.
Your cook sounds wonderful. I hope you treat him well, he’s a treasure.
Scotia, what a great party – and that praline recipe is DIVINE!!!!!!!!
The first one below the table setting is gumbo, isn’t it?
Lucky guests!
biscuit, actually it is the Trinity in Roux right before it is dropped in the broth. My chef put andouille sausage, chicken thighs, oysters, shrimps and dungeness crap in his GUMBO. Man what a treat!
Dude! omg!!!
My dinner: a really very good local brie. I’m shocked, but it’s good! Very, very pleasant. I am having it and an orange for dinner.
Not gumbo and pralines perhaps. But it will hold me til I get on the plane and fly to Scotia’s to live and eat gumbo and pralines and fruit in ginger syrup forever and ever. :troll
Wait for me, biscuit! I think we could do worse, eating all that de-lish food and feasting our eyes on the sous-chef….
:purple: :dots: :purple: :dots:
Come on, sweetie! It’s about 37 and cloudy today, but oh so green and gold and red. The trees this year have been spectacular.
I’ll have dinner ready for you on T-Day, paper bag turkey, giblet gravy, smashed yams, sauteed broccoli, Big Mama’s Yeast Biscuits, apple/mango chutney, cranberry/green apple/orange relish, and “nuthin but pecan pie”!…….anyone else???
OMG!!!! I’m on my way!!!
:dots: :dots: :dots: :dots:
Oh, I forgot-cornbread stuffing!
::faints, drooling::
:dots:
Y’all, come on up!!! We could party!
:purple: :purple:
Tonight is baked acorn squash with sauteed savoy cabbage and garlic and leeks with a side of homegrown tomatoes and avocado drizzled with herbs and lime and some fresh, warm sourdough bread. Oh, poached fruit in ginger syrup and sherry for dessert.
We need a drooling emoticon.
i looked but can’t find one that isn’t really disgusting.
Hang on, I don’t have anything to say – I just figured out how to do the purple bouncy guy with the hat -
:purple: :purple: :purple:
Glad that it went well! I am going to cook some of those pralines.
Mrs. Translator and I cooked pies tonight. Two pumpkin (she makes the best) and one really big apple one (my creation).
I made three double batches of pastry crust today, and enough remains for one pie, or several tarts.
Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I will try to come up with something interesting during the waiting periods of the medical tests for Mrs. Translator tomorrow. I understand that some may take quite a bit of time, and I owe a new Pique the Geek for Sunday.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
Warmest regards,
Doc
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