Dine in at Julie and Tony’s

This is the first in a series, I hope, of upscale dinner posts that are held at people’s homes instead of going out and paying exorbitant prices at local restaurants. You can still do that of course. Its nice to go out, mingle with the crowds, enjoy the ambiance of the restaurant, interact with the staff, laugh and drink with your friends and order a variety of foods that maybe you’ve never had before and sharing bites with your friends. But then it comes time to pay the bill and everybody calms down a bit! Unless you’re filthy rich, which I am not! We still play the lotto and if we ever win one of those billion-dollar lotteries, dinner’s on me!

I got this idea from our last dinner out with friends that were visiting from Massachusetts. We took them to Bruno’s of Brooklyn in downtown Ft Myers. Very nice, good looking place. The staff are very nice with sincere smiles and willing to help explain the menu and accommodate food intolerances. Two of us ordered the Seafood Risotto. One with no onions and garlic and mine with no changes. Then we were served the wrongs ones! I got the bland one and the other person was picking out onions all dinner long! That was ok, but it was the price that annoyed me a little. It was $52 for a bowl of rice with a little bit of seafood in it. Four mussels, three shrimp, some tiny clams, calamari rings, and tiny calamari tentacles. Yes, the rice was “risotto”. But its just arborio rice. It takes a little skill to cook it properly, but I bet I could make that dish in my home for around $8 and that’s paying Costco prices which would be higher than what a restaurant pays! I’ll have to check that out and let you know what I come up with in a future post.

OK! So, lets start talking about this dinner we had with Julie and Tony who live in Riverhall Country Club. I served a lot of this in my restaurants back in Chicago and then in the Sedona area. It’s called Horseradish Encrusted Salmon with Caramelized Onions, Asparagus and Mashed Potatoes.

I did the caramelized onions at our home along along with prepping the salmon fillets and making a batch of sourdough rolls.

Then it was off to Julie and Tony’s. I drove over a lot of speed bumps on the way there and was worried that my bread dough balls would be flat by the time I got there, but everything was OK! Next, we started cooking, but first the wine and champagne were poured and the dogs were given some treats!

Then we started the final phase of cooking. We put the bread in a 400 degree oven. I sauteed the Salmon and put that in the oven. Tony made the asparagus. I heated up the caramelized onions. Julie had already made the mashed potatoes which were in a warmer. While we waited Julie made a delicious salad. Everybody had a job to do and Adele was in charge of drinking champagne and dog wrangling! 🙂

So all the food is cooked and on the table. All we have to do now is plate up and start eating!

After we ate, we sat around and talked about subjects that you aren’t usually supposed to talk about and that’s religion and politics. But we are of the same mind, so things went well. A perfect evening. Plus, there was no bill! I bought the salmon at Costco in the freezer section. I will eat frozen, wild salmon over fresh farm raised salmon every time. I will not eat farm raised salmon. They put red dye in the food to turn the salmon flesh pink, otherwise its grey. Plus, the farm destroys the ocean floor. Plus, the salmon is devoid of nutrients and may even be a negative for your health. And the fish are zombie like as they are trapped in their enclosed environment! Kind of like veal. I don’t eat veal either. Anyway, that’s enough of my food politics!

Hopefully, I have inspired some of you to up your entertaining game. We can make restaurant quality food at home, no problem! I’d like to hear, and see, what you’re up to out there. So, please send me an email with some pics to harry@hamptonlakesherald.com and I will post them out here. I already have a tentative food party planned for after the holidays with some very influential people here in Hampton Lakes. Stay tuned for follow ups. And if there are any foodies out there, maybe we could get together for some degustation fun!? Please subscribe to get the latest posts in your email! Be sure to tell a friend about this website. That’s all for now!

P.S. If you have a business and live in Hampton Lakes, email me to get your business listed on the website! I’ll need one pic and the info you want posted. Its free!