Another Food Challenge

Time for another New Food Night update.  This was another challenge meal. Mr. Rick said he had 'a hankering for some asparagus'.  And my friend Amy at Accidental Happy Baker (http://www.accidentalhappybaker.com/) challenged us to use tomatillos.

A Double Challenge!!  Are we up to it?  You decide if it was a success.

We started with a simple salad. This is where the challenge comes in. Gary made a dressing using tomatillos.  He roasted tomatillos, jalapeno and red onion in over with olive oil just until they started to turn brown. After cooling, he put them in the blender with creama, cumin and lime juice.

This dressing was a little bit thicker than what we are normally used to. It also was a little spicy. Not bad - just not used to salad dressing with a kick.

Next up was the asparagus part of the challenge.  I decided to try some asparagus wrapped in phyllo dough.  I took the asparagus and put in boiling salted water for 2 minutes then immediately drained it and put it in a bowl of ice cold water.

Now to assemble the dish. I took a sheet of phyllo dough and brushed with melted butter. I then sprinkled some grated parmesan cheese on top and cracked black pepper. Repeated this until I had three layers. I then cut the phyllo dough into 5 equal pieces and then cut it in the middle for 10 pieces. Take one piece of asparagus and roll up in dough. Place on baking sheet, brush tips of asparagus and the dough with melted butter and bake.

Serve these with some horseradish mayo dip. Take mayonaisse (Miracle Whip in our house) and add horseradish, ground mustard, salt and pepper to taste. Very tasty.

Wow!  We certainly have a plethora of flavors going on with this meal!  And they are all good.

Challenge has been met but our meal isn't yet finished.

Gary made a meatloaf. Isn't meatloaf good?  Well, some people don't think so - my father-in-law being one of them. We happen to really like meatloaf.

Miss Annette brought over some cheesy mashed potatoes. She mashed the potatoes with sour cream, butter and cheese.  Can we say good stuff?

Mr. Rick brought some rolls.

We hadn't planned on anything for dessert but a package of phyllo dough has a lot in it!  I didn't use it all so Gary did a little experimenting with it. He took the phyllo dough, brushed it with butter then sprinkled chocolate chips and butterscotch chips. Continued layering until the phyllo dough was used up.  Rick said it was like a chocolate chip cookie on crack!

There you have it.  Is your mouth watering? You missed a good meal. What will it be next week? Who wants to give us a challenge?