Happy Birthday, Dear Friend!

My Dearest Friend Loves Spicy Food. ‘Make Me Sweat & Cry’ is her Motto. The Spiciest Dish I make is Pork Vindaloo. For her Birthday, I devised the following menu based on her personal favorites:

Cheese Platter and Champagne

Pork Vindaloo

Goat Stew slowly simmered in Coconut Milk and Whole Spices

Green Beans in Coconut

Appam

Mixed Berry Pavlov

Recipes are available by request. Here is some background of the dishes and ingredients.

Cheese Platter – I enjoy pairing unique cheeses to keep variety in the menu. For this occasion I chose:

St. Agur – A blue cheese (french) which qualifies as a double cream cheese due to its butteriness and delicate sharpness. In other words, every bite is sinful.
St. Andres – Rich, soft cow’s milk cheese (french), deserves the reputation as the ‘heavenly cheese’.
Barely Buzzed – American semi firm cheese rubbed with a blend of espresso powder and lavender.

Pork Vindaloo – Vindaloo was created in the Portuguese-Indian Colony of Goa derive it’s name from the 2 most important seasonings of this dish – Vinho (rice wine vinegar) and alhos (garlic). Vindaloo was born as a basic stew, married with Indian spices over time is now synonymous with ‘hot, hot’ globally. A good vindaloo will hit your palate in layers of spices.

Goat Stew – Indian Christians eat this dish at festive occasions such as Christmas and Easter. A basic stew enriched with coconut milk, Indian whole spices, and green chilies. Over all, mild and delicate tasting.

Appam – Thick crepe looking bread, made out of fermented rice flour. It is soft and spongy, ideal for sopping up stew and wet meat dishes.

Mixed Berry Pavlov– Our favorite summer dessert was named after Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova by a chef who wanted to create something “as light and ethereal as the dancer herself.”

Enjoy!!