Our "Dinner Unknown" last night was a huge success!! The premise: three families get together for dinner, pooling together a variety of ingredients to see what interesting dishes we can create. The only real "assignment" was that we each bring at least three different types of vegetables and two meats or fish. The host family would have appetizers as well as basic items on hand such as garlic, onions, lemons, etc. We were told we could use their kitchen stove or outside grill and/or smoker.
Some of our "before" spread in shown in the accompanying photo. We had so much neat food that we couldn't even use it all. The list included beets, potatoes, corn, carrots, tomatoes, leeks, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, peaches, basil, parsley, Thai peppers, kale, bread, chicken, salmon, clams, shrimp, sausage and chicken. Our hosts made smoked trout with wasabi (delicious!) and stuffed mushrooms to nibble while we worked, as well as hummus and vegetable dips with crudités and crackers. Drinks before and during the meal included beer, an Argentian Malbec, a delightful Vino Blanco from Spain and a dry French Rosé.
Our plan of action was to spread everything on the counter and then everyone throw out suggestions as to what we could make. We decided to roast the beets in foil on the grill and then chop and toss over their greens which we had sauteed with a little garlic and oil. One person thinly sliced the potatoes and baked them with some butter and salt and pepper. He also made a tasty Thai basil chicken. Another made a yummy seafood stew with grilled corn and potatoes. The leeks and sweet potatoes were grilled together, and the peaches were basted with with a balsamic-brown sugar combination and also grilled, a nice complement to the yak t-bone steak. Rounding out the meal was some sesame semolina and french bread.
For dessert I had made Indian pound cake and jumbles and my friend made chocolate chip pound cake and some pudding cups.
We all agreed it was great fun and plan to do the same thing again in the fall, with a autumnal harvest theme. Hopefully it will become a seasonal tradition!

Potatoes, seafood stew and beets: