Rodriguez Family Party

I got an invitation to hang out with one of my favorite families last night. I've mentioned their marvelous spreads on the blog before and of course, I knew that this gathering would certainly live up to my expectations. I was hungry quite a bit before the party but I knew it would be foolish to eat.

Robin was in the kitchen when we arrived, rolling out dough for two different pizzas. The first one was simply spread with a caponata-style sauce she made with tomatoes, celery and eggplant. The second was a white pizza with shrimp, red onions and feta. She warned us to get out of the kitchen or else we'd smell like chicken wings all night and although I am not averse to that, I thought I'd give the master room to work. So we retired to the living room with chips, salsa, guacamole and fantastic Don Julio margaritas.

Annmarie showed up, arms laden with bowls and covered dishes. She brought a pasta salad with so much fresh basil, it felt like summer again. It helped that it was about 85 degrees in the house but it was very tasty. She also brought mofongo and guineos en escabeche. Mmmm. Mofongo is fried plantains that are mashed up with garlic and spices and baked. It can be plain, with pork, seafood etc. We had some mofongo in Puerto Rico with yucca instead of plantains and that was even better because the texture of yucca is lighter. Guineos in escabeche is also referred to as banana salad but the bananas are green bananas or even plantains. They are boiled and tossed in escabeche, that Caribbean sauce of oil, vinegar, olives and onions. Annmarie has a heavy hand with the herbs so, like with the basil-rich pasta salad, the cilantro in the banana salad was generous. I love people who aren't stingy on the seasoning.

So Robin piled our plates high with wings and pizza, we loaded up on sides and tore into the meal. I was in pain for about two hours after we finished the overwhelming task of cleaning our plates. I went to bed six hours later and I was still full. Keep in mind that I usually eat every couple of hours. I even went to another Christmas party with two full tables loaded with food and couldn't bring myself to sample even one morsel. In fact, I'm still not hungry and I ate about 15 hours ago.

Robein said she's having us over for crab cakes this week. I'll have to remember not to eat all day in preparation.