We started out with Valley of the Dolls – a classic camp movie. Neither Thom nor Amy had seen it. Then we moved on to one of my favorites, and more current, Sordid Lives. We moved on to another classic, The Women (and it was the original – far superior), then finished the night with Rocky Horror Picture Show.
I was in charge of finger foods to snack on during our movie fest, which I will now be sharing with you. Most of them were successful, but I definitely have ideas for improvement for the next time. My menu consisted of BLT Dip, Sweet Chicken Bacon Wraps, Melon with Prosciutto and Marinated Feta and Olive Skewers.
The BLT Dip is a very tasty dip I made back at Christmas that everyone loved and is based on a Sandra Lee recipe I found. I adapted it, and also cut out the lettuce. It consists of about one cup of mayo, two cups of sour cream, about a ¾ cup of crisped bacon, another ¾ cup of sun-dried tomatoes, and some ground black pepper to taste. Mix it all up good and let is meld together for a while, preferably overnight. It’s very decadent, fattening, and incredibly delicious. If you want to feel fancy, you could core out a head of lettuce to put it in to serve it up (that’s the lettuce part). I just serve it which potato chips, pita chips, or celery and carrots.
For the Sweet Chicken Bacon Wraps, I took three boneless, skinless breasts and cut them up into pieces, then marinated them for several hours in grapefruit juice, soy sauce, a little white wine, black pepper and some red pepper flakes. After they’ve marinated, take a pound of bacon and cut the strips into thirds, then start wrapping the chicken in the bacon strips and skewer them with a toothpick. On the side, throw a cup of brown sugar in a bowl and toss in some cayenne pepper and mix is up good. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and arrange the chicken/bacon skewers on a baking sheet. Sprinkle the sugar mixture over the skewers (or you can try dredging them in it) and try to coat them well. Bake for about 30-40 minutes (let the back cook up and crisp). Obviously, you want them to cool off a little, but they’re good to go out of the oven, just don’t pop a whole on in your mouth until they cool a bit.
I did find the marinade, while did make it tasty, could definitely be improved. Next time, I plan to use fresh orange juice. I might cut out the wine, but will figure that out the next time I make them. But they were a hit nonetheless.
The Melon and Prosciutto is pretty self explanatory. Cut up a honeydew melon in to small pieces, then skewer some prosciutto onto them and arrange on a platter. It’s a very simple, delicious, and even elegant appetizer to make. Salty and sweet – the perfect pair.
Lastly, the Marinated Feta and Olive Skewers didn’t come off as well as I had hoped, but they were still pretty good. Take a block of good feta cheese and cut it into small squares/blocks, toss into a bowl with the zest and the juice from a fresh squeezed orange or two. Crack some black pepper over it and toss in some fennel seeds (purely optional on the fennel). Gently toss it all together in the bowl the cover the cheese blocks. Let it marinade for a while, then when you’re ready, skewer them on a toothpick with a kalamata olive (or a green olive if you prefer) and serve up. The fennel made it a little too sweet in a licorice kind of way, so I will not use it next time and maybe try some rosemary.
Overall, the finger foods were a hit (along with the potato chips and Doritos). It made for a great weekend and a lot of fun. We finished it off today by watching Auntie Mame – a great end to a fun, and relaxing weekend.
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