Party Food - Salmon Tartar Sandwiches and Baked Potato Skins

Or, as the dishes were called for the party.......


And....



Yep. Fish Guts and Monster Warts. When I asked my sister-in-law if I could bring anything to the nephew's birthday party, I was informed by my turning-6-year-old nephew that the food had to have gross, Halloween-sounding names. In between prepping things on Saturday, I threw together the above graphics to make little signs for my food since it's just way easier than having to answer a zillion times when someone asks "what is this?"

The "fish guts" are actually a little homage to French Laundry at Home, which is in its end stages but has been quite a joy every week. But there is just no way in hell I was going to attempt to make cornets and burn my fingers to pieces. Not gonna happen.

And very, very, VERY extremely odd that as I am typing this out... tuna cornets are being shown on "The Chef Jeff" project on Food Network. Woah.

Anyway....

I figured I could do the salmon mixture and a dollop of the creme fraiche on top of some squares of puff pasty and save my fingers.

I woke up on Saturday to head out early to Mitsuwa, the big Asian market in the NW 'burbs, to get my salmon. I went there a couple times a few years ago, and it never impressed me too much.

I have no idea why in the world I thought that.

As soon as I walked in, I could tell they did some construction since I was last there. I walked around a bit before I made it to the "sushi fish" case..... an entire case of the most beautiful, lovely, wonderful looking fish for sushi. Some even already sliced. I could have (and thought about) buying one of everything and enjoying a very fish-filled lunch, but I just got my salmon.

Also stopped at Trader Joes to get some more creme fraiche. Nothing much exciting there.

Came home, threw the salmon pieces in the freezer for about 20 minutes, and the diced it into as small of pieces as I could. Also diced some chives and shallots and that brings us to here.....



Add some lemon oil.....




Mix all that together and you get the lovely.....



Lovely mixture.....



A very blurry shot (I know... I need to get a real camera) of the salmon and the creme fraice...



I had made the puff pastry squares on Friday night. I'd been hoping that by docking them in the center they'd form a cup/bowl kinda shape, which did not happen on the first batch. On the second batch, I tried puttin them in mini muffin tins with an equal level of FAIL being the result, but I just figured then that I could split the little puffs and get the salmon in the middle.

And it worked nicely as I started getting them made and plated....



I was pretty pround.

That's the salmon and a dollop of creme fraice sandwiched in there. I know they were pretty tasty, because I kept unconciously (seriously... I wasn't trying to) putting the tops on upside-down, and about four of them made it to an "ooops" plate that I enjoyed when I was done.

And the Monster Warts... mini potato skins. On Friday night, I halved a bunch of baby potatoes and tossed them, cut side down, on a baking sheet and threw them in a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes, then let them cool, then cored them out with a melon baller. Then tossed them back in the oven for about five minutes to try and draw out more moisture. I let those cool and then threw them in the fridge.

I also chopped some green onion and tomato, and mixed that with cheddar cheese. On Saturday, all I had to do was top the skins with the mixture and throw them in the oven until the cheese got all nice and melty.....



Woooo.... cheese goodness.....



I also threw some chives in one little bowl of sour cream, and the bacon I planned on adding to some into another bowl of sour cream. Let the carnivores and vegetarians work it out on their own.

Both were a big hit, which made me happy.

We had a huge giggle as we were driving to the party... it was a costume party, and a few weeks ago while watching Animal House, we decided to go as the Blues Brothers. Easy enough... got the hats, skinny ties and sunglasses and we provided the rest from our wardrobes. While we were at a red light, I looked out the window and saw a little war protest going on, and I turned to the hubby and said "I hate Illinois Nazis" and we laughed until the light turned green and we had to regain our composure.

The party was a little more-drama filled than any of us wanted... right before we rolled up to the house, the younger nephew decided it was time to learn how to get out of his crib after naptime, and he fell and bumped his head pretty bad. A couple months back he had another really bad accident where he ended up on his head and he split it open pretty badly. So, daddy and grandpa rushed him off to the ER, and sis-in-law kept in the bedroom as she got ready and fielded the phone calls and it was about an hour and oddly only a few guests later when we got the call that nephew was fine, they were on their way home, and it started to become an actual party.

Today in Casa de Hausfrau was Painting Day for the bathroom. I woke up at about 10:30 an ALL I could think about was McDonald's breakfast, so I threw a jacket over my jammies and headed to the drive-thru. When the Man awoke, we ate. Then I ran to Menards to take advantage of their sale on lighting fixtures (exciting!) and bought a new one for the upstairs bath so we could make sure the part that attaches to the wall will cover the spot that will be left when we take off the old one. The hubby then started painting, I ran to the grocery store.

Made eggplant parmesan and veal parmesan for dinner... and man, was I ever in the weeds while I was cooking. Timings were all off, the glass prep bowl that had my parmesan cheese in it somehow flung itself 12 inches off the counter while I was across the kitchen (I still don't know how that happened, unless the kitchen is haunted) and I was too distracted to worry about making garlic bread or a salad like I wanted to, but in the end, it all come out and was all tasty and the hubby made himself up and then ate a restaraunt-sized plate of food and was happy. Cleaned the kitchen (extra care with the vaccuum to get all the glass the broom missed), and then treated myself to a long-deserved hair washing in the sink and I feel a zillion times better.

Second coat of paint is on the wall upstairs, and a third coat was required for the horrid blue paint on the trim, but the hubby is cleaning up and it looks a ZILLION times better that it looked on Thursday. Amazing what a couple of coats of paint can do to a room.