Follow-Up:The Red Dinner

After a bit of discussion over what our Red Dinner 2010 should consist of (Rack of lamb with a fruit glaze? Salmon and citrus salsa? Red Quinoa?), David and I agreed that we really wanted a simple dinner, and that we really wanted to make lobster. We figured we only think about making lobster once a year, so why not just go with it? Lobsters for every Red Dinner from here on out? Seriously, life could be worse, right?

So, we made lobsters, simply boiled, and served with some melted butter. They were accompanied by curried-couscous with dried cranberries, a recipe by Ina Garten of The Barefoot Contessa. The recipe makes enough for leftovers, which we used this evening and added some pan-sauteed chicken, mushrooms, and wilted baby spinach. Check out the couscous recipe here. We also made a red leaf lettuce, pignoli, and goat cheese salad, which I topped with an easy-to-make homemade raspberry vinaigrette. I placed a healthy spoonful of my raspberry-lime jam into a jar with a lid, added a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, closed the jar and shook it up (I eyeballed this, so you'll want to taste the combo until you find a sweet-tart vinaigrette). As a beverage, David suggested a lovely Martinelli sparkling cider with berries, but I preferred the classic Shirley Temple. Dessert was homemade chocolate-covered strawberries, some dipped in coconut, some just in semi-sweet chocolate.

All in all, it was a delicious dinner! Nothing overly ambitious or exotic, save for our once-a-year lobster purchase, but completely lovely (and filled with love...awwwww).