Asian-inspired dinner party

Mark and I invited our very good friends Brandon and Elvia over for a goodbye dinner - Elvia is moving to Boston for a year (sob) so we wanted it to be really fun. I decided to make Asian food so that we could use our new chopsticks, rests, and dishes we bought in Vietnam. The food turned out really great and the company was wonderful, as always.

Iced water with cucumber slices
Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling

Vegetable spring rolls

Flank steak glazed with soy-chile glaze
Coconut and cilantro rice
Arugula and spinach salad with apple soy vinaigrette

Homemade frozen yogurt
Sliced strawberries, macerated in cassis

This menu was perfect for entertaining. Almost every course can be prepped in advance and I relied on one pre-made item (the springrolls). I'm filing this away for the future.

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Recipe: Flank Steak with Soy-Chile Glaze (via Tom Douglas, Food and Wine)

This was absolutely delicious! The soy glaze was balanced with good salty/sweet/hot flavors and some extra complexity from the garlic and ginger. I served this with a dipping sauce of salt and lime juice, which was nice but unnecessary. I'll definitely use the glaze recipe again - would be great with chicken or tofu.

Serves 4-6

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 pounds flank steak
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• Thinly sliced scallions and lime wedges

1. Light a grill or preheat a grill pan. In a small saucepan, heat the oil. Add the garlic and ginger and cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until the garlic begins to turn golden. Add the soy sauce, sugar and crushed red pepper and cook, stirring, until syrupy, about 3 minutes; let cool.
2. Season the steak with salt and pepper. Grill the steak for 10 minutes for medium-rare meat, turning once; during the last minute, brush all but 2 tablespoons of the glaze over the steak. Transfer the steak to a cutting board and let stand for 10 minutes.
3. Thinly slice the steak and brush with the reserved 2 tablespoons of glaze. Transfer to a platter, sprinkle with scallions and serve with lime wedges.

Coconut-Ginger Rice (via the Wednesday Chef)

I was afraid this would be too sweet or too gooey or too intensely coconutty, but you know what? It was really nice: the rice was the perfect texture and just lightly scented with coconut and ginger. I also loved this because it is a totally versatile side dish - you could eat this with Asian food, Indian food, or even Latin American food. I dusted this with minced cilantro just cuz.

Serves 4 rice lovers

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
• 1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice (I used basmati)
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk (low-fat is OK)
  
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1. Heat the butter in a medium-sized heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant but not brown, about 1 minute. Add the rice and stir for 1 minute.
2. Add the coconut milk, water and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and cook the rice until the liquid is absorbed and the grains are tender, 18 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 1 minute. Fluff with a fork.

Apple Soy Vinaigrette (via Gourmet)

I'm officially in love with this dressing. Just try it.

• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon grated sweet onion such as Vidalia (use large holes of a box grater)
• 1/4 cup finely grated peeled Gala apple (use small holes of box grater)
• 4 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1. Stir together vinegar, onion, apple, soy, and sugar until sugar has dissolved; stir in oil.
   

Gourmet reports this keeps for 2 days.

"We'll Miss You Elvia!" Dessert (adapted from David Lebovitz)

I was so excited to find out our ice cream maker could also make frozen yogurt. This recipe churns out a seriously smooth, rich, tangy, and sweet version. Elvia loved this so much she insisted on making a trip to Whole Foods to buy more yogurt to make another batch. We obliged, of course. It was her goodbye party!

• Strawberries (10 or so big specimens)
  
• 1-2 tablespoons cassis (if you like it boozy, add more by all means)
  
• 2 cups Greek yogurt (I used whole Fage yogurt)
• 1/2 cup sugar

1. Slice strawberries and combine with cassis. Mix thoroughly and let macerate in the fridge. (I left these in for about 2 hours but you could do as little as 30 minutes.)
   
2. Combine Greek yogurt and sugar thoroughly. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
   Follow directions for your ice cream maker.
   
3. To serve, add frozen yogurt to a glass (we used martini glasses) and top with macerated strawberries.