For the first time in a while, we had a big supper last night with close friends.

While the husband was in charge of the meat, I decided to try out a couple of new recipes.

Please forgive the shots, the camera was an after-thought.

I bought a beautiful beef tenderloin the other day. The husband cut it in half, tucked one away in the freezer for Thanksgiving, then trimmed the remaining one before slicing it almost in two, length-wise. Then he fried a little bacon and sautéed some onions, mushrooms and bell peppers. He used this to stuff the beef, then tied it up in a long roll. Thereafter, the grilled it on indirect heat. As you can see, it turned out perfectly. No knife required and it simply melted in the mouth. Yum!

While not normally a huge fan of Macaroni and Cheese, I saw Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) put one together a few weeks ago with lobster. Lobster may be a mainstay in East Hampton, but very hard to find in South Texas. Instead, I substituted fresh lump crab meat and shrimp that I peeled, deveined, sliced in half, and quickly steamed. The crab meat was already cooked, of course. I followed the remainder of the recipe, except I added additional seasoning in the form of red pepper flakes and substituted panko for the homemade bread crumbs, although I still coated them in the warm butter to get them to brown. The only other thing I would change when I next make this (and there will be a next time as it was a huge hit last night) is to omit the nutmeg because I did not find that it enhanced the flavor of the seafood, only distracted from it.

The other really nice thing about this recipe, it took no time to make and I put it together (except for the butter/panko mixture) the day before and stuck it in the refrigerator until I was ready to bake and serve it. As Ina would say: “How easy is that?”

Most of the desserts I prepare are lusciously rich affairs, much like the Tres Leches cake I made last weekend; however, as it has been gloriously cool around here in recent weeks, I wanted something reminiscent of the fall and again saw Ina Garten put something together that looked wonderful. She called it a Pear, Apple, and Cranberry Crisp. The recipe is simple and straight forward. While I was able to find the Bosc pears she recommended, I found no Macoun apples, so I substituted a variety of them from Granny Smith to Gala.

This was another that I was able to prepare the day before and pop into the oven an hour before our guests were to arrive. I was a little concerned the fruit would turn brown before baking, but with the citrus in the recipe, I need not have worried.

Enjoy!