My friend, Kim, wanted to do something really special for her hubby for Father’s Day! Robert, who LOVES to cook, was pleasantly surprised when his lovely wife presented him with a Cooking with Elise gift certificate! Me, being the ultimate extravert, loves to open my home to guests, so I was thrilled at the chance to cook with my dear friends and to be a part of someone’s Father’s Day gift! After discussing their favorite types of foods with Robert (and like me they both adore food) it was easy to come up with a special menu for Dad and his lovely wife.

The evening began with the smelling of all of the ingredients! Platters of fresh cucumbers, mint, cilantro, assorted spices like cardamon, cloves and garam masala filled the kitchen! Thank God for our five senses! I think we take them for granted sometimes and it is nice to just stop and smell the … spices!

I am 100% Portuguese, so Robert requested that we make one of my family recipes. You know this warmed my heart, so we made Portuguese Chourico Rolls. Freshly made bread dough filled with ground chourico is then rolled up jellyroll style and baked to perfection in the oven. The smell of freshly baked bread and smoked sausage filled our home. Soon this bread would fill our bellies and we were giddy as school kids about to enter an amusement park!

Knowing that Robert and Kim loved spices I taught them how to make my award-winning Chicken Tikka Masala with Aromatic Basmati infused with lime, bay leaf, cloves and cardamon. We also made Raita, a Cucumber Mint Yogurt which is the perfect accompaniment to the smoky spicy Indian dish.

Recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala, Aromatic Rice and Raita

To complete a wonderful evening of food and friends in the kitchen, we enjoyed the Spanish Flans we made. I never tire of seeing adults and a children marvel as they invert their flans onto a plate!

There’s JUST SOMETHING really special about cooking and eating together! No matter a person’s gender, age or demographic, cooking and eating together is a beautiful expression of the love and appreciation human beings have for one another.

Happy Father’s Day to a wonderful husband, dad and friend!