In a small skillet, combine the garlic cloves and the oil. Over a low heat, caramelize the garlic until browned and soft, about 20 minutes.
Transfer garlic cloves to a blender or food processor. Add the vinegar and mustard. Blend until smooth. With the motor running, slowly pour in the reserved garlic oil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Chop the lettuce into bite-sized pieces and put in a large salad bowl. Pour the dressing over the lettuce and toss to coat. Sprinkle some grated cheese on top and serve immediately.
Okay, I forgot to to sprinkle the cheese. And I used more vinegar. But it was really good. I mean really, really good.
That's all for now folks. Not only have I entertained to the nth degree this week, but his is 2 posts in a row.
Don't get too used to it. I'm aux pio next month. Little time for blogs. So I'll put this question to you now--Got any fabulous do-ahead, hand held, appetizer or dessert recipes? The DDCP is coming up very, very quickly.
Cook watercress in medium saucepan of boiling water 30 seconds. Drain. Rinse watercress under cold water. Drain again. Pat watercress dry with paper towels. Transfer watercress to blender. Add 3/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt and all remaining ingredients and puree until smooth, thinning with more yogurt or water, if desired. Transfer dressing to bowl. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 3 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
In a small skillet, combine the garlic cloves and the oil. Over a low heat, caramelize the garlic until browned and soft, about 20 minutes.
Transfer garlic cloves to a blender or food processor. Add the vinegar and mustard. Blend until smooth. With the motor running, slowly pour in the reserved garlic oil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Chop the lettuce into bite-sized pieces and put in a large salad bowl. Pour the dressing over the lettuce and toss to coat. Sprinkle some grated cheese on top and serve immediately.
Dessert will be a store bought cake topped with strawberries. I will make a modified version of the garlic bread about which I've already posted.
Last night we had ham sandwiches with brie, dijon mustard and roasted red pepper. They were only okay. I made a good ol' grilled cheese for the little guy. He ate it through the top. Don't ask me how he did that.
Dessert was very yummy. I made strawberry milkshakes. I sliced strawberries and topped them with a little bit of sugar. For the adults, I added some balsamic glaze. (I don't know what it is about balsamic vinegar and strawberries, but if you haven't tried it you really should. Now! Get moving!) Now for the milk shake part...a couple ice cubes, the strawberries and vanilla ice cream. For the adults, I added Amaretto. Very loud, but very tasty.
Now to dinner with Aunt Kate. The chicken was good. In fact, I share the recipe with my sister. She's made it twice. I've gotten two telephone calls during their dinner. One so Brian could tell me it was the best chicken ever; and a second call so Allen could tell me it was the best chicken ever. Recipe courtesy of Ina Garten on Barefoot Contessa:
Pound the chicken breasts until they are 1/4-inch thick. You can use either a meat mallet or a rolling pin.
Combine the flour, salt, and pepper on a dinner plate. On a second plate, beat the eggs with 1 tablespoon of water. On a third plate, combine the bread crumbs and 1/2 cup grated Parmesan. Coat the chicken breasts on both sides with the flour mixture, then dip both sides into the egg mixture and dredge both sides in the bread-crumb mixture, pressing lightly.
Heat 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute pan and cook 2 or 3 chicken breasts on medium-low heat for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until cooked through. Add more butter and oil and cook the rest of the chicken breasts. Toss the salad greens with lemon vinaigrette. Place a mound of salad on each hot chicken breast. Serve with extra grated Parmesan.
Lemon Vinaigrette:
In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Yield: 6 servings
Accompanying the chicken, I made mushroom risotto. I had to make modifications to the following recipe. I was unable to get veggie stock and had to substitute chicken stock. I also know that to make good risotto, you need to add the warmed stock by the ladle full until it's gone. The rice needs to absorb the liquid pretty much completely before you add more.
Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté until tender, about 10 minutes. Add all mushrooms; sauté until brown, about 3 minutes. Add rice; stir 3 minutes. Add wine and stir until almost absorbed.
Add stock and bay leaves; simmer uncovered until liquid is almost absorbed, mixture is creamy, and rice is just cooked, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Discard bay leaves. Stir in 1 cup Parmesan cheese, herbs, and butter. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Drizzle lightly with truffle oil, if desired. Serve, passing additional Parmesan separately.
* Available at Italian markets, specialty foods stores, and some supermarkets.
Now, I know Aunt Kate enjoyed the dinner. She even topped her chicken with the salad. I do, however, think she liked the dessert better. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of it. It was very pretty. I hope to get (or borrow from MIL extraordinaire) an individual cheesecake pan and make this for the Derby Day Cocktail Party. (From this point forward I will be referring to this future party as DDCP '09.)
For lime custard:
Whisk all ingredients in heavy small saucepan over medium heat until custard thickens and boils for 30 seconds, about 8 minutes. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally (mixture will thicken).
For crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Wrap 3 layers of foil around outside of 8- to 8 1/2-inch-diameter springform pan with 3-inch-high sides. Butter pan. Stir first 3 ingredients to blend in medium bowl. Mix in butter until moistened. Press crumb mixture evenly onto bottom and 1 1/2 inches up sides of prepared pan. Bake just until set, about 5 minutes. Cool completely. Maintain oven temperature.
For filling:
Place cream cheese, 2/3 cup sugar, eggs, lime juice, and lime peel in processor; blend well.
Spoon custard into crust; smooth top. Carefully spoon filling over. Set cheesecake in large baking pan. Add enough hot water to baking pan to come 1 inch up sides of cheesecake pan. Bake until almost set but not puffed and center moves slightly when pan is gently shaken, about 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, stir sour cream and remaining 3 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl to blend.
Carefully spoon sour cream mixture over hot cheesecake; smooth top. Bake until topping sets, about 10 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Run knife around sides of pan to loosen. Cool cheesecake completely. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Do ahead Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep refrigerated. Release pan sides from cheesecake; transfer to platter. Garnish with lime slices and serve.
Now to go back even further, we had good friends for dinner a week ago Sunday. You remember...our Ides of March dinner party. I only posted the garlic bread recipe. Well, we had more than garlic bread. Dinner was Paua Deen's Italian Sausage soup. Here goes:
Ingredients
one 1.24 pound package hot Italian sausage, casings removed
2 carrots diced 1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
Two 32 oz boxes low sodium chicken broth
One 15 oz can tomato sauce (I used a 15 oz tub of fresh tomato sauce from the grocery store)
2 medium zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 tsp dried crushed rosemary
One 20 oz package refrigerated 3 cheese tortellini
In a large dutch oven, combine sausage, carrots, onion, bell pepper and garlic; cook over medium heat until sausage is browned and crumbles. Drain well.
Stir in chicken broth and tomato sauce; bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Add zucchini and rosemary; simmer 20 minutes. (At this point, I turned the flame all the way down until we were ready to eat.) Add tortellini; simmer 5 minutes, or until tender. Serve immediately. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley, if desired.
As I finished preparing the soup, I realized that this serves 10-12. Yikes! I couldn't see us eating the soup until it was gone, so I sent some home with our guests. We still have some left. Jiminy skiminy.
On to dessert. I know that I previously posted that I thought I had shared this recipe. Well, I hadn't. So here it is:
For crust:
Blend first 4 ingredients in processor 5 seconds. Add butter and blend, using on/off turns, until coarse meal forms. Add 1/4 cup ice water. Blend until dough comes together in moist clumps, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather dough into ball. Divide in half. Shape into disks. Wrap in plastic and chill 1 hour.
For filling:
Position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 375°F. Mix cherries and whisky in small bowl. Let stand 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir apples, sugar, and cinnamon in large bowl. Fold in cherry mixture.
Roll out 1 dough disk on lightly floured surface to 13-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Mound filling in crust (filling will be high). Roll out remaining dough disk to 13-inch round and drape over pie. Fold top and bottom overhangs together to seal. Crimp edge of crust decoratively. Brush glaze over top of crust, but not crust edge. Cut several small slits in top crust.
Bake pie 10 minutes. Cover crust edge with foil and bake until apples are tender, about 50 minutes longer. Cool pie 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with cream or vanilla ice cream.
Test-kitchen tip: To protect the crust, fold a 36-inch-long piece of foil lengthwise into a 4-inch-wide strip. Stand strip up on oven rack and wrap around the pie.
I made two of these for the Great Saxe-Hunter-Craig meal in November in SC.
Copyright, 2006, Ina Garten, All Rights Reserved
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the garlic in the bowl of a food processor and process until minced. Add the parsley, oregano, salt and pepper and pulse twice.
Heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan and add the garlic mixture. Remove the pan from the heat.
Slice the ciabatta bread in half horizontally, and spread the butter on 1 half. Spread the garlic mixture on the other half of the bread, and put the halves together. Wrap the bread in aluminum foil.
Place the bread in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Open the foil, and continue baking for an additional 5 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly butter a 2-quart (9 by 12 by 2-inch) oval baking dish. Melt the 1/2 pound of butter and set aside to cool.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs and sugar on medium-high speed for 5 to 10 minutes, until very thick and light yellow. Meanwhile, sift the cocoa powder and flour together and set aside.
When the egg and sugar mixture is ready, reduce the speed to low and add the vanilla seeds, framboise, if using, and the cocoa powder and flour mixture. Mix only until combined. With mixer still on low, slowly pour in the cooled butter and mix again just until combined.
Pour the brownie mixture into the prepared dish and place it in a larger baking pan. Add enough of the hottest tap water to the pan to come halfway up the side of the dish and bake for exactly 1 hour. A cake tester inserted 2 inches from the side will come out 3/4 clean. The center will appear very under-baked; this dessert is between a brownie and a pudding.
Allow to cool and serve with vanilla ice cream.
Appetizer (Roasted Tomato Caprese Salad) will be: (also from BC)
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.
Arrange the tomatoes on a sheet pan, cut sides up, in a single layer. Drizzle with 1/4 cup of olive oil and the balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with the garlic, sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Roast for 2 hours until the tomatoes are concentrated and begin to caramelize. Allow the tomatoes to cool to room temperature.
Cut the mozzarella into slices slightly less than 1/2-inch thick. If the slices of mozzarella are larger than the tomatoes, cut the mozzarella slices in half. Layer the tomatoes alternately with the mozzarella on a platter and scatter the basil on top. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Serve at room temperature.
Okay, I don't have plum tomatoes, just small campari tomatoes. I'm pretty sure I can make it work. I'll also have to make some sort of potato...maybe sliced and roasted. And we'll have broccoli--also roasted. Boy, my oven's gone be busy tomorrow!
Tonight I'm making dijon chicken breasts. Recipe availble from epicurious (it's not so great that I want to copy and paste it here).
That's about it. Oh, I started my second round of AeroGarden herbs. Hopefully this will take me through to spring when I can plant 'em outside!
