Entertaining

Okay, I've been remiss in my posting. In no particular order, I will share my recipes from the past 2 weeks:

First the Green Goddess dressing that I made for a crudite tray to take to a going away party last Friday night:

• 1 cup (packed) watercress leaves
• 3/4 cup (or more) plain nonfat yogurt
• 1/3 cup light (1/3 less fat) mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons (packed) chopped fresh dill
• 2 tablespoons (packed) chopped fresh basil
• 2 tablespoons chopped green onion
• 1 tablespoon (packed) chopped fresh mint
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

Preparation

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.)

I will definitely be making this for our Derby Day Cocktail Party. Yum-O as Ms Ray would say.

I've been an entertaining fool. Emphasis on the Fool part. In the last five days, I've had company for dinner 3 times.

Saturday was Kate, Tuesday was the Johnson boys (wife and mom away on business) and this evening (Wed) is a coworker of Josh's.

Working backwards:

Tonight we'll be having pasta and salad. No big deal. My gravy recipe is already on my blog somewhere. I will be making a yummy Rachael Ray roasted garlic dressing for my salad:

Ingredients

• 10 gloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 hearts Romaine lettuce
• Grated romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano

Directions

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:

Ingredients

nocoupons

• 4 to 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 1/4 cups seasoned dry bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving
• Unsalted butter
• Good olive oil
• Salad greens for 6, washed and spun dry
• 1 recipe Lemon Vinaigrette, recipe follows

Directions

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:

nocoupons

• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
• 1/2 cup good olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

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.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, caps sliced
• 6 ounces crimini mushrooms, sliced
• 2 cups arborio rice or medium-grain rice
• 1 1/2 cups dry white wine
• 5 1/2 cups vegetable stock or canned vegetable broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 ounces)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
• White truffle oil* (optional)
• Additional grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

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.)

Ingredients

Lime custard

• 6 large egg yolks
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons fresh Key lime juice or regular lime juice
• 1 teaspoon grated Key lime peel or regular lime peel

Crust

• 1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 12 whole graham crackers)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Filling

• 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 2/3 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons fresh Key lime juice or regular lime juice
• 1 tablespoon grated Key lime peel or regular lime peel

• 1 16-ounce container sour cream

• Thin lime slices

Preparation

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:

Ingredients

Crust: (I don't bake my own crust. I aspire to it. One of these days I will...when time, energy, and inclination all combine.)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1/4 cup (or more) ice water

Filling:

• 1 cup dried tart cherries
• 2 tablespoons Scotch whisky (I usually make it more like 1/4 c and use the reserved liquid in a Manhattan. Turns out, the cherries usually only absorb the "recommended" 2 T.)
  
• 3 to 3 1/2 pounds medium-size Golden Delicious apples (about 8), peeled, halved, cored, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 1 tablespoon whipping cream beaten with 1 tablespoon sugar (for glaze)

• Heavy cream or vanilla ice cream

Preparation

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.