Dress 4 Dinner

The other night I wanted to make a satisfying supper but didn’t have time to stand at the stove. I made this long-time favorite of mine. This is a rich and filling dish, and if you are counting fat grams, you may want to change it up and use reduced fat products or turkey bacon, or even soy bacon.

However, a little indulgence once in a while probably won’t hurt you, as long as you don’t do it every day!

When I made this, I tested Land ‘O Lakes Soft Butter with Canola Oil and found I really liked it.

Pasta Carbonara

Serves 2-4; depending on portion sizes

10 oz. dried pasta, cooked al dente, drained and kept warm (use linguine or fettuccini)

1 Tbsp. butter

1 Tbsp. olive oil

½ large sweet onion, chopped

1-2 cloves garlic, minced finely

1 cup fresh sweet peas, hulled (or petite sweet peas, frozen)

4 oz of cooked, crumbled bacon

½-¾ cup half and half (less if you like a thicker sauce, more for thinner sauce)

1 egg yolk

½-¾c up grated parmesan cheese (depending your cheese preference, you can use more or less)

Kosher salt & freshly grated black pepper

Over medium high heat, put butter and olive oil into large non-stick sauté pan and heat until the butter melts. Add chopped onions and garlic and “sweat” until the onions are translucent. Add the peas and the bacon to the onions and garlic. Stir well.

Turn heat down to low, and remove pan from heat. Wait for pan to cool a bit. After it’s cooled, slowly add the half and half and stir well to warm. (If you do this too hot, you can curdle it.) Then add the egg yolk and stir all together. Put pan back on low heat, stirring to warm. Bring heat up gradually so the sauce is warm, but not boiling! Do not boil.

When heated through, stir in cheese, making sure it down not stick to the bottom of the pan.

Portion out your pasta into pasta bowls, and spoon carbonara sauce over the pasta. Top with freshly grated black pepper to taste adding salt if you need it.

Because I was not thinking ahead when I made this dinner, I did not photograph each step. Thanks to Flickr Creative Commons user whitneyinchicago whose photograph of pasta carbonara resembles mine.

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This savory dip or spread is best served on toasted, baguette slices or in pastry shells made from phyllo pastry. Those are available in the freezer at your grocery or local bakery.

I’ve had this recipe since 1977 and it’s always a hit with the crowd. I usually double this recipe and I always add more curry powder and sometimes, more cheese.

Hot Curried Crab Dip

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated

8 ounces of crab (or 1 can of King crab)

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1/3 teaspoon curry powder (I like 3/4 teaspoon)

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

pinch cayenne pepper

1/2 medium onion, minced fine

1/3 Bell pepper (green pepper), minced fine

Mix all ingredients the night before and put in refrigerator. When ready to bake, place oven-proof casserole with mixed dip into a 350 degree F oven until hot and bubbly.

Serve hot. One recipe serves 12.

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Our Vintage Cocktail Party featured an array of hors d’oeuvres that might have been served at a party in the 1960s.

I know for a fact this these were one of the most popular hors d’oeuvres served in my small hometown. In our household, these were our annual Christmas morning snack while opening gifts. The aroma of them baking brings it all back to me!

Sausage pinwheels were a staple at many of the parties given by hostesses in Anderson. They were the favorite item we served at our Cocktail Party.

A quick search on the internet finds many recipes for sausage pinwheels and many images of them.

The recipe is more a method than recipe. You need 1 lb. (a pound) of good, lean bulk breakfast sausage: hot, mild, herbed or not. Your choice on that. Then you need a batch of biscuit dough. I make my own homemade dough. I would not recommend that you use canned biscuit dough—it doesn’t have the same taste or flavor. You probably could use a biscuit mix, but basic biscuits are very easy:

Biscuits

2 1/2 cups Southern Self-Rising Flour (I prefer Adluh but you can use Martha White)

5 Tablespoons Crisco Shortening

2/3 to 3/4 cup of whole milk (do not use low fat milk!)

Cut shortening into the flour until it is the size of small peas. Then add the milk in stages mixing gently with a wooden spoon until the milk is incorporated. Continue until you have a ball of dough. Use more milk as necessary to create dough or more flour to thicken. Measuring is really not terribly important! You want a moist dough and you don’t want to handle the dough more than necessary.Gather the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill it in the freezer until your sausage is at the right temperature and you are ready to assemble the roll.

Assemble the Sausage Roll

Remove the sausage from the refrigerator an hour or so before you expect to make the sausage roll. You want the sausage to be pliable so you can pat it onto the biscuit dough.

Dampen a counter with water and lay two long sheets of waxed paper atop the dampened counter. The moisture on the counter will help prevent it sliding while you roll the dough out. Scatter a good handful of flour (maybe 1/2 cup if you need a measurement) on the surface of the waxed paper. You want to be sure the dough doesn’t stick to the waxed paper! More flour is better than not enough!

Shape your chilled dough into a snake then roll out until it is a long rectangle or close to that. It needs to be between 1/2” – 1/4” thick.

Unwrap your sausage and pinch off bits of it, flattening it into the dough and gently smearing it out on the dough. When this is complete, lift the long edge of the waxed paper and begin to roll up the sausage roll—just like a jelly roll. When finished rolling it up, shape the length of it by smoothing your hands along the length of the roll. Wrap the roll in waxed paper, then in aluminum foil. you will have a roll that is about 24 inches long. Put this in the refrigerator to chill until you are ready to slice and bake.

To slice use a very sharp knife. You’ll probably have to wipe the knife off between each slice. Cut slices about 1/2” thick. Lay them on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees F.

Serve hot.

This video I made from the photos Bill took, shows the process after you have the dough rolled out and the sausage spread on the dough.

(PS—I know most things on this blog are more serious, but I couldn’t resist making a silly opening and using the fun music.)

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So in my race to the finish on this stint, I want to hit a few important points.   Again, because I had dinner during the work week, I prepared dishes that I had experience with.  Thai steak salad is really easy and can be any type of salad but the dressing is  important.  Thai dressing does not have any oil,  it seems weird but it  gives the salad a really fresh taste.   The recipe for the dressing is a variation on a recipe from The Dean and DeLuca Cookbook, which is a great cookbook to check out.   You can toss  together almost any combination of salad ingredients,  grill some type of protein and add this dressing and it transforms it into something exotic.

Thai Salad Dressing

1 teaspoons lime zest
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce

10 mint leaves chopped

¼ cup of chopped cilantro

dash of soy sauce

Whisk together all ingredients

Coconut Rice with Butternut squash

Another simple but interesting dish was the coconut rice topped with butternut squash.  I stole this idea from my friend and colleague Liz, who offered both of these dishes individually on a buffet at her dinner party.  First off, making coconut rice is as simple as replacing the volume of water you usually cook rice in with coconut milk.  This is always a 2 to 1 ratio in my book.  I also added a bay leaf and some grated ginger for an extra kick.  One of the added benefits to making this rice is the leftovers, which make great rice pudding.   The butternut squash was sliced, drizzled with olive oil and maple syrup and then sprinkled with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper and roasted at 400 degrees.   I peeled and chopped the roasted squash into chunks and placed it on top of the rice.  Although it was a double starch, the rice and the squash complimented each other nicely.

The Table

I wanted the table to be a little less formal but a little more graphic to appeal to Amy’s  great visual sensibility.    I had seen these weird octopus-looking citrus in the grocery store and look them up on the internet.  They are called Budda’s hand and are not used in cooking but are used for fragrance.  I combined one with oranges as the center piece and then placed the paper “tie napkins” on top of the plates flanked by black bowls.  The table setting would not have been complete if it were not for the napkins.  They were sent to me as a gift from my friend Yasmine, all the way from London specifically to use for Dress 4 Dinner.  They come in four tie patterns and are called Dress 4 Dinner!  My only regret was that I did not get a picture of either one of us wearing the napkin the correct way, as a tie.

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So much of cooking for me is steeped in memories of eating or preparing food with friends.  As Andra mentioned in her comment on the Thursday Night Post,  Alice Guess taught us how to make spring rolls.   On a movie night at her beach house,  Alice had all the fixins to make spring rolls and walked us through the assembly.   I thought it was fabulous.  It was my first foray in making something  that I usually ordered in a Thai restaurant.  It also gave me the curiosity and the confidence to try to make other Thai dishes which have become a staple in my repertoire, like Thai steak Salad.

The rice paper wrappers (bahn trang) are available in Asian Markets.  It is hard to describe the process of assembling them, so I looked up a diagram and copied it to my chalk board, which is photographed.  What is not include in that diagram but is the tricky part is that you soak the wrappers in water. Don’t be discouraged after a few tries you will get the hang of it.

The filling can be made up of almost anything but I like it to have a lot of different textures and flavors.    I had made a small pork roast that Sunday prior so I used the leftover pork in the spring rolls with cucumber, carrots  and radishes.   My spring roll skills were a bit rusty so they were a somewhat misshapen, so I cut the rolls in half for better presentation.

Peanut Dipping Sauce
1 teaspoon oil, sesame if you have it
2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ginger, minced

2 teaspoons honey

dash of chili paste

dash of fish sauce

dash of soy sauce

Mix by hand or small food processor until smooth.

Spring Rolls

Filling
Pork sliced in julienne strips
Grated carrot
Cucumber, peeled and julienned

Radishes, peeled and julienned
2 tablespoons mint leaves, chopped
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

Juice of ½ a lime

You can also add rice vermicelli, bean sprouts, shrimp, basil for fillings

Package of Rice Paper Wrappers

Mix fillings with rice wine vinegar and lime in a bowl.

Dip wrapper in hot water. Lay wrapper on large plate.  Place filling on bottom third.  Flip sides over filling.  Roll up bottom side over filling. Roll up and place seam plate side down.

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From the time the challenge was set down by one of our guests, we cogitated long and hard on the right way to approach this particular halloween candy transformation. The end result seemed to have just the right combination of chocolate goodness and flaky crunchiness, and the hazelnuts gave a nice little smoky sweetness to it all.

• Phyllo pastry sheets (5 layers)
• 6 tbsp butter, melted
• 1/2 cup ground hazelnuts, toasted
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup Mariebelle drinking chocolate
• 1 1/4 cup boiling water
• 4 orange supremes

Prep phyllo sheets according to package directions. Clear a work area and spread out a sheet of parchment paper larger than the phyllo sheets. Lay out one sheet of phyllo, brush with melted butter, and sprinkle with sugar and hazelnuts, Lay on another sheet of phyllo, brush with butter and sprinkle with sugar and hazelnuts. Repeat with more layers until all 5 sheets are used; do not butter top layer of phyllo.

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter four pots of a muffin pan. Using a 6″ dish or plate as a template, cut four 6″ circles of the phyllo stacks. Press each stack into a muffin pot to create a phyllo bowl. Bake the phyllo bowls for 10-12 minutes, or until crisp and just beginning to brown. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Make the chocolate sauce according to the product directions:  In a heat-safe container, add 1 cup of Mariebelle Hot Chocolate powder to 1 1/4 cup of boiling water. Stir until smooth and well melted. If chocolate pieces do not melt completely, steam, simmer, or microwave, for 30 seconds. Set to cool in the fridge.

When ready to serve, remove phyllo cups from muffin pan and place on plates. Divide chocolate sauce among the four cups. Top with a sprinkling of toasted hazelnuts and an orange supreme. Serve. [Somehow, in our eagerness to eat this, we forgot to take photos of the finished product...use your imagination!]

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Ok, we’ll concede that butterscotch candies in your trick-or-treat sack were about as desirable as those individually-wrapped orange and black taffy candies, or a toothbrush, for that matter. But for our D4D, the main event was going to have to be butterscotch….or should I say butter and scotch! That’s right, this grown-up trick-or-treat includes a dish inspired by the haunted moors and firths we sampled on our recent trip to Scotland. Wrap it up in parchment paper with just the right twists at the ends, and the less desirable butterscotch candies become a surprising mouth-watering savory main dish.

• 4 salmon filets, skin removed
• 3 egg yolks
• 4 tbsp butter
• juice of one lime
• 3 tbsp scotch whiskey
• 12 morels (fresh, or rehydrated dried)
• 4 sprigs rosemary
• sea salt and black pepper
• parchment paper

Filet and skin the salmon, and cut into individual portions. Set aside. Set a double-boiler up with an inch of water in the bottom, and heat the water to just below boiling; remove from heat and add three egg yolks and lime juice to the top section of the double-boiler. Whisk until smooth, then add the butter in 1/2″ cubes. Melt while constantly stirring with whisk. When butter is incorporated and the mixture is smooth, remove top section and add scotch whiskey and stir until smooth.

Preheat oven to 425°. Cut four 16″ lengths of parchment. Spread a dollop of the sauce in the center of one sheet. Lay the salmon on top, dress with three morels, a sprig of rosemary, another dollop of sauce and salt and pepper to taste. Wrap up by folding the parchment lengthwise around the salmon; generally you want to have at least two layers of parchment on each side. Twist the ends for the wrapped-candy effect, and set on a cookie sheet. Repeat for each piece of salmon. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Serve as a wrapped package, and let your guests cut them open at the table…the blast of butter•scotch aroma is intoxicating.

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Our first trick or treat D4D course was a version of animal crackers. Since I always think of crackers as a savory snack, the idea was to make something of the misnomer of sweet, cookie-like animal crackers. I guess the trick here is that our Halloween crackers came in costume, disguised as less-than-scary butterflies, chicks, rabbits and duckies: Andra only had Easter cookie cutters.

• 1 cup grated Gruyere cheese
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 cup flour
• 4 tbsp butter, cut into 1/2″ cubes
• chives, snipped
• sea salt

Combine the cheeses, flour and butter in a food processor and process for 60-90 seconds, or until the mix starts to clump. Remove to a sheet of plastic wrap, and knead together. Wrap up in plastic wrap amd place in fridge for 1-2 hours, or overnight.

Remove dough from fridge and press flat on a sheet of parchment. Cover with plastic wrap and roll out using a rolling pin. The dough will be very dry, so you may need to work it a bit to get it to hold together. Once rolled out to a thickness of 1/8″, cut as many shapes as you can. Squeeze together the leftover scraps, roll out and repeat. For something less festive, you could roll the dough into a log, then slice rounds and use them as simple circular crackers.

Place cut crackers on a greased baking sheet, preferably non-stick. Sprinkle with snipped chives and sea salt. Heat oven to 350° and bake crackers until golden, about 12-15 minutes (you may want to rotate the pan once). Serve immediately, ideally with Kir Royales.

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The Lollipop Lollipop course was a fairly simple transformation project: Come up with a spherical outer casing or something that can be made to hold the shape of a ball, and stuff it with something chewy/gooey at the center, just like your favorite Tootsie Pop. Poke a stick into it, and presto. While the different potential combinations are limited only by your imagination, the expectation for this dinner was that each would be savory, each would provide a slight differentiation in texture, and each would provide a complementary color palette.

 The three versions became progressively more involved in preparation, but each is still a relatively simple concoction.

Mushroom and Scallop Pop

• two bite-sized Cremini mushrooms per lollipop
• one small bay scallop per lollipop

Stem the Cremini mushrooms and carefully scoop out a bit more from the inside of the cap, leaving a good-sized indentation. Reserve the stems and other leftovers for the Risotto Pops. Heat a skillet on high and melt a dollop of bacon grease. Just before the grease starts to smoke, set in the scallops and sear until almost opaque. Turn once and sear a bit longer until fully opaque, and remove to a bowl. Set the mushrooms in the pan next, sear for a couple of minutes, turn once, and sear for a minute more. Remove and let cool slightly. Sandwich one scallop between two facing mushrooms, and run a skewer through it to form a lollipop.

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Tomato Basil and Mozzarella Pop

• bite-sized cherry tomatoes (heirloom variety, if available)
• fresh mozzarella, cut suger-cube sized
• basil leaves, whole
• balsamic vinegar
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Cut into the tomatoes around the stem and carefully remove the core and seeds (a small grapefruit knife is helpful for this). Drizzle a bit of balsamic and olive oil inside,sprinkle in some salt and pepper, then stuff with the basil leaf and mozzarella. Skewer to form a lollipop.

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Risotto Fritter Pop

• 3 cups water
• 6-8 threads saffron
• 1/2 cup arborio rice
• 1 tbls butter
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup finely diced onion
• 1/2 cup finely diced mushroom
• 1/4 cup finely diced tomato
• 1 tbls tomato paste
• salt and pepper
• 3 eggs
• 2 tbls grated parmesan
• breadcrumbs
• fresh mozzarella cut into sugar-cubed sized portions
• olive oil for frying (1″ deep in pan)

Bring the water to just below boiling, reduce heat to low. Add saffron threads to water. Melt 1/2 tbls butter in a heavy pot over medium-low heat. Add rice and stir to coat and continue stirring for 3-4 minutes. Add a ladle-full of the saffron water to the rice, stir and simmer until absorbed; repeat with more water, one ladle-full at a time, until the rice is just al dente (about 12-15 minutes). While the rice is cooking, set a saute pan over medium heat, add olive oil, and saute onions and mushrooms until soft. Add tomatoes and tomato paste and 1/4 cup hot water, saute down to a dry sauce. Salt and pepper to taste. Add to rice.

Beat two eggs with parmesan. Stir the remaining butter and the egg/parmesan mixture into the rice. Simmer two more minutes, or until absorbed. Remove from heat and spread out in a roasting pan to cool.

Best the remaining egg in a shallow bowl, and pour breadcrumbs into a separate shallow bowl. Scoop a tablespoon of the rice mixture into your palm, form into a ball, and make a depression in it with your index finger. Insert a cube of mozzarella, and close rice ball around it. Coat in beaten egg and roll in breadcrumbs to coat. Repeat once more in egg and breadcrumbs, then set onto a plate. Repeat to make as many pops as you need. Cover plate of finished rice balls with plastic wrap and set in refrigerator for one hour or more.

When ready to serve, heat oil to 325°. Remove rice balls from fridge, and set into hot oil, turning as necessary until crispy and lightly browned. Remove to drain on paper towels. Skewer to form a lollipop. Serve with a dollop of Slather-brand sauce, or other compatible sauce.

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Crème Brûlée is one of my favorite desserts. It is a classic that is not too sweet or heavy, but provides a very smooth end to dinner.

When we started planning our Retro Dinner Party, we decided to update classic dishes with more current twists. Taking the classic custard and adding chocolate is a pretty interesting change and moves this from a light dessert to a rich indulgence.

I went searching for recipes for chocolate Crème Brûlées that I could update or change and found a recipe for Dark Chocolate Crème Brûlée on Epicurious. I read through the suggestions and decided to make my custard with all cream and more dark chocolate and to melt the sugar at the table as part of the excitement of dinner. Because I’m pretty cautious about separating egg yolks from whites and because I was extra careful about tempering the egg yolks by adding small amounts of the warm chocolate cream to the yolks, I skipped the straining step. You cannot rush adding the egg yolk mixture to the warm cream mixture. To rush causes the egg yolks to cook, and makes a terrible custard.

I call this Rich Super-Chocolate Crème Brûlée.  Just like Super Tuscan wine blends that produce a full-mouth of flavor, so does this incredibly rich chocolate custard. As a matter of fact, this is a lot like a chocolate ganache. For some this may be too heavy and too rich for their dessert, but coupled with the incredible meritage wine provided by Sandy, this Crème Brûlée was just right. As a matter of fact, it had us making positively orgiastic noises at the table.

Rich Super-Chocolate Crème Brûlée

4 cups whipping cream

12 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

8 large egg yolks

1/3 cup plus 8 tablespoons sugar

Preparation

Preheat oven to 300°F. Heat cream to the boiling point in a heavy large saucepan. Reduce heat to low. Add chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Whisk yolks and 1/3 cup sugar in large bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in hot chocolate mixture. Strain.

Divide custard among four individual au gratin dishes. Place each dish in a round cake pan and place in pre-heated stove. Add enough hot water to pan to come halfway up sides of cups. Bake until custards are set, about 50 minutes. (I baked mine a bit longer because it seemed they took more time to set.) Remove from water; place on cooling rack, allowing to cool for 2 hours. Cover and refrigerate.

To Brûlée

Sprinkle the top of each custard with 1 Tablespoon of granulated sugar. At the table, using your Brûlée torch, melt sugar until it is liquid. If you are garnishing it, have small bowls of whipped cream, raspberries or other fruits ready to allow you to quickly garnish and present to your guests.

**We were invited to add the widget below that links you to other Creme Brulee recipes on Foodista…so go on over there for more creamy custard delights and enjoy!

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