Recipe: Virginique (nonalcoholic mocktail)
July 3, 2009
What better way to celebrate a baby shower than with a summery, refreshing mocktail? If you want an alocholic version of this, just add vodka or rum and replace the elderflower syrup with St. Germaine or some other elderflower liqueur.
Virginique
makes: 1 mocktail
1 oz elderflower syrup
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
3 oz club soda
ice cubes
lime wheel for garnish
Directions
1. Mix together elderflower syrup, lime juice and club soda in a low ball glass. Add ice cubes and garnish with the lime wheel.
Recipe: Lemony Grilled Asparagus with Goat Cheese
July 3, 2009
Here is another recipe included in the baby shower menu for my friend last week. It’s a Pip’s Plate original, and we sort of winged it last Sunday. It turned out incredibly yummy – this recipe is a great way to jazz up plain boring grilled asparagus.
We served this alongside Grilled Turkey, Bacon and Blue Cheese Sandwiches.
Lemony Grilled Asparagus with Goat Cheese
makes: 12 servings (6 pieces of asparagus per person)
Grilled Asparagus
3 bundles of asparagus (enough for 6 spears per person)
juice of 1 lemon
3 T olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Garnishes
1 lemon for zesting
3 oz chevre goat cheese
Directions
1. Prepare the asparagus by bending it from each end to determine the ripe part of the asparagus. Snap off the woody ends – you don’t want to eat these.
2. Whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Dress the asparagus and let marinate in a plastic bag for at least 20 minutes.
3. Heat grill to medium high heat. Put asparagus directly onto the grill. Cook for about 8 minutes, turning occasionally to avoid burning.
4. Remove from grill. You can place them on a platter or you can put them on individual plates for serving. Either way, once the asparagus is on a plate, use a microplane grater to zest the lemon over the asparagus. You should use the entire lemon. Then, take the chevre and crumble it on top of the asparagus.
Recipe: Watermelon, Feta and Mint Salad
July 3, 2009
Here is another recipe included in the menu for my friend’s baby shower last week. It’s refreshing, but make sure you are making this when watermelon is in season – the success of this recipe is heavily dependent upon a great tasting watermelon.
We served this along side the Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps as part of the first course.
served in ramekins so the juice wouldn't run into the lettuce wraps
Watermelon, Feta and Mint Salad
makes: 12 servings (about 1 cup each)
3 cups 2-inch chunks fresh watermelon
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 T chopped fresh mint
Directions
1. Combine all ingredients together in a bowl then serve. It’s that easy.
Recipe: Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps
July 3, 2009
Here is another recipe included on the menu for my friend’s baby shower last week. Something else she loves other than grilled turkey and bacon sandwiches? Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps. We wanted to make something with a peanut dressing, so we ended up at this one.
We served this with the Watermelon Feta and Mint Salad in a little ramekin side bowl.
This is a great summer salad recipe, too. You don’t have to put it in the lettuce wraps – instead, you can just mix it up, leave it in the fridge and have it around for a satisfying and pretty healthy snack.
Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps
makes: 36 lettuce wraps (plus some leftover salad for later)
Peanut Dressing
8 large garlic cloves
1/2 cup soy sauce
2/3 cup fresh lime juice
4 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons peanut butter (smooth or chunky – it doesn’t matter)
4 teaspoons chopped peeled fresh ginger root
1 Tablespoon chili garlic sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Salad
9 oz rice stick noodles (vermicelli size – very thin)
2 pounds boneless, skinless hormone-free chicken breasts
3 medium carrots, peeled and julienned (cut into about 3-inch long pieces)
3 medium cucumbers, peeled seeded and julienned (cut into about 3-inch long pieces)
1 cup shelled edamame (soy beans)
1/3 cup coarsely chopped roasted salted peanuts
2 heads Boston or Bibb lettuce, washed
Directions
1. To make the dressing, combine garlic through pepper in a food processor. Process until smooth, then add oil to combine all ingredients. Put half aside for the salad dressing, and use the remaining half to marinate the chicken breasts.
2. Cook rice noodles according to package. When drained, cut the noodles into 3-4 inch pieces using a scissors then add to a large mixing bowl.
3. Cook the chicken. You may grill or roast the chicken. We grilled the chicken since it was such a beautiful day and we didn’t want to heat the house too much before the guests came over.
- To Grill: Heat grill to medium-high heat. Cook chicken for about 10-12 minutes, turning once.
- To Roast: Heat oven to 375 degrees. Place chicken in a roasting pan and roast for about 12-15 minutes.
When chicken is cooked through, move to a cutting board and slice. Add chicken to the noodle bowl.
4. Add carrots, cucumbers and edamame to the noodle and chicken bowl. Toss with the reserved peanut dressing.
5. To assemble, put about 1/2 cup of the noodle salad into one leave of lettuce. Serve with crushed peanuts as a garnish.
This recipe was a part of the baby shower I recently threw with 2 friends. It was a huge hit! Really quite delicious: savory, crunchy, smooth – the textures in this sandwich were out of this world.
If you’re worried about the blue cheese overpowering the flavor in this sandwich, I wouldn’t worry. Mixing it with the mayo mellows the flavor. You can also choose a milder blue cheese such as gorgonzola. Even blue cheese haters at the table loved this sandwich! This would also be a great turkey sandwich with leftover turkey from Thanksgiving.
We served these with Lemony Grilled Asparagus with Goat Cheese.
I realize that damn green tray shows up in a lot of my pictures – as pointed out by the owner, Maxine. Apparently because it sits on top of her microwave, it tends to be the first thing I reach for. Oh well.
The sandwiches before hitting the grill
Grilled Turkey, Bacon and Blue Cheese Sandwiches
makes: 12 sandwiches
this can easily be cut in half to make only 6 sandwiches
18 slices bacon (not thick cut)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 1/2 pounds of thinly sliced turkey
1 small head of radicchio
12 large slices good bread (ciabatta works well)
1 stick of butter at room temperature
Directions
1. Cook bacon until crispy. I like to bake it in the oven at 400 for about 12-15 minutes. Drain on a paper towel.
2. Mix mayo and blue cheese together.
3. Create an assembly line to put the sandwiches together in this order:
- First, butter one side of all bread slices.
- Second, spread blue cheese mixture on the other side of all bread slices.
- Third, divide turkey slices evenly among 6 slices of bread.
- Fourth, add 2-3 pieces of radicchio on top of the turkey.
- Fifth, add 3 pieces of bacon on top of the radicchio.
- Lastly, top each sandwich with the other side of bread.
4. Heat your grill to medium (about 350 degrees). When it’s ready, put the sandwiches on the grill. Grill each side for about 5-6 minutes or until bread is nicely toasted.
5. Cut each sandwich in half and serve.
Gourmet Club: April 12, 2008
April 26, 2008
After the brilliant success of our first Gourmet Club meeting back in January, I immediately went home and started scavenging the internet for braised short rib recipes – because it doesn’t get much better than that. And man oh man….it doesn’t.
Nicole and I were serving the main course this time, which also meant we would be hosting it at my house. I first thought an Asian inspired short rib recipe would be exactly what I was looking for. Until I found this recipe: Brasato al Barolo (Braised Short Ribs with Pumpkin Orzo and Horseradish Gremolata). YUM.
Then I thought…wait a second, this is from Mario Batali’s restaurant Babbo cookbook…hmmm…why does that sound familiar? Then it dawned on me! I finished a book at the end of November titled “Heat” – which is now one of my favorite books – about Bill Buford working for Mario Batali and traveling through Italy. Well, this dish is mentioned in great detail. I looked it up, laughed at the descriptions (it’s violently vulgar), and said “sign me up! this is the dish!”
I read some more about the region this dish comes from – Emilia Romagna in northern Italy and discovered this from wikipedia:
The city of Bologna is famous for its superb cuisine. Perhaps less well known is the fact that it lies at the heart of Emilia Romagna, a region celebrated both in Italy and abroad for the range and quality of its culinary delights. From the Adriatic coast of Ravenna and Forlì to the inland plains and river vallleys of Parma, Piacenza, and Modena, Emila Romagna is richly blessed with prime produce and ingenious cooks.
We preordered short ribs (not flank style but the cut with one bone per rib) and picked them up early that Saturday along with all the other ingredients, then went back to my place to get everything prepped. Have you ever grated fresh horseradish? It is STRONG. And it’s fleshy and weird – it kind of creeped me out a bit.
Either way, the dish was hands down the best dish I’ve ever made. It was simple enough to do again, although somewhat time intensive as it requires a long time in the oven. Although the recipe says to braise at 375 for 2 hours, the next time I would braise at 350 for 3 hours.
The table setting had an Italian theme with reds, greens, and yellows.
Here is the menu:
First Course
Antipasto platter of assorted meats, cheeses, olives, and breads
Paired with: Tommasi Poggio al Tufo Rompicollo, Maremma Tuscana, 2004
Second Course
Tagliatelle with Mussels, Clams and Pesto
Paired with: Tamellini Soave, 2005 (excellent wine)
Third Course
Braised Short Ribs with Pumpkin Orzo and Horseradish Gremolata
Paired with: Josetta Saffirio Barolo, 2002
*A special note about the wine: there is this fellow who suggests wine at the place I love to go (Hennepin Lake Liquors in Uptown – their selection and prices are unbeatable) who, in the past, has had a very low success rate at suggesting wines for me. My strategy for Sat? Avoid him AT ALL COSTS. Well…that unfortunately didn’t happen as another worker pointed me directly to him and there was no one else in the store. F*****ck. He ended up suggesting this wine and it was excellent. Thank god. It was $40/bottle and we bought 2. Josetta Saffirio learned how to make wine from her mom and dad, who are both professors of winemaking in Italy. This is her second or third vintage and only makes 3,000 cases a year.
Fourth Course
Various Cheeses: Taleggio served with honeycomb, Pecorino ginepro served with balsamic reduction and olive oil, Sottocenere al Tartufo, Blu del Moncenisio with fig pear spread, Valsesia Toma with fig pear spread, La Tur with honeycomb
Paired with: Ruvei Barbera d’Alba, 2005
Fifth Course
Panna Cotta with fresh strawberries and blackberries
Paired with: Felsina vin Santo Chianti Classico, 1999
recipes after the jump
Read the rest of this entry »
Gourmet Club: Take 1
February 6, 2008
It seems like my friends and I have been talking forever about starting a gourmet club. You get a group of people together, everyone cooks, you drink wine, and have a great time. I know, it sounds like every weekend with my friends. But honestly, this is different!
Last fall we finally got our shit together and decided to schedule the first one in January. Ten people decided to join, which includes 4 couples and 2 singles so we paired up into groups of 2. Nicole’s boyfriend wasn’t interested, so she and I got paired up.
The idea is that whoever hosts that night chooses the theme and main course. January was the month of Gascony, France. Home to luxurious ingredients like foie gras and duck confit, as well as fishing, wine making and brandy distilling. The host decided to make duck confit and sent us info on Gascony.
I was responsible for the third course and it turned out that would be salad for the evening. First course was hors d’oeuvres, second course was garlic soup (YUM!) and the last course was dessert.
So the evening turned out pretty nice. Until the oven broke. Hahahah. I know we’ll look back in a couple years and say, “Remember our first gourmet club and Molly’s oven broke? And we had to use her upstairs neighbor’s? Ha!”
We went through plenty of wine and plenty of food…
First Course
Radishes with chive butter
Warm olives with rosemary, garlic and lemon
Escargot in herbed cream served on crostini
Paired with Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Champagne 2004
Second Course
Garlic Soup with truffle oil (yeah, forgot the truffle oil, woops!)
Paired with Chateau Grande Cassagne Rose – Costieres de Nimes 2006 (I’ve had this rose many times and it tasted absolutely scrumptious with this soup!)
Third Course
Baked Goat Cheese Salad
Paired with Villa Burdigala Bordeaux Millesime 2004
Fourth Course
Duck confit with cinnamon sauteed apples and carrots
Paired with 100% Cab Franc – Chinon Les Petites Roches 2006
Fifth Course
Apple Brandy Tatin
Paired with Larressingle Armagnac and Dow’s 10 Year Tawny Port
recipes after the jump
Read the rest of this entry »
Steamed Pork Dumplings
February 10, 2007
This is one of my favorite appetizers to make. It’s easy, healthy, and delicious.
Steamed Pork Dumplings
1/2# ground pork
1 1/2 t grated fresh ginger root
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 small carrot, grated
1/2 c grated purple cabbage
1 T tamari
1 1/2 t sesame oil
1 egg beaten
salt + pepper
optional spicy version: add 1/2 t Sriracha
40 wonton skins
Boil water in a large pot with a bamboo steamer on top.
Mix together pork through salt + pepper. Put some warm water in a small dish. Lay out wonton skins on flat surface. Spoon about 1-2 t of pork mixture onto wonton skin. Wet your finger and run it along the edges of the wonton. Grab two opposite ends of the wonton and pull them up and connect them (the water will bind it together). Then grab the other two ends and pull them up and bind them with the other 2 sides. It will create a sqaure with a fluted top.
Place prepared dumplings onto bamboo steamer. Steam for about 12-15 minutes.
Serve with a teriyaki or sesame/ginger/soy dipping sauce.
If you’re looking to pair this with wine, try a Gewurtzaminer or Riesling. Those wines match very well with Asian foods.
