Menu
Salad:
Spinach Salad with Blue Cheese, Spiced Walnuts, Pears, and Port
Vinaigrette
(Ruth Hofmann)
Main
Course:
Chateaubriand
(Casey Klimasauskas)
Wine:
Yellowtail Shiraz
(Ivan Hofmann)
Starch:
Garlic Baked Potatoes
(Carole Battisti)
Desert:
Banana Ice Cream Sundaes
(Jane Klimasauskas)
SPINACH
SALAD WITH BLUE CHEESE, SPICED WALNUTS, PEARS, AND PORT VINAIGRETTE
Ruth Hofmann
4 servings
SPICED WALNUTS
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 large egg white
Pinch of ground nutmeg
Pinch of ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground ginger
Pinch of ground cloves
Pinch of ground cumin
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Pinch of salt
1 ¼ cups walnut halves
SALAD
1 750 ml bottle ruby Port
½ cup sugar
5 whole cloves
3 whole allspice
2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
2 firm but ripe Anjou pears, peeled
2 tablespoons chopped shallots
1 garlic clove, minced
¼ cup Champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
¾ cup olive oil
4 ounces Maytag blue cheese, crumbled (about 1 cup)
2 - 5 ounce bags baby spinach leaves
FOR SPICED WALNUTS:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line baking sheet with foil. Spray foil lightly
with nonstick spray. Whisk egg white and next 7 ingredients in medium
bowl to blend. Add walnuts and toss to coat well. Spread walnuts in single
layer on prepared baking sheet. Bake until walnuts are dry, about 14 minutes.
Cool walnuts completely. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Store in airtight
container at room temperature.)
FOR SALAD:
Bring Port, sugar, cloves, allspice, and cinnamon to boil in heavy small
saucepan, stirring until sugar melts. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add pears,
cover and simmer until tender when pierced with knife, turning pears every
5 minutes, about 20 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Let cool uncovered
20 minutes, turning pears once. Refrigerate pan uncovered until pears
are chilled, turning every ½ hour, for about 1 ½ hours. (Can be made
1 day ahead. Cover and keep refrigerated.)
Remove pears from poaching liquid: reserve liquid. Cut pears lengthwise
into quarters and core. Cut lengthwise into ¼ inch thick slices. Set pear
slices aside. Boil ½ cup pear poaching liquid, shallots, and garlic in
small saucepan over medium-high heat until reduced to ¼ cup, about 3 minutes.
Transfer mixture to medium, bowl and cool to room temperature. Whisk in
vinegar and mustard. Gradually whisk in olive oil. Season dressing to
taste with salt and pepper.
Arrange pears slices around edges of 4 plates. Sprinkle crumbled blue
cheese between pear slices. Toss spinach and ½ cup dressing in large bowl
to coat; mound in center of plates. Serve, passing remaining dressing
separately.
CHATEAUBRIAND
(a recipe from David Rafalko)
Casey Klimasauskas
8 Servings
Whole tender lion
filet (6-8 pounds) [Giant Eagle or Sam's Club]
Peanut Oil
Fresh Coarse Ground Black Pepper Corns (approximately 1/4 cup)
Roasting pan with elevated wire grate
Meat thermometer
When you purchase the filet, have the butcher trim the fat, tendon (silver
skin), and cap muscle. The result should be 14-18 inches long, 4 inches
in diameter in the middle, and tapered at the ends. (Note: You can
use the cap muscle for making stroganoff, steak tartar, or beef stew.)
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. It is important that you use a roasting
pan with an elevated wire grate. This allows the meat to be heated evenly.
The alternative (found in some recipes) is to turn the meat every 3-5
minutes. I used a large roasting pan (typically used for roasting turkey),
and bent a wire cooling grate (used for cookies) into a "v"
shape (90 degree angle).
Coarse grind approximately 1/4 cup of fresh black pepper corn. Brush the
meat thoroughly with peanut oil. Sprinkle the ground pepper on the meat,
rolling it to press the pepper into the meat. The meat should be encrusted
in pepper. Put the meat on the wire grate in the roasting pan. Insert
the meat thermometer into the center of the thickest part.
Cook at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes and then start checking the meat
thermometer every 2-3 minutes. Once the temperature gets to about 120
degrees, it will start to rise quickly. When it says "rare",
remove it from the oven. It will actually cook one level beyond where
it is when you remove it. Cooking to "rare" will actually cook
to "medium rare". Place aluminum foil over the roasting pan.
Let it sit on the counter for 10 minutes. Remove, slice and serve.
Yellowtail Shiraz
Ivan Hofmann
The wine was an Australian wine, Yellowtail Shiraz, I read about it in
the Wall Street Journal. It is rather inexpensive and excellent - it received
a 92 rating if I recall. Yellowtail also has an excellent Cabranet if
you can find it.
Garlic
Baked Potatoes
Carole Battisti
Servings (depends
on number of potatoes)
Klondike Gold potatoes
Olive oil
Basil
Oregano
Garlic powder (California style)
Grated parmesan cheese
Italian bread crumbs
I made this dish
up, so I can't tell you how many cups, tsp, tbsp, or sprinkles I used.
The number of potatoes depends on the number of diners. Quarter the potatoes
(quarter size will depend on the size of potatoes used) and place them
in a large bowl. Pour olive oil over the potatoes and mix to coat. Add
basil, a little oregano, minced garlic and garlic powder (I use the California
Style garlic powder), grated Parmesan, and a little sprinkle of Italian
bread crumbs. Use your hands and get in that bowl and mix the potatoes
until coated with the ingredients. Spread the potatoes in a casserole
dish so you have a single layer. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour.
Test the potatoes before serving to make sure they're tender - if not,
leave them in the oven a little longer!!
BANANA
ICE CREAM SUNDAE
Jane Klimasauskas
8 Servings
BANANA ICE CREAM (makes
2+ quarts)
4 large eggs
1½ cups sugar
4 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
6 over-ripe bananas
2 tbs of lemon juice
10 pounds crushed ice
2 pounds canning salt
2 quart capacity ice cream maker
CHOCOLATE SAUCE
1 can Hershey's chocolate syrup
½ cup Hershey's cocoa
STRAWBERRY SAUCE
3 cups of frozen Strawberries, defrosted
The ice cream recipe is adapted from Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream &
Dessert Book. Prepare the ice cream maker. We have both a "High Tech"
and low-tech ice cream maker. We have found that the low-tech one where
you use ice and salt works best. Though any kind of salt can be used,
the canning salt is "clean" and you need not be concerned about
any unwanted substances in it that might contaminate the ice cream.
Beat the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. One of the keys
is to get them as light and fluffy as possible as if you were making a
souffle. Add the sugar a little at a time, beating it until all of it
has been added. Beat in the cream and whole milk. Add the mixture to the
ice cream maker container. Layer ice and salt around the outside of the
central container. Layers should be 1-2 inches thick. Start the ice cream
maker.
While the ice cream is freezing, mash the bananas and lemon juice until
smooth. After the ice cream stiffens, blend the bananas into the mixture
and put it a container in the freezer. (Note: This recipe uses more
bananas than called for by Ben & Jerry.)
Prepare the chocolate sauce by pouring the chocolate syrup into a sauce
pan and heating on low. Slowly mix in the cocoa dissolving it. Set aside
to cool.
When you are ready to serve desert, put ice cream into a desert cup and
top with chocolate sauce and strawberries. When defrosted, the frozen
strawberries have a nice "stawberry juice" that you do not get
with fresh strawberries. This makes for a nice topping.
|
