Welcome to the Party!
Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! The weeks leading up to the holidays were full of lots of running. My idea of using the Sunday dinners up until Christmas to practice components of my debut family dinner party worked out pretty well, but I decided not to post the compellation until after the big day. This is mostly because I didn't want to ruin the surprise for my family members who read my blog. That's why I'll do a recap of weeks 14-17 all in one post.
January 2, 2010 - MENU
Appetizers:
Savory Party Bread (Pictured above)
Fruit Platter
Cranberry-Mandarin Blue Cheese Salad
Main Course:
Beef Tenderloin with Roasted Shallot-Port Sauce
Side Dishes:
Garlic Smashed Potatoes
Tossed Green and Yellow Beans
Dessert:
Molten Chocolate Cake
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Savory Party Bread:
1 lb. round sourdough loaf
1 lb. Monterey Jack cheese (block)
1/2 cup butter melted
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
2 tsp poppy seeds
Directions:
1. Cut bread in cross hatch pattern, lengthwise and crosswise several times as in picture above, without cutting through bottom or crust. (This gets easier with practice.) Cut cheese in small pieces and insert into cuts.
2. Cut green onions and sprinkle over the bread.
3. Melt butter and pour over bread sprinkle poppy seeds on top of bread.
4. Bake at 350 degrees on cookie sheet, covered with foil for approximately 30 minutes or until cheese appears to be fully melted.
My Commentary:
This is a special recipe to me. Not only was it one of my mom's, it was one that we actually made together many times. It's one of my dad and my brother's favorites for that reason too. Once you get the hang of it, it's really simple. The cutting may feel clumsy at first, but its a breeze after you've made it a few times. The great thing is that you can do the first two steps the morning of the party and keep it in the fridge until you're ready for your party. A few important notes: Make sure you try to spread the bread apart a bit so it doesn't act like an insulator for the cheese while its baking...want the cheese to melt pretty thoroughly for best results. Baking it on a cookie sheet also helps this problem. Also, keep the bread covered with foil so the green onions do not singe in the heat. To add some extra tang to this recipe, you can make it with a cheese of your choice, other than Monterey Jack. In a pinch, I've done some cheddar-jack mixes and it's turned out well. Use your imagination!
Cranberry Mandarin Blue Cheese Salad (based on Joy Chou's recipe at All Recipes.com)
Romaine Lettuce (2 prewashed bags)
Baby Spinach (1 prewashed bag)
1 1/2 cups sweetened dried cranberries
1 (20oz) can Mandarin Oranges
8 ounces crumbled Blue Cheese
1 1/4 cups chopped walnuts
Raspberry-Pecan Dressing (I used the Ken's)
Directions:
1. Toss ingredients together in large serving bowl, reserving dressing for guests to add on their own.
My Commentary:
I'm not a salad girl myself, but this one got rave reviews. As a general rule, I think fruit in salads is a great idea. Those are truly the only salads that I'll eat. Great mix of flavors and textures overall.
Fruit Platter
I used a variety of fresh fruits for this. I get my fruit at Sam's Club, and the fruit makes my membership worth it. I used strawberries, red and green grapes, blackberries, raspberries, and orange slices. The fruit platter, while technically not difficult, was just a really beautiful part of my table. It goes along with my theory that sometimes simple things, presented artistically on a nice plate/platter can make a big impact.
Beef Tenderloin with Shallot Port Sauce (based on Christine L's recipe on All Recipes.com)
3/4 pound shallots, halved lengthwise and peeled
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oilsalt and pepper to taste
3 cups beef broth
3/4 cup port wine
1 1/2 teaspoons tomato paste
2 pounds beef tenderloin roast, trimmed (or individual cuts of filet mignon)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In 9 inch pie pan, toss shallots with oil to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Roast until shallots are deep brown and very tender, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. In food processor, blend shallots until smooth.
2.In a large saucepan, combine beef broth and port. Bring to a boil. Cook over high heat until the volume is reduced by half, about 30 minutes. Whisk in tomato paste. Set aside. (This step can be done ahead of time)
3.Pat beef dry; sprinkle with thyme, salt and pepper. Heat a large pan on the stove top with a small amount of oil. Add beef to pan; brown on all sides over medium high heat, about 7 minutes.
4.Transfer meet to oven roasting pan. Roast beef until meat thermometer inserted into center registers 125 degrees F for medium rare, about 25 minutes. Transfer beef to platter. Tent loosely with foil.
5.Reheat broth/port reduction in pan, and bring to boil. Add in blended shallot mixture. Mix melted butter and flour in small bowl to form smooth paste; whisk into port/shallot mixture, and simmer until sauce thickens.
6.Cut beef into 1/2 inch thick slices. Serve with port-shallot sauce.
My commentary:
Wow! I love this stuff! The first time I did my trial run, I learned a few things. It makes a ton of dishes, so it's smart to do the parts ahead of time that you are able to. You can make the port/broth reduction up to 1 day ahead and bake and blend the shallots a few hours before the party. It will save you time and clean up after your guests have arrived. One warning about the port/broth reduction...put it an a larger pot than you would anticipate...something about the alcohol content in the port makes it boil fast and furiously, and it boiled over on me 3 times on my practice day. Also...pay attention to it and don't walk away. On party day, I let it "reduce" a bit too long, and ended up needing to make an extra batch because I didn't have enough. In terms of your cut of meat, it was most economical for me to purchase individual filets because of the small number of guests I was having. I served each steak with the port-shallot sauce on the side in a beautiful small bowl.
Garlic Smashed Potatoes and Tossed Green and Yellow Beans: I put so much time and energy into the rest of the meal and preparations that the sides were your pretty standard, run of the mill starch and vegetable. Since this post is getting excessivly lengthy, I won't post the recipes here unless someone is interested in them. If so, just let me know.
My dessert, Molten Chocolate Cake has appeared in my blog before in Week 7, found here. (Just try to ignore the other recipe listed at the week, because it wasn't one of my better ones.) These individual portion cakes are restaurant quality and make you look like a 5 star pastry chef! Once again, this goes along with my theory that sometimes, the fewer ingredients and the simpler the concept, the better the end result. One thing that the recipe neglects to mention is that during preparation of the batter, you need to temper the eggs, in order to prevent them from curdling when adding the hot ingredients. Cuisine at Home shows the technique in the short video clip found here. This is another great thing to prepare early and stash in the fridge until your guests have arrived. Just try to remember to take it out of the fridge to get the batter at least close to room temperature before baking. If you don't, you'll just need to bake it for a bit longer. I prepare my cakes in an oversized muffin pan, however ramekins are another option.
So I'm just about caught up on my posting. I'll be adding one more post (my French Onion soup disaster) sometime between now and Sunday. That wraps up the cooking portion of tody's post. Before I go, I'll leave you with my wish of a
Happy
Healthy
Fullfilling
2010
to ALL!
