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The New Year is fast approaching and you may be thinking about a gourmet dinner for a group of close friends or just with your special someone. Since you want to concentrate on celebrating, rather than always keeping an eye on the kitchen, choose a menu that’s luxurious but not time consuming to prepare. Truffle oil imparts an unmistakable rich earthy aroma and flavor that’s delicate at the same time. Like truffle mushrooms add truffle oil to a dish at the last minute. Cooking dissipates the truffle’s flavor and aroma. End this year and bring in the New Year with a memorable midnight breakfast focused on truffles.

Start with a salad of tangy pink grapefruit sections, smooth avocado slices and crisp butter lettuce dressed with walnut oil. Peel the grapefruit over a bowl and use the juice instead of vinegar with the walnut oil. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds and walnut halves for crunch.

Scrambled eggs may seem mundane but not when served with a petite filet mignon steak and garnished with shaved white truffles. The creaminess of the eggs plays off the richness of the beef and lets the flavor of the truffles come through. Beat two eggs per person ahead of time. Add 1/4 cup of heavy cream — it is a holiday so now’s not the time to worry about that diet. Keep in the fridge until the steaks are done. Sear the steaks in a heavy skillet for a minute each side. Finish in the oven until medium rare — between five to seven minutes depending on how thick the steaks are. Scramble the eggs while the steaks rest. Shave the white truffles over the hot scrambled eggs right before you take them out of the pan. Stir through. The ambient heat will cook the truffles just enough. Heaven on a plate. If you’re feeling really decadent drizzle of few drops of truffle oil over the steak.

Finish the meal with chocolate truffles, the candy made from heavy cream and dark chocolate. Of course champagne is your drink. If you feel you must obey custom and drink a red with the beef try a lighter merlot rather than a heavy burgundy.

Truffles are a fungi, just like other mushrooms such as button, As hard as people have tried it’s not possible to grow truffles on a commercial basis. Truffles grow where and when they want. They’re found by dogs trained to uncover them by their scent. Pigs have a very sensitive sense of smell and used to be used to hunt truffles. Unfortunately pigs love to eat truffles as much as sophisticated chefs and gourmands. Ever try to take food away from a 300 pound sow? Not easy.

December 28, 2011

Dinner Menus for St. Patrick’s Day

St Patrick’ Day is a holiday for both adults and children. It doesn’t matter if you’re Irish or Italian, you still get to wear the green and look for that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  Putting together a St. Paddy’s day dinner menu is a snap. Use low fat ingredients to keep them healthy dinner recipes.

Traditional Irish St. Patrick’s Menu

Corned beef and cabbage: add carrots and potatoes.  Believe it or not, ids like corned beef and will most likely eat two out of the three side dishes, especially if displayed in separate dishes. You can buy prepared corned beef at the grocery store deli. The potatoes can be ready to heat and serve.  Carrots can be carrot sticks or baby carrots.   Serve with bread or rolls. This is an easy dinner if you don’t want to cook.

All American St. Patrick’s Menu

Hot dogs served with pickle relish, “green” ketchup and “green” mustard.  Add liquid green food coloring to change both to green colors. Ketchup takes more color to change and is sort of a brownish green.  Be sure to label them, they end up looking the same.

Cole slaw can be store bought or homemade. Homemade is one package of shredded cabbage or bagged coleslaw mix.  Add ½ cup of mayonnaise, a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, and a tablespoon of sugar. Mix well. Salt to taste.

Crackers with green cream cheese spread or cheese wiz/spray sprinkled with dried or fresh parsley.

Green apple salad:  Here is a fast easy recipe: 3 chopped green apples with skin on, 1 cup of chopped celery, ½ cup chopped walnuts, 1 cup of green grapes, 1/4 – 1/2 cup of mayo.  Salt and pepper if desired. Mix everything together in a bowl with a fair amount of mayo coating all ingredients. Use enough mayo so that the ingredients can absorb the mayo. Refrigerate at least two hours.

Italian St. Patrick’s Menu

Spinach pasta with Alfredo sauce.  Sprinkle minced parsley or basil over top for more “green” effect or your choice of plain pasta with pesto sauce. Serve pesto on the side if you want to have plain pasta for the children available, although kids like pesto sauce.

Baked French bread: Take loaf of French bread and cut lengthwise.  Spread butter or margarine on both halves. Sprinkle grated parmesan cheese, parsley, and basil. Bake in a 350 degree oven watching carefully. Bake until toasted.

Cooked asparagus or broccoli with melted Velveeta cheese. Caesar salad or simple garden salad with Italian dressing.

Mexican Food St. Patrick’s Menu

Tostadas: Top corn tostadas with warm refried beans, cheddar cheese and shredded lettuce.  Top with green salsa or verde sauce.  You can add taco seasoned hamburger if you like, just end up with the green lettuce and salsa on the top.

Cheese Quesadillas topped with sprinkled parsley or cilantro.

Nacho cheese dip: Melted pasteurized process cheese spread with green color added.

Guacamole: Homemade or store bought.  Guacamole is easy to make, simply mash an avocado.  Add finely chopped onions and tomatoes and hot sauce.

Serve with tortilla chips

Corn muffins- Use favorite corn muffin mix add diced green bell pepper or chopped cilantro, jalapeno and/or cheese. Any combination works well. You can add some green food coloring if you like. Bake Following the muffin mix directions.

Valentine’s Day is probably one of the most difficult days to make dinner reservations at a restaurant. You’ll be lucky to find a spot at your local fast food joint.  Don’t let that stop you from giving your special someone a scrumptious Valentine’s dinner. The trick is to make it yourself. No cooking skills? No problem. If you can shop and chop you can put this dinner together.  If you want to stick with a healthy dinner recipe, omit the cream in the avocado soup and use olive oil instead of butter with the vegetables.

Spicy Shrimp Cocktail

Fat, sweet, juicy shrimp served in a martini glass and dolloped with a savory spicy sauce starts off your dinner with class.  Purchase eight, big, peeled, deveined and cooked shrimp with their tails intact. Fill the bottom of the martini glass with chopped lettuce.  You’ll find lettuce ready to serve in the produce section.  Chop the lettuce into fine shreds.  Mix purchased seafood cocktail sauce with a squeeze of lemon juice and a few drops of hot sauce.  Place two tablespoons of the sauce right on top of the lettuce. Hook the tops of the shrimp around the rim of the glass so their tails are inside the glass.

Smooth and Creamy Cold Avocado Soup

The light green color of this sauce complements the pink of the shrimp. Purchase a package of guacamole.  Put it in a blender with one cup of cream, once cup of cold canned chicken broth and the juice of half a lime.  Blend till smooth.  Keep icy cold until served. Second soup course of your Valentine’s dinner is complete so on to the entrée.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Don’t panic.  You won’t be actually cooking the chicken. The deli section has roasted chicken breasts — as well as other parts but you won’t be needing them. Purchase three breasts, that gives you an extra.  While you’re at the deli counter purchase 1/4 pound of prosciutto and 1/4 pound of parmesan cheese, both sliced thinly.   If you can’t find prosciutto which is a highly flavored air-dried Italian ham, substitute another good quality ham.  Make a slit in the chicken breast to form a pocket.  Stuff in two slices of prosciutto and two slices of parmesan cheese.  Wrap each breast in aluminum foil so it doesn’t dry out.  Reheat in a 350 F. degree oven for about 20 minutes until the chicken is heated through and the cheese has melted. Unwrap before serving.

Side Dishes

You don’t need much for side dishes, a vegetable and potato or two vegetables.  Go to the produce section and find the bags of baby vegetables that are pre-cleaned and ready to cook in the bag.  Sometimes they’re called steamers.  Steam in the microwave per package directions.  Melt a tablespoon of butter — yes real butter — and drizzle over the veggies right before serving.

Dessert

No Valentine’s Day dinner would be complete without chocolate and strawberries.  Chocolate covered strawberries are available this time of year all ready for you.  But it’s more fun to dip your own.  Clean large berries under running water.  Pat dry.  Arrange the berries on a plate with a mound of whipped cream, a small bowl of brown sugar, small bowl of powdered sugar and small bowl of chocolate syrup, the kind you use to make chocolate milk. Dip to your and your sweetheart’s content.

Holiday time is gift giving time. Cooks are making batches of jellies and jams, pickles and relishes, sauces and chutneys, while bakers are decorating cookies, cakes and breads.

If you love food and have a sense of adventure consider giving that special someone their choice of experience days. You may be asking yourself exactly what an “experience day” is. Well it’s a day they’ll never forget. Choose from a hot air balloon ride at sunrise with a scrumptious breakfast included, or a mini spa day for two with delectable cuisine for lunch. If your significant other has always wanted to drive a Ferrari, rent one for the day. Pack a lunch of duck pate, water crackers, fresh fruit, and smoked turkey sandwiches slathered with bacon, avocado and spicy chipotle mayonnaise.

It’s no mystery that Agatha Christie chose the Orient Express as the setting of one of her best known books, “Murder on the Orient Express,” also made into a movie, more than once, by the way. The Northern Belle was designed to travel inland in Britain, while the Pullman Express was outfitted in over-the-top luxury to ferry passengers to the luxury liners.

While a full overnight trip may be out of the budget both wallet and time wise, one of the orient express day trips might fill that gift box perfectly. It’s perfect for anyone who has a sense of adventure and taste for the exotic. And speaking of taste there’s the food.

Start with fresh salmon and crayfish napped with a delicate but bright lemon mustard dressing. The soup course is always seasonal to take advantage of the ripest vegetables accented with chives and cream. And how could you travel the English countryside on the Orient Express Pullman Express and not order rare roast beef paired with crisp dauphinoise potatoes for dinner? Of course, you’ll enjoy a cheese course before a rich and satisfying pudding, perhaps custard over a dense fragrant vanilla scented cake smothered in fresh berries.

And that’s just one of the menu choices. There’s also rare juicy lamp chops, seared pork served with apples or succulent chicken breast stuffed with ham.

December 3, 2011

If the kids are telling you they’re dying of hunger and you’ve got only 30 minutes before you have to get junior to the soccer game, and you to the PTO meeting, don’t panic. You’ve got time to make chicken wraps, a fast, easy, healthy dinner recipe. Try the Asian chicken wraps accented with hoisin sauce, scallions and shredded cabbage, wrapped in a warm flour tortilla. Or perhaps you’d prefer Italian wraps redolent with garlic and onions, tomatoes and basil. Finally there’s South of the Border wraps. Add brown rice topped with peas and carrots to round out the meal. Serve fresh sliced fruit for dessert. Dinner is less than half hour away.

Get Started

Sauté 4 ounces of chicken breast for each serving. Slice the breast into 1/2 inch slices for quick cooking. If time is really short, use sliced roast deli chicken instead or shred the meat off a cooked rotisserie chicken.

Asian Wraps

Spread the flour tortilla with about 1 tablespoon of purchased hoisin sauce. Hoisin sauce is a dipping sauce traditionally served with seafood, but goes wonderfully with chicken and pork as well. The flavor is sweet and tangy with a bit of smokiness. Children like it because the flavor isn’t overpowering.

Place about 1/4 cup of shredded cabbage and two thinly sliced scallions in the middle of each tortilla. Top with 2 ounces of the cooked chicken. Roll up burrito style.

Italian

When the chicken has just about finished cooking, add 1/2 thinly sliced onion and 1 small smashed clove of garlic to the pan for each 4 ounces of chicken. The onion and garlic should be cooked long enough to lose that raw taste.

Spread the flour tortilla with 1 tablespoon of purchased pizza sauce or tomato sauce. Add 1/4 cup of raw spinach leaves and the chicken. Top with 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese. Roll up and you’re good to go.

South of the Border

Think of these as fast and easy dinners inspired by the flavors of the Southwest. Chop one green pepper, two tomatoes, and one bunch of scallions for 1 pound of chicken. Add 1/4 cup of fresh lime juice. Mix in 1 teaspoon of cumin and 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro. Add from 1/4 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of hot red pepper flakes depending on how spicy you like your food. If that’s too much trouble, substitute 1 cup of prepared salsa.

After the chicken has cooked, add the salsa. Cook a few minutes until the liquid has almost evaporated.

Spread the tortillas with 2 or 3 tablespoons of refried beans and top with the chicken-salsa mixture. Sprinkle grated cheddar cheese on top.

If you’d like to make these wraps ahead of time, make them enchilada style. Put the wraps into a baking dish you’ve sprayed with cooking spray. Top with enough enchilada sauce to cover. Sprinkle the cheese on top of the sauce rather than inside the wraps. Freeze or refrigerate. Defrost about 30 minutes before dinner time and pop into a preheated 350 F oven. Bake for 30 minutes until the cheese has melted and is gooey and the sauce is bubbling.