TK dinner ~ August 2014

This month I was told "you sure aren't very good at telling people No". 
I guess this might be a true statement since we had the biggest dinner yet! We usually have ten to twelve people for these dinners and they can pretty much fit around the dining room table. This month? Twenty! 

Yikes!

Now twenty persons in our house is not an unusual event. But this many people at a sit down dinner gets a little tricky. My servers ran like mad for most of the night. In and out of the kitchen with plates and platters and water jugs and anything else the guests might have asked for.

Madness...

So fun...

We started with a Caprese salad. Classic. Easy.

Heirloom tomatoes are all over the Farmer's Markets right now so grab as many as you can until there are no more. They are gorgeous and delicious and need nothing but some Mozzarella, fresh basil and balsamic vinegar. Maybe some fresh ground pepper as well. Quick and easy.

Next I did pluot crostinis because, again, they are in season and homegrown. Another quick to come together appetizer that I will serve as long as I can. 

These were done with ricotta cheese, sea salt, wildflower honey and mint.

Thank you to elizabeth d. photography for the above photo - is it weird that I love all the hands in action?

Next up was a watermelon gazpacho. Made with tomatoes, cucumbers and jalapeno peppers. Topped with a sour cream and Feta crema, a drizzle of olive oil and some toasted almond slivers.

Several bowls of fresh grapes went out next.

(pic? what pic?)

Then main course.

Individual plates of a nicoise salad.

This salad is a little crazy to assemble and then deliver twenty individual plates out at the same time. But manage they did and happy everyone was.

The above is loaded with a medley of potatoes, haricot verts, radish, green olives, kalamata olives, capers and a hard boiled egg. Finished with a dijon vinagarette and anchovies. 

Next I did the big family style serve thing and sent the main entree out on big platters.

(I highly recommend this technique for future use)

Roasted chicken with kalamata olives, white wine, peppered bacon and loads of garlic cloves. This we served over an orzo pasta done with heirloom tomatoes and chickpeas. 

Almost nothing was left to scrape off the dinner plates when we were cleaning the kitchen.

Finally, dessert.

Homemade HoHo's and mint chocolate ice cream. Yes, you read that correctly.

I was noticing that this year I seemed to be always doing variations of classic treats from my childhood. Figured HoHos were a logical next step? And mint-n-chip ice cream? Yes please!

We finally finished with what I named "The Meringue Mushroom Forest"

Little bites of meringue cookies held together by a dot of orange chocolate ganache, sitting on a swirl of lemon curd. So delicious and So fun to create.

then WHEW! Another dinner on the books. 

THANK YOU to all the attendees! My apologies again that I do not get to sit down and visit with every one of you - but hopefully I will see you somewhere soon.

And as usual, I will TRY to get all these recipes posted to share with all of you - as soon as I can.

Until then, invite twenty people over and have a party!

:-)

gateau de Poire

It's that time of year again. Pears! Four cases of these beauties! (yikes)

Actually it feels a touch early to me this year. I thought I usually started this madness in late August - but maybe I am just not remembering correctly. 
The whole 'Pear, Peach, whatever fruit' episodes come about because I have a friend, who has a mother, who works at a job where she gets tons of stone fruit. Every year we are the lucky recipients of whatever she is able to throw our way. Right now it's all about pears and I have been in a frenzy in the kitchen trying to use them up. I've decided to avoid canning this year 
(i know...dumb...) 
(And especially dumb since we all know I will eventually be canning!)
But right now it's been all about cakes and jams.
Here's the favorite so far.

Gateau de Poire - Pear Cake.

I love this cake. 

Maybe because it's not too sweet? Maybe because of that to-die-for that crispy outside edge? Maybe because it's actually pretty quick to make and requires no fancy shmancy ingredients? Or maybe because the fruit choices are somewhat interchangeable depending on what is flooding my kitchen? Whatever it is, I hope you try this one. 

And grab your springform pan.

YOU WILL NEED:

12 tablespoons butter - divided.

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour.

6 firm pears.

1 cup + 2 tablespoons of sugar.

1 tsp baking powder.

1/2 teaspoon salt.

1 lemon - zest and juice.

3 large eggs.

TO DO:

Peel, core and chop 4 of the pears. I like big chunks.

In your stand mixer - place the flour, baking powder, salt and 1 cup of the sugar.

Zest the lemon into this mixture and give it a light stir.

Set aside.

In a large skillet melt 2 tablespoons of the butter.

To this pan add the chopped pears + juice from half of the lemon + the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar.

Medium to medium high heat.

Give it all a good stir and cook about 15 minutes - until the pears have softened but are still firm and until there is almost no liquid left in the pan.

Stir frequently to make sure the guys on the bottom don't get too crispy.

While the pears are cooking, melt the remaining 10 tablespoons of butter and let cool slightly.

Prep your spring form pan. Either butter and flour the inside really well - or use a nonstick spray.

Oven to 350 - middle rack.

Peel and slice the remaining 2 pears.

You need these to make the top all pretty (this is also totally optional)

I only wanted the pieces that were about the same length and pretty for decorating. The pieces from the sides that are too small, I chopped these in half and threw them in with the pears on the stove (no waste)

Use the last half of your lemon over the tops of these pears and give them all a rub - just make sure they are all coated with lemon juice. This helps to keep the fruit from turning yellow/brown ick.

Set aside.

Back to the stand mixer - give all that stuff a good mix. 

Add the eggs. 

Mix well.

Add the melted butter.

Mix just until most is incorporated.

There may be a little butter floating around the edge and that is fine.

Finish mixing the batter by hand.

Time to assemble the cake!

Scoop the cooked pears into your prepared pan.

Pour the batter over the top.

Level it out as best you can.

Arrange your pear slices all around the top.

Skinniest parts of the sliced pears need to be in the center.

Wide part of the pears on the outside edge.

Into the oven this goes for 35 minutes.

Check the center with a toothpick - a little crumb sticking to the toothpick is a good thing.

Remove and let cool for a couple hours IN the springform pan.

Serve with salted caramel sauce (recipe up soon)

Enjoy!

Chocolate Hazelnut meringue cookies

I made this cake
























Nine inch disks of rich meringue - morsels of chocolate and hazelnut in every bite - layered with homemade whipped cream and dark chocolate shavings. The combination of flavors was fantastic!

Then I tried to cut this cake

























Yes - that is the hand of my then 5 year old. As you can see slicing this cake was a bit of a challenge. After attempting to slice a second piece it looked like this




Needless to say, I needed to make some adjustments.

I decided to make the cake into cookies and hope for the best. Maybe the cookies would be a bit more user friendly and still present as beautifully as the cake did (the cake no-one could touch)

 For the cookies YOU WILL NEED:

1 1/2 cups hazelnuts - toasted and chopped (do this part first and then set aside until ready to use)

6 large egg whites - at room temperature

dash of salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup mini chocolate chips (use the mini - do not use the regular size - it makes a difference)

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate (around half a cup worked out fine)

3 cups heavy whipping cream

1/3 cup confectioners sugar

dark or bittersweet chocolate for shaving



TO DO:

In the bowl of a standing mixer (use the whisk attachment) beat the egg whites with a dash of salt until you get soft peaks - while waiting for this melt the 6 ounces of bittersweet chocolate then set aside - Slowly add the sugar into the egg white mixture until you get stiff peaks. Add the vanilla extract and give everything a quick mix again. Now fold in the hazelnuts that you already toasted and chopped and have let cool. Then pour the melted chocolate down a side of the bowl and carefully fold it into the egg white mixture.



























Give everything a light stir - just enough to get some pretty color going throughout the mix.

Do drops of about a tablespoon size of meringue mixture - enough to fill the cookie sheet since they do not spread very much


























Bake at 200 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Then let cool in the oven for another hour or so. Remove from the oven and let sit for a few minutes.




In the meantime make the whipped cream and mix with dark chocolate shavings (this is the 3 cups of heavy whipping cream and a 1/3 cup of confectioners sugar)









Serve the cookies with a small bowl of the cream on the side for dipping - maybe add some more chocolate to the top of the whipped cream (why not?)  Delicious.