A Fall Frenzy of Food with Friends and Filets

The evening of Tuesday, October 5, 2010 the gourmet girls met at Andrea's for a another wonderful meal.  We started off the evening with Lara's tasty appetizer, Pear and Prosciutto "Carpaccio".  Jodi's Maple Dressing Salad not only tasted delicious, but was also beautiful - lots of color!  Bridget brought Grandma Zoe's Buttermilk Biscuits from Keeping Up Cookbook.  Andrea made our main dish of Blue Cheese Crusted Filet Mignon with Port Wine Sauce.  (She substituted grape juice for the wine and it was delicious)!  She also treated us to some Bacon Smashed Red Potatoes.  Lynley brought some spaghetti squash, and for desert, Raquel made a scrumptious Pumpkin Cake.  Unfortunately LS couldn't make it until the very end.  As always, we enjoyed trying new recipes and catching up with old friends.

Pear and Prosciutto "Carpaccio"

Maple Dressing Salad

1 large bag baby greens

2 cups blueberries

2 cups strawberries

1 purple onion

2 cups of crumbled blue cheese

2-3 sliced apples or pears (Jodi used pears)

2 cups of your choice (Jodi used pecans)

Dressing:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

3 TBS white wine vigegar

2 tsp sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Grandma Zoe's Buttermilk Biscuits

2 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons sugar

1/3 cup shortening

1 cup buttermilk (or more)

Mix all dry ingredients together.  Cut in shortening with a fork until small crumbs are formed.  Add buttermilk and stir until well combined, adding an additional teaspoon or so of buttermilk if any flour remains in bottom of bowl.  Scoop dough onto a generously floured surface.

With floured hands, give dough a few kneads and folds until smooth.  Pat dough into a 1 1/2 inch thick circle and cut 8 to 1- biscuits with a round biscuit cutter.  Shake off excess flour and place on lightly greased baking sheet, biscuits touching each other.  Bake at 400 degrees until lightly brown, 18 to 22 minutes.  I brushed a little melted butter on top of each biscuit right when they came out of the oven.

Blue Cheese Crusted Filet Mignon with Port Wine Sauce

( I promise it looked and tasted much better than this picture makes it look!)

Andrea's Bacon Smashed Red Potatoes

Lynley's Spaghetti Squash

Raquel's Pumpkin Cake

1 yellow cake mix  (reserve 1 cup)

1 egg

1 cube butter or margarine

Mix cake mix (minus 1 cup) with egg and butter/margarine.  Cut in like a pie crust until crumbly.  Press into the bottom of a 9x13 dish.

For the filling, mix the following ingredients together and pour on top of crust:

1 big can pumpkin

2 whipped eggs

1/2 cup evaporated milk

For the topping, mix the following ingredients and sprinkle over the top:

1 cup reserved cake mix

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3 TBS butter or margarine

Bake at 350 for 50 to 60 minutes.  Served with whipped cream.

Interestingly enough, Bridget has a very similar recipe!  For a variation on the filling:

1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

1 12 oz can evaporated milk

1 tsp cinammon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp cloves

For nut-lovers, you can also add chopped walnuts or pecans to the crumble topping.

Fall Gourmet Goodness

 

The gourmet girls met for yet another evening of fine cuisine.  Friday, September 17 we convened at Laura Steven's for a wonderful meal.  Raquel started us off with her amazing Mini Chicken B'Steeyas appetizer (Martha Stewart).   Lara's Green Salad with Vinaigrette was light and flavorful.  Jodi favored us with her "labor of love" Cracked Wheat & Molasses Bread from Keeping Up Cookbook.  Our main dish was Pork Chops with Sauteed Apples and Applejack Cream.  LS also served some mashed sweet potatoes on the side.  Lynley brought yummy Twice-Baked Potatoes and for desert there were Spicy Chocolate Truffles (Williams-Sonoma) and Fresh Orange Pound Cakes with an Orange Glaze (an Emeril Lagasse recipe from Foodnetwork).  It was another home-run with an array of delicious food and fun with friends!

 

 

 

Our chef hard at work in the kitchen!

 

Lara, Jodi & Bridget

 

 Lynley, LS and Raquel

Notice the new blog format.  Each of the recipes from the evening's meal are in a separate post.  We will tag each recipe post and create a directory by category in an effort to make your recipe searching easier.  Also notice our new search bar on the sidebar to the right, which is very handy for locating just what you're looking for.

Also, I just posted the recipe for Lara's crepes from last month.

Mini Chicken B'Steeyas

Green Salad with Vinaigrette

1/2 lb Butter lettuce or mixed salad greens

2 TBS red wine vinegar

1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1/8 tsp salt

pinch of pepper

6 TBS olive oil

In a small mixing bowl combine the vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper.  Whisk until well blended.  Add the oil steadily while continuing to whisk.  Taste and add more salt and pepper as necessary.  (You can also adjust the amount of vinegar and oil to your liking).  Cover and refrigerate until time to serve.  Can be used on green salads, tomato salads, and to dip steamed artichokes in.  Experiment with all of your veggies!  Serves 6.

Lara tossed the lettuce with the dressing and in a separate bowl tossed fresh tomatoes from her garden with the dressing.

Cracked Wheat & Molasses Bread

Jodi found this recipe in Keeping Up Cookbook.

Pork Chops with Sauteed Apples and Applejack Cream

Lynley's Twice-Baked Potatoes