Gourmet Night- March 2010

Brie and Caramelized Mushroom Mini Tarts:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 6 oz button mushrooms, chopped into small pieces
• 6 oz cremini mushrooms, chopped into small pieces
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
• Double creme brie cheese
• 15 mini phyllo cups (find in the frozen food section)
  
• Fresh parsley, chopped

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the chopped mushrooms to the hot oil and cook, without stirring, for 2-3 minutes. Toss the mushrooms with a spatula and season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper; cook for an additional 2 minutes then add the minced garlic and a bit of freshly chopped parsley. Cook, stirring continuously for 1 minute then remove from the heat.

Place a big chunk of brie cheese in each phyllo cup then top with a spoonful of the mushrooms. Bake in the oven for 4-5 minutes or until the cheese is oozing and the phyllo cups are golden brown. Serve immediately.

Walnut Salad

• 2 large heads of Romaine lettuce
• 1 lb. bacon, cut in 1/2 inch pieces and cooked (I used less)
• 3 pears, cut into chunks with or without skin
• 12 oz. crumbled gorgonzola cheese
• 1 1/2 c. broken walnuts
• red wine dressing

Dressing

• 1 1/2 c. red wine vinegar
• 1 c. sugar
• 3/4 c. oil
• 1 medium red onion
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
• 2 TB. poppy seeds

Cut the red onion into 1" cubes. Put all ingredients in a blender and mix. Toss salad, add dressing and serve.
*I ended up eyeballing the salad ingredients as I was putting it together. I found I didn't need as much as the recipe called for. The dressing recipe makes a TON so you might want to cut it in half.

Potato Rolls

• 1/4 c. warm water
• 2 TB. sugar
• 2 pkg. active dry yeast
• 1/2 TB. salt
• 1 c. cream
• 1/4 c. butter, melted
  
• 1 egg
• 1 c. mashed potatoes
• 4 c. all-purpose flour

Combine warm water with 1 TB. sugar and yeast in a small bowl; stir and set aside. In a large bowl, mix the cream, potatoes, melted butter, egg, 1 TB. sugar, and salt. Stir well and add the yeast mixture and 2 cups flour. Work in another 2 cups flour slowly, unitl the dough is stiff enough to knead. Knead for 4-5 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. Turn the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and let rise 1 hour.

Grease 2-3 pie tins. Punch down the dough and push out air bubbles with your palm. Take pieces of dough to form 2-inch balls and set in 9-inch pie tins, 1 inch apart. Cover and let rise 30-40 minutes. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until tops are browned. Brush the rolls with melted butter as soon as you remove them from the oven.


Baby Reds

• 5 lbs. baby red potatoes
• 1/2 lb. bacon
• 1/4-1/2 c. cilantro, chopped

Dice bacon and fry, then set aside. Slice potatoes in half. Toss potatoes in bacon grease, then place face down on a cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour. Toss with cilantro and bacon bits.





Stuffed Pork Roast

• 4 lb. pork tenderloin roast (I used the 2 pack pork tenderloin from Costco)
• 1/2 c. butter
  
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 lbs. mushrooms, sliced
• 1 c. chicken broth
• 1 1/2 c. seasoned bread crumbs
• 1 1/2 c. plain bread crumbs
• 3-4 green onions, chopped
• salt & pepper

Saute onion in melted butter for 4-5 minutes. Add mushrooms and saute 3-4 minutes more. Add chicken broth and fold in breadcrumbs to make a stuffing.

Take pork roast tenderloin, open and flatten. Brush with olive oil on top and bottom. Lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper. Fill with stuffing and tie off in 3 places. Pack extra stuffing around roast and top with green onions. Bake at 325 degrees for 70 minutes.

*I didn't add the green onions until the last 10-15 minutes of baking. Also, the pork took WAY longer to cook than the recipe states. I upped the cooking temp. to 375 and covered with foil so the stuffing didn't dry out too much. It took almost 2 hrs. to cook two pork tenderloins; I'm sure a roast would take longer.


Shortbread Tarts with Ice Cream and Berries

Shortbread:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease twelve 4 inch tartlet pans.
Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl, add vanilla. Once creamed add the flour, cornstarch and salt just until incorporated. Add a small amount of dough to pan and push up the sides. Place in freezer for about 10 minutes (this helps dough from puffing). Bake in preheated oven for about 18 minutes or until lightly golden. Around 12 minutes check for puffing and prick with tines of a fork if needed. Allow to cool then pop out of pans for filling. (you can also make these in mini muffin pans and fill with mousse, etc. It will make about 36 mini tarts)

Use a small scooper to create vanilla ice cream balls; roll them in coconut and freeze. Make chocolate ice cream balls; roll in toffee bits and freeze. When ready to serve, add 1 scoop of chocolate and vanilla to each tart, add berries of your choice and drizzle with melted chocolate or hot fudge topping.