GARDEN CITY WELCOMING CLUB
SPRING MENU 2010
Grand Champagne Cocktail
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Yogurt & Culatello Muffin
Lamb & Mushroom kabobs
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Halibut Veracruz
Spring Vegetable Risotto
Spring Salad with Aspargues
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Grilled Pears with Raspberry – Grand Marnier
Pastieciera
WELCOME COCKTAIL
Grand Champagne Cocktail
Recipe courtesy Bobby Flay, www.foodnetwork.com
Prep Time: 10 min
Serves: 8
Ingredients
• 8 shots orange-flavored liqueur (recommended Grand Marnier
• 8 teaspoons honey
• 8 fresh strawberries, tops trimmed
• 2 bottles of Champagne, well chilled
• 8 chilled champagne flutes
Directions
Add the orange-flavored liquor, honey and strawberries to a food processor and process until smooth. Fill the chilled glasses halfway with the strawberry mixture and then fill the rest of the glass with champagne.
APPETIZERS
Yogurt and Culatello Muffin
Recipe courtesy La Cucina Italiana
Prep Time: 30 min
Serves: about 24 crostini
Ingredients
• ½ cup of yoghurt
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 tablespoons corn oil
• ¼ teaspoon salt, plus extra
• ¼ teaspoon marjoram, minced
• ¼ teaspoon thyme, minced
• Butter for brushing
• 2 tablespoons capers
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• Freshly ground pepper
• Lettuce leaves fro garnish
• 6 slices culatello, cut in ½
• 1 cup goat cheese, softened
• Mini muffing tray
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, eggs, flour, baking powder, corn oil and salt. Using an electric mixer, beat until well combined. Add the marjoram and thyme and mix well. Lightly brush 18 mini muffin molds with butter and dust with flour.
Pour some of the batter into each mold until they are about 2/3 full. Transfer to the oven to bake for 12 minutes. Remove the muffins from the oven and from the molds, taking care not to break them.
In a bowl or using a mortar and pestle, crush the capes into a paste. Add the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Mix until a smooth sauce forms and set aside. Slice the top of each muffin about ¾ through. Arrange a piece of lettuce and a ½ slice of the culatello in each muffin.
Garnish with a rosette of the softened goat cheese and some of the caper sauce.
Sinfully Stuffed Potato Skins
By: Rachel Ray
Substitute pepper-jack cheese for the cheddar for a spicy spin on this recipe.
Ingredients:
• 20 small new potatoes
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 cup shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• Paprika, for garnish
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400°. Pierce the potatoes with a fork, arrange on a baking sheet in a single layer and brush with the olive oil. Roast, uncovered, until tender, 40 to 45 minutes. Let stand until cool enough to handle.
2. Halve the potatoes; using a melon baller or a teaspoon, scoop out most of the flesh into a bowl. Return the potato skins to the baking sheet. Coarsely mash the potato flesh in the bowl and stir in the cheese, sour cream, 1 teaspoon salt and the pepper. Sprinkle the insides of the skins with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt; stuff each with the potato-cheese mixture and sprinkle paprika on top.
3. Bake the stuffed potato skins until golden-brown on top, 15 to 20 minutes.
MAIN COURSE
Halibut Veracruz
Recipe courtesy Guy Fieri, May 2008
Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 30 min
Ingredients
• 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 cup thinly sliced yellow onion
• 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 4 cups diced tomato
• 2 medium jalapeno, diced
• 2 cups dry white wine
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 8 (8-ounce) halibut fillets
• 2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup Spanish olives, cut into thin rounds, plus 4 tablespoons olive juice from bottle
• 4 medium avocados, peeled and sliced
• 4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 4 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro leaves
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and cook until lightly colored, about 3 minutes. Add tomato, jalapeno and white wine. Cook until wine is reduced by 2/3, about 5 to 7 minutes. While sauce is reducing, heat butter in a separate skillet over medium heat. Season fish with kosher salt. When butter is melted, add halibut to the pan. Cook for 2 minutes, flip over and then transfer pan to preheated oven and bake until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove sauce from heat when reduced and stir in olives and olive juice.
To serve, divide sauce equally among 8 dinner plates. Place halibut (first caramelized side up) in the center of each plate on top of the sauce. Place avocado slices on top of fish, sprinkle with lime juice and cilantro, as garnish.
Spring Vegetable Risotto
Recipe courtesy of Wolfgang Puck
Yield: Serves 8
Ingredients:
• 2 pound pencil asparagus, trimmed
• 8 ounces organic spinach, washed, dried, stemmed, blanched, liquid squeezed out
• 12 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
• 8 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground white pepper
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons minced shallots
• 1 ½ cup Arborio rice
• 2/3 cup dry white wine
• 5 to 6 cups organic chicken stock, hot
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Fried julienne of leeks, optional
Directions:
Cut off 3-inch asparagus tips and reserve. Chop the remaining stalks, blanch, drain well, and transfer to a blender. Add the spinach and process to a puree. Pass through a fine-mesh strainer. Reserve. Blanch the asparagus tips, drain, and sauté in 2 tablespoons each of the butter and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Reserve.
In a medium saucepan, heat 6 tablespoons each of the butter and olive oil. Add the garlic and shallots and sauté until soft. Do not brown.
Add the rice and sauté until well coated with the oil.
Deglaze with the wine and reduce until almost dry.
Using a 4-ounce ladle, add one ladle of stock to the rice. Stir the rice over medium heat until the stock is absorbed and the rice is almost dry.
Add another ladle of stock and repeat the procedure until you have added a total of 5 cups of stock, or just until the rice is tender but still firm.
Stir in the reserved vegetable puree.
Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter and the Parmesan cheese. Continue to add stock to the desired consistency. It should be moist and creamy but not runny. Season with salt and pepper.
Divide among 8 heated serving plates and garnish with sautéed asparagus tips and fried julienne of leeks, if desired. Serve immediately.
SALAD
Spring Salad with Asparagus
Ingredients
• 1 pound medium asparagus
• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 10 ounces mixed spring lettuces
• One 1 1/2-ounce piece of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, shaved into curls with a vegetable peeler
Directions
Preheat the oven to 450°. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the asparagus with 1 tablespoon of the oil and the lemon zest and season with salt and pepper. Roast the asparagus for about 8 minutes, until just tender and the tips begin to turn brown.
In a small bowl, whisk the lemon juice with the mustard and the remaining 1/3 cup of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
In a large bowl, toss the lettuces with all but 2 tablespoons of the dressing. Arrange the salad on plates and top with the roasted asparagus and cheese curls. Drizzle the remaining dressing over the asparagus and serve.
DESSERTS
Grilled pears with raspberry-grand marnier sauce
Courtesy of Williams-Sonoma – Grilling
Ingredients
• 8 Bosc, Anjou or other firm pears
• 2 lemons, halved crosswise
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• Vanilla ice cream for serving (optional)
• For the sauce: 2 cups fresh or thawed frozen raspberries
• 2 teaspoon honey
• 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier or other orange-flavored liqueur
• Vegetable oil for coating
Directions
Prepare a charcoal or gas grill for direct grilling over medium-high heat and oil the grill rack.
To make the sauce: Combine the raspberries and honey in a bowl. Mash the raspberries lightly with a fork and stir in the liqueur. Set aside.
Cut the pears in half lengthwise and remove the cores. Squeeze the lemon over the cut sides of the pears to prevent browning. In a shallow bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon. Dip the cut sides of the pears in the cinnamon sugar.
Grill the pears, cut side down, directly over medium-high heat until the fruit is grill-marked and the sugar is caramelized, 2 to 4 minutes. Do not allow to char. Using a spatula, turn the pears and grill until tender and heated through, 3 to 4 minutes. If the pears start to char, move them to a cooler part of the grill to cook.
Serve the pears topped with the raspberry sauce and with a scoop of vanilla ice cream alongside, if desired.
Serve the grilled pears with a small glass of pear eau de vie, a clear fruit brandy. You could also use the ea de vie in the sauce in place of the orange liqueur, if you wish and increase the honey to taste.
Pastieciera (Neapolitan Spring cake)
Can be prepared up to a week in advance
Ingredients for the Short Pastry
• 1 cup, 4 Tbs. flour
• 5 oz. butter
• ½ cup confectioners' sugar
• 3 egg yolks
Directions
Knead the flour, butter, sugar and eggs together quickly. Make a ball of the dough and let rest in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
Ingredients for the Filling
• 1 cup whole-wheat grain/ grana cotta (ready made at Iavarone Brothers, New Hyde Park)
• 1½ qts. milk
• pinch cinnamon
• pinch vanilla
• 3 eggs, separated
• 3 oz. candied orange and lemon peel/ cedro (Iavarone Brothers)
• 1 lemon rind
• salt
• 1 Tbs. orange flower water
• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• 1 oz. butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 oz. powdered sugar
Directions
• Soak the grain for about a week, changing the water daily or buy already soaked at Italian specialty store .
• Drain and boil with fresh water for 15 minutes Drain and put back in the pot with milk, lemon rind, cinnamon, vanilla, a pinch of salt, and 1 Tbs. of sugar. Bring to a boil, lower and cook over low heat until the milk is absorbed. Remove and discard the lemon rind.
• Pass the ricotta through a sieve into a mixing bowl. Add the sugar and beat until creamy. Add the two yolks, the grain, diced candied fruits, grated lemon peel, and the orange-flower water. Fold in the beaten egg whites.
Baking the Pastiera
Grease a 12" baking pan with butter and dust with sugar. Line with three quarters of the pastry. Roll out the remaining dough and cut into strips. Arrange the strips over the filling in a lattice design. Brush the strips of dough with egg yolk. Heat the oven to 375° F. and bake the cake for 1½ hours, until the filling sets and the crust is golden brown. Do not remove it from the oven immediately, but let it cool down inside. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving with a glass of sweet wine.
If required, the pastiera will keep in the refrigerator for about a week. It is also suitable for freezing.
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