Gourmet Dinner Parties Part 4

Ok final part to this menu........I know there's alot here but this was one of our yearly banquets where we would splurge on a grand meal. Remember, everyone involved was making a part of this, it wasn't all on me. I would not expect anyone to do all this without help. Also our lil group would go once a year out to dinner too, someplace we all agreed on.

SESAME BROCCOLI 6 SERVINGS

1 lg. bunch of broccoli, broken into florets, stems peeled

1/2c sesame seed, toasted

1/4c. sake, dry white wine or sherry

1 1/2tb. soy sauce

2tsp. sesame oil

2tsp. honey

Cook broccoli in boiling water till crisp-tender. Drain thoroughly. Let cool to rm. temp. Combine remaining ingredients in lg. bowl. Shortly before serving; add broccoli and toss to mix well.

GRILLED ORIENTAL FISH SERVES 6

2tb. soy sauce

2 slices fresh ginger root, peeled and chopped

1/4tsp. apple pie spice ( yes you saw that right and its amazing!)

2tb. oil

Pinch each of sugar and pepper

2tb. dry white wine

6 thick white fish fillets

Coriander sprigs (cilantro) and scallion tassels (opt)

Combine all ingredients except the fish and garnish, in a flat dish. Place the fish in the dish and turn to coat. Leave for 1hr. turning the fish now and then. Line the grill or broiler pan with foil. heat well and place the fish in , skin side up. Pour over half the marinade and grill or broil at high heat 4-5min. Pour over the remaining marinade and cook for a further 4-5min. Transfer to a heated platter and pour over any marinade remaining in pan. Garnish with coriander sprigs and scallions.

This has become a regular recipe in my house. You will be amazed at what the apple pie spice will do. Ive used this on sword fish to grill even and when I did my daughter just loved it. Each child got a special birthday dish that I would make for them, this was her choice. Its awesome!

And finally dessert, something light and fruity......I once served this at a catered party I did. It was for a bunch of Russian diplomats who were here in town for a computer show my exs company was at. When I asked the men who they were I was told they are so high up they answer to Yeltsin!

FROZEN GINGER CREAM 8-10 SERVINGS

Crust-

2 1/2c. almond cookie crumbs (about 20 cookies, Ive used amaretti too)

2tb. butter, melted

Filling-

6 egg yolks

4 egg whites

1c. whipping cream

1/2c. chopped crystallized ginger

3/4c. sugar

1/4c. sugar

1/4c. Grand Marnier

Mandarin orange slices for garnish

Crust- Crush cookies to make crumbs and combine with melted butter. Reserve a sm. amt. and pat remaining on bottom and slightly up sides of 8-9in. springform pan. ( You can also make individual creams for service too) Chill while making filling. Filling- Beat egg yolks with 3/4c. sugar in top of double boiler over warm water till thick, about 6-10min. Turn into lg. bowl and let cool 5min. then beat 1min. more. Beat egg whites till foamy. Gradually add 1/4c. sugar and beat till stiff. Fold into yolks. Whip cream in another bowl till thickened. Add liqueur and beat till stiff. Fold into egg mixture. Spoon into pan alternately with the finely chopped ginger. Sprinkle with reserved crumbs and freeze till ready to serve. This can be made up to one week before serving. I garnish each serving with a few mandarin orange slices.

Gourmet Dinner Parties Part 3

Ok part 4 has the other dishes served and dessert. While I'm not fond of tofu this wasn't bad.

TOFU WITH GINGER DRESSING 4 SERVINGS

I doubled this too but frankly I remember it making a ton so maybe you wont want too do that.

3/4lb bean sprouts

2tb. fresh lemon juice

2tb. brown sugar

2tb. peanut oil

1tb. dark sesame oil

3 med. green onions, thinly sliced

4 firm or tender tofu cakes, rinsed, quartered and cut into slivers

1/2 lb. sm. mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 bunch radishes, thinly sliced

1 med. carrot, thinly sliced

3tb. soy sauce

2tb. rice wine vinegar

1 1/2 tb. freshly grated, peeled ginger-root

1 lemon, thinly sliced, seeded and dipped into minced fresh parsley (garnish)

Bring 2 1/2qts. of water to boil. Place bean sprouts in colander and pour boiling water over , rinse in cold water. Dry sprouts well, with paper towels. Spread on serving platter. Refrigerate. Combine soy sauce, lemon juice, vinegar, brown sugar,peanut oil, ginger, sesame oil and gr. onion in med. bowl and mix well. Gently fold in tofu without breaking (use rubber spatula). Chill 30-60min. Just before serving, arrange mushrooms, radishes, and carrots around edge of platter. Drain dressing from tofu and spoon over vegetables. Mound tofu in center. Garnish with the lemon.

DICED PORK WITH WALNUTS 4 SERVINGS

4-5 lg. thin rounds of carrot

4-5 lg. thin slices of ginger-root

1/2lb. lean pork, diced

1/2c. walnut pieces

1c. vegetable oil for frying

2 scallions, cut into 1/2in. pieces

Soak carrot and ginger for 10min. in salted iced water. With cookie cutter or knife cut into flower shapes. Combine pork and Mixture A (1/2tsp. baking soda, 2tsp. cornstarch, 1tb. water); let stand 10min. Boil walnuts for 5min., drain and pat dry. Heat wok; add oil; when hot deep fry walnuts 2min. , remove, drain and set aside. Reheat oil; cook pork over mod. heat, 2min.; remove and drain. Pour off all but 2tb. oil; stir fry carrot, ginger, and scallions 1-2min. Add pork, Mixture B (combine 1/2tsp. salt, 2tb. chicken broth, 1/2tsp. cornstarch, dash of pepper) and walnuts and stir fry 1min. Serve.

BEEF AND SCALLOP SAUTE 4 SERVINGS

I doubled this for the party

2tb. peanut oil

1tsp. minced fresh garlic

1lb. trimmed beef tenderloin (narrow end), cut into pieces 1/2in. thick, then halved crosswise

3/4lb. sea scallops

1 1/4c. diagonally sliced green onions

1tb. flavored brine (recipe follows)

Freshly ground pepper......Pinch of red pepper

Heat oil in wok till almost smoking. Add garlic and beef, then scallops and stir fry about 30sec. Add remaining ingredients and stir fry another 30sec.

Flavored Brine Makes about 1 1/2c.

2c. water

2tb sliced peeled ginger

1tb. freshly ground white pepper

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 1/2c. coarse salt

Combine first 4 ingredients in med. saucepan and bring to a boil. Gradually stir in salt. Reduce heat and simmer 10min. Strain thru a sieve lined with damp towel. Store in tightly covered jar. Keeps almost indefinitely. ( Could be a nice addition to so many dishes for extra flavor)

Gourmet Dinner Parties Part 2

Ok the next recipe and main course for this banquet is the Peking Duck. Its expensive when you order it out and have to usually order it early. There is a reason for this as you will see when you make this. Plan ahead because it takes a couple days but it is sooooooo worth it! I once had real Peking Duck when my ex and I were in Taiwan. I swore I was not leaving that country until I had the real thing. The Chinese do it as a complete meal tho. The skin is served in the pancakes, the meat is served in a stir fry and the bones are cooked to make a soup. It was delish and I wished I could have taken home the leftovers. I once took a cooking class with Martin Yan. He was duly impressed when we talked and he heard that I had made Peking Duck. I have a pic of him and he signed my copy of his book. This recipe isn't hard but it is time consuming as there's waiting time. Plan ahead.

PEKING DUCK SERVES 5

1 duck, 5lbs

1tb. salt

1tb. rice wine

1/4c. honey or maple syrup

1/2c hoisin sauce

4 scallions

Parsley for garnish

For this dinner party I doubled this recipe. Early in the day before you will serve the duck, rinse it under lukewarm running water and drain. Pour 5qts boiling water slowly in a fine stream over both sides of the duck, so that its skin becomes almost white. Drain well, pat skin and body cavity dry, and rub the body cavity with salt and rice wine. Place the duck breast side down, on a wire rack on top of a roasting pan; refrigerate, uncovered for several hrs. Meanwhile, make the thin pancakes (recipes follows). Refrigerate pancakes till 15min. before serving duck. To make scallion brushes, peel the tough outer layers from the white ends of raw scallions; cut that part into 1 1/2in. lengths. Sliver it down most of its length leaving one end attached or if cutting both ends leaving some uncut in the middle. Soak the scallions in water and refrigerate for a half hr or more before serving so they curl. Brush the duck skin with the honey. Refrigerate again, breast side up, uncovered, overnight, till 5hrs serving the next day. Then heat oven to 175 degrees. Place the duck on a rack in a roasting pan breast side down, and roast for 1 1/2hrs. Then turn the heat up to 325degrees and turn the duck breast side up. Roast for another 1 1/2hrs till golden and the skin is crisp.

About 15min. before the duck is done, steam the pancakes over a med. flame till they are soft and heated thru, about 10min. Remove pancakes from the steamer and fold in quarters and set aside. Place duck on a lg. serving platter. Garnish with parsley and the pancakes. Place the hoisin sauce in a sm. bowl; place the drained scallions on a sm. plate. Each diner places one or two pieces of duck at the center of a pancake, dabs on some hoisin sauce and adds a scallion brush, then rolls or folds the filled pancake into a pkg. to pick up and eat.

THIN PANCAKES FOR DUCK MAKES 16

Again I doubled this. These are interesting and fun to make!

2 1/2c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

Flour, for dusting

Oil, for brushing

In a lg. bowl, combine the flour and salt, then gradually add 1c. boiling water, blending till mixture crumbles into pellets the size of sm. peas. Press mixture into a ball, turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead to form a soft, smooth dough. Shape the dough into a roll about 16in. long and 2 1/2 in. wide. Cut the roll crosswise into 8 pieces, then cut each in half again. Cover with a damp cloth and set aside. Lightly dust a pastry board with flour. Place two slices of the dough on the board; with fingers flatten each into a circle about 3in. across and 1/4in. thick. Brush the tops generously with oil, then place one on top of the other, oiled sides together.

Lightly dust a rolling pin with flour, then roll the circle from the center to form a thin pancake about 7in. in diameter, turning it over several times to roll both sides evenly. In an ungreased wok over med. flame cook each circle on one side till light brown, about 2-3 min. then flip over and do the other side the same. Remove to a plate. Carefully separate the two layers, making two thin pancakes. Stack these, one on top of the other, browned side up. Repeat with rest of dough. Refrigerate till needed then follow instructions in Peking duck recipe. These get steamed.

Gourmet Dinner Parties Part 1

When I still lived in NJ. many yrs ago my neighbors and I decided to get together and have a gourmet dinner club. We all lived in the same general neighborhood so that made it easier. This is how we decided to run it. First we decided to do this every month on the first Saturday of each month. This could be tweaked depending on what we had going on but once it was a written rule most of us tried damn hard to keep it! We loved it so much we didn't want to miss it.

Next was the menu. The hostess to be that month picked the menu. She was in charge of the main dish and wine but chose all the other recipes to compliment it. Then she made copies of those and sent them to the others. Everyone was in charge of a part of the meal, they had to learn to cook it and bring it that nite. While we didn't keep costs in check, most of us had family's so we didn't go wildly over board either. The rule was you kept your receipts for what you made and added it up. The cost was divided equally between the four couples. Depending on what you made you might end up paying a bit more or getting some back. We felt this worked out great so there would be no hard feelings like we had heard in other supper clubs. Some friends wanted to be part of this but couldn't commit to every month so we had a sub list in case one of the four couples had to cancel that month. Most times it worked out well.

These days it would even be easier to do this. This was before we had computers in all our homes so you had to type up the recipes and make copies and drive them over to the others homes. Now there's email, type once and zip their off! By the way the Chinese believe you should serve a great meal with things from all elements...sea, sky, land.

I have several pages to this menu but I always made a cover page with something wonderful like poetry followed by the menu to come, then the recipes when I gave them to my friends.

An Oriental Banquet

The fire glows and the smoke puffs and curls:

From the incense-burner rises a delicate fragrance.

The clear wine made our cheeks red;

Round the table joy and peace prevail.

May those who share in this days delight

Through countless autumns enjoy like felicity.

"The Golden Palace" anon. c 1st century A.D.

Fried Pork and Sesame Won Tons

Shrimp Balls w/Ginger-Mustard Dipping Sauce, Plum Sauce

Tofu salad with Ginger Dressing

Peking Duck with Thin Pancakes (Bejing kaoya-Xishi)

Diced Pork w/Walnuts

Beef and Scallop Saute

Grilled Oriental Fish

Sesame Broccoli

Frozen Ginger Cream

Plum Wine, Tea

FRIED PORK AND SESAME WON TONS Makes 48

Filling-

10oz. lean ground pork

3 scallions (green onions), minced

1tb. peanut oil

1 lg. egg, beaten lightly

2tb. sesame seeds, toasted lightly

1 garlic clove, minced

1tb. soy sauce

1tsp. peeled and minced gingeroot

1/4tsp. sesame oil

Cayenne pepper to taste

48 wonton wrappers, thawed if frozen and covered with a damp towel

1lg. egg, lightly beaten

Vegetable oil for deep frying

In a wok or lg. skillet saute the pork and the scallions in the peanut oil over mod. high heat, stirring and breaking up the pork, till pork is no longer pink. Transfer the mixture with a slotted spoon to a lg. bowl and let cool for 10min. Stir in the egg, sesame seeds, garlic, soy sauce,gingerroot, sesame oil,cayenne and salt to taste. Put 1 wonton wrapper on a work surface with a corner facing you and put 1tsp. of filling in the center of corner nearest you. Fold the corner over the filling over the filling to enclose it completely and roll the wrapper to within 1in. of the top corner. Moisten the two side corners with some of the egg and pinch together, sealing well. Make wontons with remaining wrappers in same manner. In a deep fryer, fry wontons in batches in at least 3in of hot oil.(375deg.) turning them, for 2 1/2-3min. or till they are golden. Transfer with a skimmer to paper towels to drain. Serve with Chinese Mustard Sauce and Plum Sauce.

GINGER MUSTARD DIPPING SAUCE MAKES 2/3c.

2in. piece of peeled fresh ginger, cut in chunks

2 garlic cloves

1/4c. sugar

3tb. soy sauce

2tb. distilled white vinegar

2tb. catsup

2tb. water

1tsp. dry mustard

1/4tsp. sesame oil

With food processor or blender running, drop ginger and garlic thru feed tube and mince finely. Add remaining ingredients and blend 30sec., stopping once to scrape down sides of work bowl. Transfer dipping sauce to sm. bowl. Can be made a day ahead. Cover tightly and refrigerate.

PLUM SAUCE MAKES 1 1/4c.

1 12oz. jar plum preserves or jelly

2tb. vinegar

1tb. brown sugar

1tb. finely chopped onion

1tsp. seeded and finely chopped dried red chili pepper or 1tsp. crushed red pepper

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1/2 tsp. ground ginger (these days I would substitute fresh, finely chopped)

In a small saucepan combine all ingredients. Bring mixture to boiling, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; cool. Refrigerate in a covered container overnite to blend flavors.

I will break this post into several parts as the recipes are quite long. When I served this dinner tho I made the gang eat with chopsticks! Finally had to break down and give one or two forks to those who were getting too darn frustrated but its a fun thing to do for a change.