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| Me and Dorothy Lawson, we made Hendricks Gin and Muddled Cucumber Cocktails (Photo by Jeff Kincade) |
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| Maple Orange Glazed Bone in Ham, Soy Chorizo & Veggie Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms, Rosemary Roasted Leg of Lamb |
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| Coconut Cupcakes and Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes, (that frosting is super simple; just creamy peanut butter, coffee and powdered sugar and its soo good!!!) |
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| Overnight marinated in rosemary and garlic then roasted, Leg of Lamb. Served with mint rosemary jelly and a fresh bosc pear salsa (recipe below) |
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| Bottom Salad is Mache, Roasted Market Golden Beets, Goat Cheese, Toasted Pecans and Blood Orange Vinaigrette The top Salad is Butter Lettuce with Blood Oranges, Avocado and Red Onions with a Buttermilk Dressing, both very yummy! |
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| And the hit of the day; Lobster Mac and Cheese What a treat to get to cook for family and friends, I get so excited! We had Roquefort stuffed Dates and I love Tempranillo wine with that particular appetizer, it also pairs very well with the salads and Roasted Ham and Lamb too so I went ahead and did a tasting of Tempranillo Wines with the lunch. It was fun and out of a dozen different Spanish Tempranillos nearly all were scored very high by my guests and are surprising affordable. Lobster Mac and Cheese Serves 16 This defines decadence; first off you're buying lobster & then tossing it into mac and cheese. The bechamel is the dankness, it cooks for half an hour and is just sublime with fresh nutmeg and lots of fresh ground pepper and dry mustard. The cheese; nothing bland here - its a delicious mix of english and irish perfections and not over bearing for the lobbies, so, just to make it not TOO naughty I use brown rice pasta. Hopefully that redeems me for the utter decadence of this dish. I will say they devoured it and no one got heart failure - ya gotta live a little sometimes.... 2 pounds macaroni, I like Tinkyada brown rice pasta, it comes out perfect 2.25 lb lobster tails, raw for the bechamel sauce: 4 oz butter 4 oz flour (1 cup minus 2 tbl.) 2 quarts milk 1 small onion, cut the ends off, peel, leave whole 1 bay leaf (if you have one) 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg 2 tsp dry mustard 4 shakes of tabasco salt and pepper to taste, be pretty generous 2 pounds mix of english / irish sharp cheddars and gruyere, grated for the topping: 2.5 oz butter 2 cups fresh bread crumbs pinch of salt and pepper 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley 1/2 tsp. paprika 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley, last minute garnish First the lobster; boil the tails in a large pot of water till just done. 6-8 minutes depending on their size. Pull them out with tongs, save the water. I use kitchen shears and cut them down the underside all the way to the tail tip then peel them. Clean as needed and chop. Strain the water and use it to boil the pasta. Drain when done and set aside. For the bechamel: in a large pot make a roux stiring together the flour and butter over high heat till it gets a bit of color. In another pan heat the milk, gradually add it to the roux while whisking. Bring it to a boil then reduce heat to simmer. Pop in the onion and bay leaf and simmer 25-30 minutes on low. Taste and season with salt, pepper, mustard and nutmeg, adjust as you like. Remove from the heat, take out the leaf and onion. For the topping: just melt that butter and saute the bread crumbs till golden and fragrant. Add the parsley and set aside. Vegetable spray two or three large baking pans and pour in the pasta, toss in lobster and cheeses and bechamel. Top with crumbs. you can cover and hold here over night or go on into the oven at 350 degrees till golden and bubbly. Bosc Pear Salsa 1.5 quarts The secret here is to get the pears at least three days ahead so they ripen (out of the frig of course). This is my new fav with everything from salmon to lamb - even great with the orange and maple glazed ham. Its nice and light as sauces can go and super tasty. 3 pasilla chilis 3 bosc pears 3 jalapenos 1 small red onion 1 small bunch cilantro 3 limes, juiced 6 cloves roasted garlic, or 3 raw, minced splash of olive oil salt and pepper to taste I roast the pasillas over the open flame on my stove top turning on each side with tongs till charred well then pop them hot into a plastic bag, twist tight and let them steam a while. Fine dice everything else (I ditch the seeds and veins of the jalapenos). Toss it all together and serve. |
