Dinner for friends

go cats!

they started off with a raspberry walnut salad with orange-mint crostinis

raspberry walnut vinaigrette:

1/2-2/3 c oil

1/2c raspberries (frozen work fine, although thaw them out first)

1/4c walnuts

1/4c balsamic vinegar

1/4c water

2-3t sugar

TT salt and pepper

the spinach salad was tossed with the dressing and topped with chopped walnuts, havarti cheese and pickled red onions. (if you haven't had pickled red onions yet, you need to try them on a salad, sandwich, burger, taco, anything! they are great)

the crostinis were incredibly simple, but delicious! french bread sliced and toasted. slice of havarti cheese, mandarin oranges and fresh mint. the bread does not need to be warm for this, so the toasting can be done ahead of time.

the main course was honey dijon chicken atop a bed of squash/carrot slaw with a apple-pear chutney, goat cheese sauce, hasselbeck potatoes, garlic chips and orange snap peas.

the slaw was just a carrot, zucchini and squash all peeled into thin strips then tossed with red wine vinegar, a little oil, a little sugar and a dash of salt.

the chicken marinated all day in a mixture of 1/4-1/3 c honey, 2-3 T dijon, 1-2 T garlic and a 1 T oil (for about 5 pieces of chicken.) they were then just baked off in a 375º oven for about 30 minutes. to get more browning you could always pan sear them for color and finish them off in the oven, but when making dinner for more than 10 people i decided it was easier to just bake them.

i had been wanting to try out hasselbeck potatoes for a couple months now. they're not a whole lot different than an ordinary baked potato, but they look so much better, and taste better too. with a sharp knife (important!) slice 3/4 of the way through the potato (but not all the way!) about an 1/8 in apart. drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with plenty of course salt and pepper. bake at 375º for about 50min.

found out that it's still a bit too early for snap pea season and didn't want to drop a fortune on fresh ones, so i went with frozen. they might have been slightly more soggy than fresh, but still were good. heat up a deep skillet, or chef pan. add a few tablespoons oil and sautee the peas for about 10 minutes. (something i forgot to bring but would change next time: add some fresh ginger to the pan). add some orange juice and allow to cook and thicken slightly. (garnish with some orange zest, another thing i forgot to do..)

the chutney was one apple and one pear and 1/3c diced onion thrown in a sautee pan with 2T butter. cooked for about 10 minutes then added a handful or so of golden raisins and 1/4c brown sugar, 2T cider vinegar and a few pinches of salt. cook over low heat for about 30 minutes.

the goat cheese sauce is completely option. i myself don't really like goat cheese too much, but thought the plate needed a sauce and something with some creaminess to it. it actually worked well with the potatoes. i just softened/melted the goat cheese and added a little milk and garlic. 

dessert was probably the best part of the meal. mille crepes with chocolate espresso and caramel sauces.

this is the 2nd or 3rd variation of this dish i've made. i made a blueberry version for a berry competition earlier this fall that had a walnut whipped cream filling and topped with a blueberry caramel. this time i wanted to do chocolate. i found a bottle of kahlua in the cabinet and went from there. after a complete failure i decided to just buy the caramel sauce..

mille crepes actually means million crepes and is a very elegant looking dessert and can be quite expensive at restaurants, yet if you can make pancakes, chances are you can make this dessert! crepes are a little harder than pancakes, but it's all the same basic principle. heat up a pan, nothing TOO big because the crepe will end up being about as big as the pan. spray with cooking spray and pour a small amount of batter in the pan as you tilt the pan around, coating the entire pan with a thin layer of batter. cook 2-3 minutes then carefully flip and cook an additional couple minutes.

mille crepes:

crepes:                                          chocolate sauce:

1c flour                                          1 1/2 c heavy whipping cream

1c milk                                           1/4 c cocoa powder

1/2c water                                      1/3-1/2 c powdered sugar

4 eggs                                            3T butter

4T melted butter                             1t espresso powder

3T sugar                                         1T kahula

dash salt                                         1t cinnamon

1T grand marnier*

mix together like pancake batter, but once mixed (don't over-mix!) refrigerate for at least 30 minutes**. make crepes until you run out of batter-it should make around 20-25. place a paper towel between crepes to keep them from sticking to each other. once cooled, place one on the bottom of serving plate or cake carrier. spread a thin layer of whipped cream and repeat until all the crepes are used. then spread a more generous layer of chocolate sauce on top. garnish with chocolate curls or shavings, caramel sauce and additional chocolate sauce. 

*grand marnier is one of those things that you won't use very often. we have been using the same bottle for at least 5 or 6 years now so if you don't want to spend the money you can skip that ingredient. i will however let you know it adds a certain amount of depth and flavor to the crepes that will be missed. (you can substitute for some orange extract or triple sec and it might be fairly close) in addition to making crepes, a splash of grand marnier in pancakes takes ordinary pancakes up a notch!

**why let doughs and batters sit before baking/cooking them? one reason is because the flour adds gluten (protein) and the more you stir it, the stronger the gluten structure, which means more firm/chewy. not something you want in cookies or pancakes. by allowing it to sit, it relaxes that structure, but that is also why you shouldn't over-mix batters. the other reason is to allow the flour to become fully hydrated before cooking. this helps create a more consistent product.