Here’s the second batch of recipes from this past Saturday Nights Event. We will have to wait for another time to review Egg Rolls. Not enough room here …..
It’s just amazing how you can grab all different kinds of veggies and sprinkle them into a salad with some parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and olive oil plus fresh spices and make a great starter for a meal!
I guess the first real recipe I would like to talk about is Garlic Hoisin Chicken. It’s such great flavor, with very little work. Kelly simply slivered garlic and stuff it under the skin of the fully boned with skin thighs. Then he dressed it with hoisin sauce. We used a food saver to suck out all the air and the next night all it took was a quick warm up! If you are plant based, you can pan sauté eggplant, baste it in Hoisin Sauce, roll it up with your garlic slivers inside, and you’ve got an Garlic, Hoisin Eggplant roll up. Delicious! Speaking of Eggplant, the Spicy Eggplant Dip was a big hit:
1T ginger, minced ¼c green and white scallions
½ t minced chile
3T soy
3T brown sugar
1t rice vinegar
1T hot water
1lb eggplant
Combine the aeromatics and set aside. Combine all the other ingredients (except eggplant and aeromatics) and wok in oil (2T peanut, ½T sesame). Then, add aeromatics for about 15 seconds. Balance seasoning.
Heat oven to 475º. Prick and remove leaves on 1 lb. eggplant. Bake, turning once, until fork tender – about 20 minutes. Cut lengthwise to cool. Remove hard stem and puree. Add sauce, cool overnight and garnish with scallions or cilantro to serve.
Serve with vegetables or crackers.
From Barbara Tropp’s China Moon Cookbook.
We created a bunch of things you stuff…… You can read more about mushroom ‘prep’ here:
To your right, you are looking at stuffed mushrooms and here’s the recipe from Julia Child:
Julia’s Stuffed Mushrooms
Ingredients
24 medium brown mushrooms, such as Crimini
14 tablespoons butter (1 stick plus 6tbs)
1/4 cup finely minced shallots
1 tablespoon flour (I used sweet rice, to make it gluten-free)
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup minced pasley
1/2 cup grated Gruyère cheese
- Rinse and dry the mushrooms to clean them of any remaining dirt. Rub the bottom of a baking dish with the stick of butter.
- In a small saucepan, melt 2tbs of butter over medium heat, and set aside.
- Remove the stems from the mushrooms, and set aside. Brush the mushroom caps with the melted butter, and arrange in a shallow baking dish, hollow side up. Season with salt and pepper.
- Finely chop the mushroom stems, and twist in the corner of a dish towel to remove as much water as possible. In a heavy bottomed pan, melt the rest of the butter (12 tbs) over medium high heat, and saute the shallots and mushroom stems 4-5 minutes, until softened and fragrant. Add 1tsp flour, 1/2 teaspoon cracked pepper, and the flour, and whisk until bubbling, but not browned. Whisk in the cream. Continue whisking until mixture is thickened, then removed from heat. Let cool, then whisk in the parsley, and adjust salt and pepper until it tastes delicious!
- Fill mushroom caps with mixture (you might have to really mound it up!), and top with 1 teaspoon of Gruyère. At this point, the mushrooms can be covered and refrigerated until the party.
- 15 minutes before serving, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake in the upper third of the oven, until lightly browned.
You will notice in the background of this shot stuffed tomatoes. Here’s the recipe:
½ lb. lump crab meat
2 T plain yogurt
2 T mayonnaise
10 black olives, chopped
1 t lemon juice
2 T finely chopped, drained, bottled roasted red peppers
2 T minced fresh coriander
About 70 cherry tomatoes …..
In a bowl, combine well all the above ingredients, except the tomatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Chill. This can be done 1 day ahead, store in the refrigerator, covered. Cut tomatoes (about ¼ off the top). Scoop out the insides. Sprinkle inside with salt lightly. Invert on paper towels to drain, for about 15 minutes. Stuff.
We stuffed round potatoes, by scooping out the potato and combining with rosemary, topping it with vegan sour cream and chives. We did the same for meat eaters, topping it with sour cream, chives and caviar.
During the trip to decadence and back, I was happy to have Shelley change out milk for Cashew Milk, use oil instead of butter, and trick ourselves with plant based cream. Everyone was stuffed, eating just bites and everyone enjoyed the wine tasting too!
Healthy Happy Eating,
