Dinner Party

We're having a few friends over and I'm cooking! Here's what's on the South of France/Italian inspired menu tonight:

Amuse-bouches
Rillettes de poulet au pesto Chicken Pesto rillettes
Caviar de courgettes et sa crème de feta Zucchini caviar with feta cream
Gateaux à l'ail et aux fines herbes Garlic and herb cheesy biscuits
Cranberry Bellini Cocktail

Entrée
Millefeuille d'aubergine à la menthe Eggplant millefeuille with mint

Plat
Veau au jambon fumé Veal with smoked ham
Risotto aux saveurs du sud Risotto from the south

Dessert
Panna Cotta aux pommes caramelisées Caramel apple panna cotta




Chicken Pesto Rillettes
Rillettes is a French shredded pork mixture (traditionally cooked in its own fat) served on bread at picnics or for appetizers. This is a flavorful and colorful chicken version. This recipe is just for 4-6 mini appetizers

• 1 cooked chicken breast
• bunch of basil
• 70 g 3/4 c. parmesan cheese
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2-3 Tbsp olive oil
• 2-3 Tbsp sour cream
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• 3-4 Tbsp bread crumbs
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• salt, pepper to taste

Begin by making the pesto. Blend in mixer the basil, parmesan, garlic, and olive oil until smooth. Add cooked chicken breast cut into small pieces. Blend everything together until smooth. Add the sour cream until it becomes a thick paste-like texture. Add salt and pepper to taste.

In a seperate bowl mix tomato paste, bread crumbs, vinegar, salt and pepper until crumbly. Spoon a small amount of chicken mixture into small verrine glasses. Top with tomato crumble.

Or, you can serve the chicken mixture on mini toasts, topped with a small slice of fresh tomato.



Zucchini Caviar with Feta cream
This "caviar" has nothing to do with fish eggs. It is blended mixture of zucchini, shallots and spices, topped with a delicious cream. Again, this recipe is for just a few mini appetizers

For the caviar:

• 2 zucchinis
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 shallots
• 1 clove garlic
• ground cumin
• rosemary
• salt, pepper

For the cream:

• 150 g 6 oz feta cheese, crumbled
• 20cl 3/4 cup sour cream or half and half

Slice zucchini thinly. Blanche in boiling salted water for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and pour cold water over them to stop cooking. Drain. Mash with fork (or hands!) until slightly smushed, but not puréed.

Soften minced shallots and garlic in olive oil on medium heat for a few minutes. Add drained, smushed zucchinis to pan and sautee for 4-5 minutes with cumin, salt, pepper and rosemary to taste. Remove from heat and cool.

For the cream, heat sour cream or half and half in small sauce pan with the crumbled feta. Mixing constantly, melt the feta until you have a smooth cream. If needed, use blender or mixer to obtain a perfectly creamy sauce.

Serve the cooled "caviar" in small glasses, with warm cream as topping (2/3 zucchini, 1/3 cream). Cool in refridgerator for at least an hour before serving.


For Garlic and Herb Cheesy Biscuits, see recipe posted on June 2.

Eggplant Millefeuille with Mint
The traditional millefeuille is a layered vanilla custard dessert. This is a savory italian version that still keeps the layered idea, but the ricotta and eggplant make transform it into an entrée. The freshness of the mint is a surpising compliment to this summery dish.

• 2 medium eggplants
• 500 g. 2 cups ricotta cheese
• 1 bunch fresh mint leaves
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 medium ripe tomatoes (or 1 can peeled tomatoes)
• 2 cloves garlic
• Freshly grated parmesan cheese for sprinkling

Thinly slice the eggplant and sprinkle all slices with salt. Stack slices and place between two heavy plates, forming a sort of press that will help the eggplant release water - you can let is press for up to an hour, but even 15 minutes will help the cooking process later.

Fry eggplant slices in a few Tbsp olive oil until slightly browned. Reserve on paper towels.

Crushed and mince garlic cloves. In a small sauce pan, cook tomatoes and garlic with some pepper for about 15 minutes. Use a blender or mixer to obtain a chunky sauce.

In a blender, mix the mint leaves with a few Tbsp olive oil til you have a "leafy" sort of paste.

To serve, alternate layers of eggplant with the ricotta, ending with the ricotta. Spoon the mint and tomato sauce in a circle around the layers. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Serve at room temp or cooler.


Risotto from the south
South, as in south of France. This risotto is pretty classic but has some interesting italian-inspired accents.

• 1 white or yellow onion, minced
• 2-3 Tbsp butter
• 350 g 1 cup arborio rice
• 1 liter 4 1/4 cups strong beef broth (if you don't have a strong enough flavor, reduce 6-8 cups over heat until you have the right quantity/flavor)
• 100 g. about 1 cup freshly grated parmesan
• 3-4 Tbsp cream to taste and for texture
• 4 artichoke "bottoms" or hearts, diced
• 5 sundried tomato halves, diced
• 15 small green olives, diced

In a medium sauce pan, heat butter and cook the onions until soft and transparent. Add the rice to the pan. Constantly stirring, cook for a few minutes until the rice starts to become transparent. Slowly, a cup at a time, add the heated beef broth and stir stir stir (don't stop stirring!) until absorbed. Continue until the rice is soft but not mushy - about 15 minutes total. Add all the parmesan and cream until you have a creamy consistency. Stir in the artichoke hearts, tomatoes and green olives. Cover and let flavors mix for 5-10 minutes before serving.



Veal with smoked ham
This is not really a recipe - its just the "best way to cook veal or beef " according to the chef with whom I took some cooking classes in Paris:

Wrap some pancetta type smoked ham around small veal cutlets and tie with string. Pat some flour on both sides and sear in a hot pan with butter until browned on both sides (but not cooked all the way through). Set aside on cookie sheet for at least 10 minutes (up to 2 hours). This will let the muscle (yes, meat is a muscle. gross) relax and release the juices that can make it tough when cooking. You'll finish the cooking later. You can deglace the cooking pan (don't lose those tasty little stuck on bits! says the chef) with a half cup of sherry and/or beef broth and reduce to make an easy sauce. Sprinkle with a tsp of flour and blend with whisk to thicken.

When your guests arrive, preheat oven to 200°C 390°F. Place the cookie sheet in the oven for approximately 15 minutes to finish cooking. You can thus serve your guests hot and perfectly tenderly cooked meat that you prepped earlier in the evening. Cool! The ham keeps the flavor and makes it more interesting. I really like this method, and get compliments every time I cook veal.


Caramel Apple Panna Cotta
I love panna cotta (cooked cream in Italian) and its so very easy to make! Apples are more of a specialty from Arnaud's region (Normandy), but I liked the contrast of the sweet cream and tangy apples. And this caramel sauce is to die for.

For the panna cotta:

• 40 cl 1.5 cups half and half
• 60 g 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 vanilla bean pod (split in two and scrapped with knife to release seeds) or vanilla extract
• 3-4 sheets Tbps non-flavored gelatin

For the caramel:

• 80g 5 Tbsp white caster sugar
• 10 cl 1/2 cream or half and half
• 40 g 2.5 Tbsp butter
• 1 big pinch salt

For apple topping:

• 1 apple
• pinch of cinnamon

For the panna cotta, simmer cream with the vanilla pod and sugar, stirring often, for about 5 minutes. Do not let it come to a boil. Remove from heat, remove pod from mixture and disolve the gelatin. Mix thoroughly and pour into molds or serving dishes. Refridgerate for at least 3 hours.

For the apple, peel and dice it in small pieces. Place in a microwave proof bowl with a few Tbsp of water. Microwave for 1-2 minutes until soft. Drain water, add the cinnamon and a Tbsp of sugar if its too tart (don't forget that you'll be serving it with caramel, so it should stay a little tart!)

For the caramel, place sugar in small (dry) sauce pan on medium heat (thats right, ONLY the sugar in the sauce pan. Use a good old fashioned non-teflon style if you have one). After a few minutes, the sugar with melt and turn golden brown. This is the carmelizing process (anyone who has made candy before is familiar). When all the sugar crystals are melted into a smooth golden syrup, remove from heat and add heated (in microwave) half and half all at once. I recommend stirring with a metal spoon until smooth (don't use a whisk, it gets stuck everywhere). If necessary, return to heat to disolve any crystalization. Add butter and salt and stir. Set aside to be drizzled over the panna cotta later.

If you did it right, this caramel is the most delicious thing you've ever tasted. Don't hesitate to try several times - it doesn't take very many ingredients and you probably already have most of them in your cupboard. Once you've mastered it, you'll always have a quick dessert sauce that you can whip up in less than 5 minutes. I serve it over yogurt, or cottage cheese for an easy dessert.

A note about cleaning the pan/spoon:
If your carmel is stuck on, just add some water to the pan and boil for a few minutes. Everything will disolve.

To serve the panna cotta, add a Tbsp or two of the apple mixture and spoon or drizzle some caramel over it. Yum!