Since I am surrounded by fancy food and drink at Tiburon now, I somehow think me and Kevin now deserve that. So I have decided to do a weekly fancy dinner. For last nights menu:
Artesian Bread w/ oil and balsamic vinegar
Cherry Tomato Caprese Salad
Chicken Cordon Blue
Non-alcoholic Champagne
Sadly, I didn't make the bread. I suck at making bread, well actually I would like to blame this on my oven. So this was just a Walmart special. But everything was absolutely delicious. I have made this chicken recipe too many times to count, and it is delicious every time. It is amazingly rich. The caprese salad was a first, and required some time to do, but was completely worth it. I love love love the combination of basil, mozzarella, and balsamic vinaigrette. And since you cook and reduce the dressing, it makes it that much more delicious and savory. I bought the mozzarella cheese balls at Pirate Ohs and they were the bomb. I also got the non-alcoholic champagne at Pirate Ohs. I have never tried it before but it was so good! Its just like sparkling cider but with a bit more bubbly. Kevin loved popping the cap off. Im so glad he did it outside because it FLEW into our neighbors yard. It definitely could have put a hole in our ceiling. And the popping sound made it all the more fancy. Ha us mormons...
We finished the night with Inception. We rarely go see movies at the Real Theater. Real as in $8.50 a pop real. We have a really hard time spending $17 for a movie, but maybe being fancy got us in the mood. Well it was worth it, very worth it. It was a very creative and intelligent movie. Christopher Nolan has a gift and I think he needs to keep on sharing it. We want more Christopher!
Cherry Tomato Caprese Salad
(My Kitchen Cafe)
2 pints cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes and patted dry
1 cup chopped fresh basil
In a large bowl, toss the tomatoes, sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt together. Let the mixture stand for 30 minutes so that the tomatoes give up some of their juices. Transfer the tomatoes and any accumulated liquid to a salad spinner and spin to remove the seeds and the liquid. Then pour the accumulated seeds and liquid into a fine-mesh strainer to remove the seeds, reserving the liquid. (I don’t have a salad spinner, so I dumped the all of the tomatoes and juices into a fine mesh strainer set over a liquid measuring cup and pressed on the tomatoes lightly to give up more of their juices. I picked out a few of the seeds but didn’t worry so much about eliminating all of them.) Return the tomatoes to the original bowl and pour the tomato liquid into a small saucepan (you should have between 1/3 and 1/2 cup of liquid).
To the small saucepan, add the vinegar and garlic. Simmer over medium heat until the mixture is reduced to about 3 tablespoons. This will take about 5 minutes. Cool to room temperature and then whisk in the olive oil.
Add the mozzarella cheese, basil and cooled dressing to the bowl with the tomatoes and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Serve
Chicken Cordon Blue
6 chicken breasts
ham
swiss cheese
1 tsp paprika
3 Tb flour
6 Tb butter
1 bouillon cube
2 Tb corn starch
1 1/2 cup water
1 cup heavy whipping cream
toothpicks
Flatten the chicken breast and cut an insert. Add slices of ham and swiss cheese. Secure with toothpick (you might need 4 or 5 in each). Mix the flour and paprika and coat chicken on both sides. Melt 6 Tb butter in a large saucepan and brown chicken on both sides. Add 1 1/2 cup water and bouillon cube and simmer on medium for 30-35 minutes, don't cover.
Mix the cornstarch and heavy whipping cream in small pan and boil for 2 minutes. Then whisk and cool. If it is not thick enough, add more cornstarch.
When chicken is done, add a slice of swiss cheese on top, and spoon over whipping cream mixture. ENJOY!
No comments:
Post a Comment