After a couple of weeks of easy dinners, I feared that perhaps I was getting lazy... so, to assuage my fears, I lined up a great menu for the small dinner party we had on Saturday night in honor of Brandie and Christian's visit to San Diego. Inspired by Liz Slo, I decided to make a drink to start us off and the menu grew from there. I decided to go with Pluot-Prosecco Fizzes for our drink, gourmet pizzas and cheeses for our appetizer, a grilled veggie salad with a mustard-lemon vinaigrette and homemade pasta with fava beans, tomatoes and sausage for our main course, and macerated nectarines with a ricotta-vanilla cream and pine nut brittle for dessert. It was a CRAZY day of cooking, especially since my pasta machine was having some serious issues (causing me to have serious frustration) and since I might have been a little overly ambitious given my time constraints. Lucikly, I had Brandie as my sous chef, and Dave as my barbeque-guru and pizza dough-maker to help out! It all tasted great at the end of the day and we had a tremendous time! And all that food provided a nice base for the Mules we had at Starlite afterwards!
PLUOT-PROSECCO FIZZ
Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 lemons
1 pound Pluots (4 to 6 small), halved, pitted, coarsely chopped
1 750-ml bottle Prosecco or cava, chilled
Directions: Bring sugar and 1/2 cup water to boil in small saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil 1 minute; remove from heat and cool. DO AHEAD: Simple syrup can be made 1 week ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Using vegetable peeler, remove lemon peel (yellow part only) lengthwise in eight 1/4- to 1/2-inch-wide strips and set aside. Juice lemons. Place Pluots, 6 tablespoons simple syrup, and 2 tablespoons lemon juice in food processor; puree until small flecks of Pluot remain. Strain.
Measure 3 tablespoons Pluot puree into each of 8 Champagne glasses. Fill with sparkling wine. Drizzle 2 to 3 drops lemon juice over. Garnish with lemon peel.
PIZZA WITH FIGS, GORGONZOLA, BALSAMIC AND ARUGULA (adapted from Bon Appetit magazine)
Ingredients
1 pound pizza dough (you can buy fresh pizza dough at Trader Joe's or, even better,
you can make your own-- we LOVE this Wolfgang Puck recipe--http://www.wolfgangpuck.com/recipes/view/3391/pizza-dough-- and it makes two pizza doughs, enough for both of your pizzas!)
8 oz. crumbled gorgonzola
6 small fresh Kalmyra figs, sliced in 1/4-inch slices
2 Tbsp fig basalmic vinegar (get this at Whole Foods)
1 Tbsp EVOO
8 cups arugula
Directions: Preheat oven to 450. Roll out dough and place on greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with gorgonzola and grind a little fresh pepper on top. Bake pizza until crust is brown on bottom, about 10-15 minutes. In the meantime, drizzle 1 Tbsp of vinegar over figs and set aside. Once crust is browned, arrange fig slices on top and put back in oven for about 1 minute. Transfer pizza to cutting board and, while cooling, mix olive oil, 1 Tbsp of vinegar and toss with arugula. Place arugula on pizza slices and serve.
GORGONZOLA, PEAR AND PROVOLONE PIZZA
Ingredients
1 pound pizza dough
2 ripe pears, thinly sliced
5 oz. crumbled gorgonzola
1 package provolone cheese
1/4 cup crushed walnuts
Directions: Roll out pizza dough on prepared cookie sheet. Sprinkle gorgonzola over crust, then layer pear slices, then provolone slices, and then sprinkle with walnuts. Bake pizza until crust is browned and cheese is melted, about 10-15 minutes.
GRILLED VEGGIES WITH MUSTARD-LEMON VINAIGRETTE
Vinaigrette Ingredients
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Vegetables Ingredients
20 asparagus spears, each trimmed to 5-inch length
8 green onions, green tops trimmed
4 medium zucchini, each cut lengthwise into 1/4- to 1/3-inch-thick slices
2 large ears of corn, husked
4 medium heads of Belgian endive
2 small heads of radicchio, halved through core
6 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise
Olive oil (for brushing)
Directions for vinaigrette: Combine first 9 ingredients in medium bowl. Gradually whisk in oil; season with salt and pepper.
Directions for vegetables: Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Arrange all vegetables on baking sheets. Lightly brush all vegetables with oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill asparagus, green onions, zucchini, and corn until lightly charred and just tender, turning occasionally, about 5 minutes for green onions, 8 minutes for asparagus and zucchini, and 10 minutes for corn. Return vegetables to same sheets. Grill endive and radicchio until lightly charred, turning often, about 8 minutes. Transfer to baking sheets with other vegetables. Place tomatoes, skin side down, on grill and cook until just charred, about 3 minutes. Turn tomatoes; grill until just beginning tosoften, about 1 minute longer. Transfer to sheets with other vegetables. Cut asparagus, green onions, and zucchini crosswise into 1-inch pieces; place in large bowl. Cut corn kernels from cobs; add to bowl. Cut endive in half lengthwise. Remove cores from endive and radicchio. Chop into 1/2- to 3/4-inch pieces; add to bowl. Coarsely chop tomatoes. Using slotted spoon, add tomatoes to bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
FRESH PASTA WITH FAVA BEANS, TOMATOES AND SAUSAGE
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 large garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1/8 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1/2 pound Italian sausages, casings removed
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 3/4 cups chopped plum tomatoes
1 cup shelled fresh fava beans (from about 1 pound), blanched 3 minutes then peeled
3/4 pound fresh pasta sheets, cut as desired, or dried egg fettuccine (I made homemade pasta and cut it in a "style" called maltagliati (badly cut) pasta (because my stupid pasta machine was having issues cutting it into actual fettucine), which means you just take a knife to your pasta and cut into triangle-y shapes. It actually turned out pretty cool)
2 tablespoons finely grated Pecorino Romano cheese plus additional for passing
Directions: Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add next 3 ingredients. Sauté until onion is translucent, about 6 minutes. Add sausages; break up with fork. Sauté until brown, about 3 minutes. Add wine; simmer 1 minute, scraping up browned bits. Add tomatoes and fava beans. Sauté until tomatoes soften, about 5 minutes. Season sauce with salt and pepper. Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta cooking liquid. Return pasta to same pot. Add sauce to pasta. Toss over medium heat until sauce coats pasta, adding reserved cooking liquid as needed if dry, about 2 minutes. Mix in 2 tablespoons cheese. Transfer pasta to bowl. Serve, passing additional cheese.
MACERATED NECTARINES WITH RICOTTA-VANILLA CREAM AND PINE-NUT BRITTLE (adapted from Gourmet magazine)
Ingredients:
3 nectarines (about 1 lb.), cut into wedges
1/2 cup plus 4 tsp sugar, divided
1 tsp fresh lime juice
1 cup ricotta (I used partially-skim)
1/4 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted (you can buy toasted pine nuts at Trader Joe's)
1/4 cup mint leaves
Directions: Toss nectarines with 1 tsp sugar and lime juice in a bowl and let macerate, stirring occassionally, about 15 minutes. In the meantime, puree ricotta, whole milk, vanilla, and 3 tsp sugar in a blender. Transfer to a large bowl and pop in freezer, stirring after about 10 minutes; put back in freezer for another 10 minutes until thickened. Line a cookie sheet with foil. Bring water and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Boil, without stirring, swirling pan occassionally, until medium amber, about 10 minutes. Watch this step closely, because it is WAY too easy to burn this (I did so 2 times before getting it right!). Stir in pine nuts, then immediately pour onto foil-lined cookie sheet. Spread as thinly as possible with rubber spatula and let sit until set, about 5 minutes. Peel foil off and break into pieces. To put together dessert, place a few nectarine slices in small bowl, drizzle with 1/4 of ricotta cream and place a large chunk of brittle in. Add a few leaves of mint and serve!
Wow- Giada look out :)
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