Bridal Shower

Here is the menu for the bridal shower I just hosted:

Mushroom Quiche
Spinach Quiche
Roasted Asparagus Salad
Green salad with cut up apple, crisp proscuitto and vinaigrette
Honey Baked Ham
Fruit
Lemon Rosemary Scones
Banana Bread

Dessert:
Caramel Turtle Truffle Tart
Lemon Bars
Cherry Crumble Pie Bars

Lemon Rosemary Scones

Lemon Rosemary Scones

February 25, 2013 600

PREP TIME:

20 Minutes

DIFFICULTY:

Easy

COOK TIME:

18 Minutes

SERVINGS:

24 Servings

INGREDIENTS

• SCONES
• 3 cups All-purpose Flour
• 2/3 cups Sugar
• 5 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 2 sticks (1/2 Pound) Unsalted Butter, Chilled And Cut Into Pieces
• 1 whole Large Egg
• 1 cup Heavy Cream
• 1 Tablespoon Finely Minced Fresh Rosemary
• Zest Of 1 Lemon
• GLAZE
• 5 cups Powdered Sugar, Sifted
• 1/2 cup Whole Milk, More If Needed For Thinning
• Zest And Juice From 1 Lemon
• 1 teaspoon Finely Minced Fresh Rosemary
• Dash Of Salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Mix cream with egg, lemon zest and rosemary and allow to sit for 10 to 15 minutes to steep.

Use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut the butter pieces into the flour. Keep going until mixture resembles crumbs. Mix wet mixture with flour mixture; stir gently with a fork until combined. Mix should be crumbly, but if it's too crumbly to work with, splash in a small amount of heavy cream.

Turn dough onto a floured surface and lightly press it together until it forms a rough rectangle. Use a rolling pin to roll into a rectangle about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick. Use your hands to help with the forming if necessary. Final rectangle should be about 18 inches by about 10 inches.

Use a knife to trim into a symmetrical rectangle, then cut the rectangle into 12 symmetrical squares/rectangles. Next, cut each square/rectangle in half diagonally, to form smaller triangles.

Transfer to a parchment or baking mat-lined cookie sheet and bake for 18 minutes, removing from the oven just before they start to turn golden. Allow to cool for 15 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

GLAZE

To make the icing, add lemon zest, lemon juice and rosemary into milk; allow to sit for awhile. Mix powdered sugar with the milk, adding more powdered sugar or milk if necessary to get the consistency the right thickness. Stir or whisk until completely smooth.

One at a time, carefully dunk each cooled scone in the glaze, turning it over if necessary. Transfer to parchment paper or the cooling rack. Allow the glaze to set completely, about an hour. Scones will keep several days if glazed.

Roasted Asparagus Salad

Roasted Asparagus Salad

1 ½ lb. asparagus

1 T. olive oil

S & P to taste

Vinaigrette:

¼ c. red wine vinegar

¾ c. olive oil

1 T. finely chopped shallots

S & P

Preheat oven to 350

Place asparagus on baking sheet. Sprinkle with 1 T. olive oil, salt and pepper.  Roast 5-10 min. til tender.  Transfer to cold platter and cool in the refrigerator.  Toss with 3 T. vinaigrette.

Spinach Quiche

Spinach Quiche

1 c. Whipping Cream

4 Egg Yolks

Pinch of Salt

Pinch of Cayenne Pepper

Pinch of Nutmeg

2 lbs. Frozen Chopped Spinach

¼ c. Butter Melted

Salt & Pepper to Taste

1 c. Grated Swiss Cheese

1 Unbaked Pie Shell

Cook spinach according to package directions.  Drain and squeeze as much moisture out as possible. Add butter, salt, pepper and cheese. Put into pie shell.  In a bowl combine whipping cream, egg yolks, salt, cayenne pepper and nutmeg.  Mix to blend.  Pour over spinach mixture.  Bake at 375º 40-45 minutes.  Let stand for 10 minutes after baking. 

Mushroom quiche

Mushroom Quiche

                             (Pioneer Woman)

Serves 8

¾ lb. thick cut bacon

1 stick butter

1 onion very thinly sliced

10 oz. mushrooms, sliced

7 eggs

1 ½ c. heavy cream

2 c. grated swiss cheese

S & P

Fresh parsley or chives (optional)

Pie crust (1 for deep dish tart pan or 2 for traditional pie plate size)

Preheat oven to 400.

In a skillet, fry bacon until crisp.  Crumble and set aside.  Pour out excess grease but don’t clean the pan.

Melt butter in the same skillet.  Add onions and cook for a few minutes.  Add mushrooms and cook a few more minutes.  Salt mixture to taste.  Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 20 minutes.

Roll out pie crust and press into deep dish tart pan.  In a large bowl, beat eggs with cream.  Add grated cheese and s & p, set aside.  (add cayenne pepper if you like a little kick)

With a slotted spoon, add mushroom mixture into the egg/cream mixture.  Stir together.  Add bacon and stir.  Add parsley or chives if desired.

Pour into pie crust and press to submerge the ingredients.  Cover loosely with foil, place on a baking sheet and bake at 400 for 1 hour. Bake slightly longer if quiche is overly jiggly (mine took 1 hr. 10 min., I would think baking time is less for traditional pie plate size)

Remove from oven and allow to set for at least 10 minutes before serving.  Remove quiche from pan and slice into wedges.

**Can make filling ahead and pour into tart shell when ready

Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts sliced through the equator to create thin fillets
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 medium carrots, sliced
• 2-4 tablespoons red curry paste
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 5 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 2  14 oz.  cans quality coconut milk (I love Chakoah)
• 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 5-6 kaffir lime leaves (find at nuts.com)    (I didn't add this but may look into it the next time!)      
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 8 oz. cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup chopped bite size cauliflower florets
• 3 oz.  rice vermicelli/thin rice noodles/sticks broken into pieces**
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 2-3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sriracha or more to taste

1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large Dutch oven/soup pot over medium-high heat. Add chicken and brown on both sides, approximately 2 minutes, but don’t cook through. Remove to a plate. 
2. Add one tablespoon olive oil to now empty pot and heat over medium high heat. Add onions and carrots and saute 3 minutes. 
3. Add curry paste, ginger, garlic and sauté for 2 minutes. 
4. Add chicken BACK TO POT followed by chicken broth, coconut milk, soy sauce, fish sauce, kaffir lime leaves, brown sugar, basil, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low and gently simmer for 15 minutes or until chicken is tender enough to easily shred.
5. Remove chicken and let rest until cool enough to shred or chop. Meanwhile, add mushrooms, bell peppers, cauliflower and rice noodles to pot. Simmer approximately 5 minutes OR just until your noodles are short of al dente. You want them undercooked as they will continue to cook once removed from heat. Stir in shredded chicken, cilantro, lime juice and sriracha. 
6. Discard kaffir lime leaves. Taste and add additional sriracha for spicier or lime juice for tangier. If you would like a less “chunky” soup, stir in additional broth or coconut milk. Garnish individual servings with crushed peanuts and/or cilantro and freshly squeezed lime juice to taste.