Food: recipes for the 5-course dinner

Roasted Beet Salad with Feta Cheese

Ingredients (8 servings)

• 3 medium roasted beets
• 1 small box of baby lettuce
• 4 oz. feta cheese
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/8 cup balsamic
• salt

Directions:

• make the dressing mixing olive oil, balsamic and salt
• pour the dressing over lettuce, chopped beets and feta cheese. Mix.

Blinis with Smoked Salmon and Sour Cream adapted from Martha Stewart’s

Ingredients for 24 blinis

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 pound smoked salmon, thinly sliced
• 4 tablespoons sour cream
• Fresh dill for garnish

Directions:

To clarify the butter, melt it in a small saucepan over low heat. Using a spoon, remove white foam from surface of melted butter, and discard. Allow butter to sit 15 minutes. Pour off the golden liquid, leaving the sediment in the bottom of the saucepan. Set aside.

Place all-purpose flours, baking powder, salt, egg, milk, and 1 tablespoon clarified butter in a large bowl; whisk until well combined.

Heat 2 tablespoons clarified butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Drop batter into skillet, 1 tablespoon at a time. Cook until blinis are covered with bubbles, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip; cook until brown, about 1 minute more. Repeat with remaining batter.

To serve, top blinis with the smoked salmon, 1/2 teaspoon creme fraiche, and a sprig of dill.

Beef Short Ribs Braised in Red Wine adapted from Lauren’s Kitchen

Ingredients (8 servings)

• 3.5 lbs of boneless beef short ribs
• 1/2 cup flour
• sea salt and pepper
• 1/2 lb baby carrots
• 1 lb. roma tomatoes, diced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 medium potatoes, diced
• 5-10 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
• 1 Tbsp fresh oregano, chopped
• 1 bottle of red wine, I used a blend
• 4 cups beef stock
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp butter

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 325 F
• In a bowl, combine some sea salt, pepper, and flour.  Season the ribs with more salt and pepper, and dredge each  beef short ribs until they are lightly coated on all sides with the flour mixture.
• Heat the olive oil and butter until it’s just melted and foamy.
• Sear the ribs in the melted butter and olive oil at least 3-4 minutes per side; until the ribs are nice and brown and slightly crispy.
• Transfer the ribs to a plate, and lower the heat on the range to medium.
• Remove all but 2 Tbsp of the fat/olive oil/butter mixture, and add the onions, carrots, and potatoes.  Season with a bit of salt at this point.
• Saute the vegetables for about 5-7 minutes and then add the garlic, tomatoes, thyme and oregano.
• Add the sugar and combine everything together and deglaze with the wine.
• Add the stock and cook for 3 hours.
• Season more salt if needed.

Spinach Cannelloni

To make 6 cannellonis

Make 16 pancakes with

• 3 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup flour

Spinach filling. Ingredients

• 1 package of frozen chopped spinach
• 1 package of frozen corn kernel, grounded
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 2-3 tbsp oil
• 2 tbsp parmesan cheese

Directions

• heat the oil and sauteed onions with peppers
• add spinach and corn and cook for 5 min
• add the cheese
• cool it down and set aside

White Sauce

• 2 oz. butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cup milk
• S+P

Direction

• Heat the milk to boil
• In another pot, heat the butter until it melts
• Turn off the heat and add the flour and mix well.
• Add S+P
• Turn on the heat and incorporate the milk slowly mixing it constantly until it gets thick.

Assembling

• Make pancakes with the filling
• Cover the white sauce to the cannellonis
• Bake at 350F for 15-20 min

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream from Tasty Kitchen

• 8 pieces (squares) Semi-sweet Baking Chocolate
• 2 sticks butter
• 1.5 cups Powdered Sugar
• 4 whole Eggs
• 4 whole Egg Yolks
• ¾ cups Flour

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Spray muffin pan with Pam
• Microwave chocolate and butter in large bowl on high for about 1 minute, until butter is melted. whisk until chocolate is also melted.
• Stir in sugar until well blended. Whisk in eggs and egg yolks. Stir in flour.
• Pour over muffin pan
• Bake 13-14 minutes until sides are firm and center is soft. Let stand 1 minute.
• Serve with ice cream