Roasted Cornish Hens With Cherry Port Glaze

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A very simple but elegant main dish for a Fall dinner party or family dinner.  Serve with a Gratin of Pearl Onions and Gruyere. and brussel sprouts or haricot verts.

The Pumpkin Flan With Pumpkin Seed Praline would be a killer dessert!



Yield: 4 servings
(serving size: 1/2 hen)

Ingredients

1/2 cup cherry preserves

1/2 cup port

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 (1 1/2-pound) Cornish hens

1 large onion

juice of 1 lemon

Directions:

Early in the morning, remove and discard giblets and necks from hens. Rinse hens with cold water; pat dry. Remove skin; trim excess fat.  Chop 1 large onion and place in a large ziplock bag with the cornish hens.  Insert some of the onions in the cavity. Squeeze the lemon juice over the hens. Add some salt and pepper. Cover and place back in refrigerator.

Remove hens from the fridge at least an hour before cooking.  Discard the onions.

Preheat oven to 400°. Place a wire rack on a baking sheet; coat rack with cooking spray.

Combine preserves, port, ginger, vinegar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil; cook 9 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally.

Working with 1 hen at a time, tie ends of legs together with twine. Lift wing tips up and over back; tuck under hen. Sprinkle evenly with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.

Set on wire rack on baking sheet. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes. Brush hens with cherry mixture; bake 40 minutes or until a thermometer inserted in the meaty part of thigh registers 165°, brushing with cherry mixture every 10 minutes.

Remove from oven. Let stand 5 minutes. Remove twine; split hens in half lengthwise.

Recipe adapted from CookingLight

Start Spreading the News...

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Lindaraxa will be on a short break but back before you know it!

I'm leaving a simple video on how to butterfly a chicken from the folks at Fine Cooking.  So easy a caveman can do it.  Great for when you want to cook a whole chicken on the grill.  You can also catch another video on splitting a chicken which is the best way to get uniform pieces for fried chicken.

When I get back I should have a lot of new things to show you, so stay tuned!


Photo: lost the credit but think it's from Martha

Tapas - Stuffed Mushrooms

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You must have thought that I had forgotten the tapas recipes I promised at the beginning of the year.  Well, I didn't.  It's just that with the extreme weather we had this winter and the extreme heat we had this summer things just had to go in another direction.  But here we are, it's Fall, the store shelves are full of mushrooms and it's definitely time for another forgotten hors d'oeuvre, or tapas, that we used to serve all the time but has long been forgotten.

There is another recipe for stuffed mushrooms in my country blog which you might also want to check out.

 The stuffing in step 1 can be made up to a day ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.



Makes 4 dozen


Ingredients


3 ounces day-old white bread (about 3 slices), crusts removed

2 scallions, white and light-green parts only, roughly chopped

1 red bell pepper, seeded and roughly chopped

3 ounces fresh goat cheese

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1 ounce dry Monterey Jack or Parmesan, grated on small holes of box grater

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

48 button mushrooms (about 1 1/2 pounds), stems removed and caps cleaned

Directions

Pulse the bread in the bowl of a food processor until finely chopped. Transfer to a bowl. Place the scallions, bell pepper, and goat cheese in the bowl of a food processor, and pulse until finely chopped and well combined. Transfer mixture to the bowl with the bread crumbs, and stir. Stir in the cilantro, half the grated Monterey Jack, salt, and pepper.

Heat oven to 350 degrees; position rack in the center of oven. Place mushroom caps, cups facing upward, on a large cookie sheet. Spoon a heaping teaspoon of stuffing mixture into each cap. Bake until mushrooms are tender and filling is hot, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove mushrooms, turn oven to broil, and position rack about 4 inches from broiler. Sprinkle mushrooms with remaining grated cheese, and broil until cheese is golden, about 1 minute. Serve immediately.

Remember When...What A Year!

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The August Vogue Cover, Red Rose,  Norman Parkinson

If you are not a baseball fan, then you don't know that last night one of the most important records in sports history was broken. Roy Halladay of the Phillies broke Don Larsen's record of the only perfect pitch game in the post season. So what year was it?

Hints:

• The cost of a new car was around $2000

1956 Cadillac Coupe De Ville

• A gallon of gas was 22 cents

• Elvis Presley entered the charts with Heartbreak Hotel

• Steve Ballmer was born

• Grace Kelly married Prince Ranier

• The only perfect pitch in World Series Game (Dan Larsen for the New York Yankees in the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers) until last night.

• Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal

• The hard disk drive was invented by a team from IBM

• Italian luxury liner Andrea Doria sank off the coast of Nantucket

• Fidel Castro and Che Guevara landed in Cuba aboard the boat Granma

• Marilyn Monroe married Arthur Miller

The 1956 kitchen

• Soviet Union invaded Hungary to quelch anticommunist uprising

• I Love Lucy was the No 1 show

• My Fair Lady opened in New York City

• General Electric introduced "The Snooz Alarm"

• To Tell The Truth, Truth or Consequences, The Huntley Brinkley Report and As the World Turns first aired on television

• Elizabeth Taylor was still married to hubby No 2. Michael Wilding!!

• Eisenhower defeated Adlai Stevenson for the second time, as an incumbent, in the U,S, Presidential Elections

• 13-year-old Bobby Fischer beat GM Donald Byrne in the NY Rosenwald chess tournament

A Typical lunch for the Ladies Who Lunch was....

Whiskey Sours

Tomato Aspic

Shrimp Newburg

Peppermint Ice Cream With Chocolate Sauce

If you've made it this far and still don't know, it was 1956! Wow, that was the year that was!

Ooops, and I almost forgot!

When was the last time you saw one of these!

I know you are wondering what this has to do with cooking and entertaining.. Nothing at all. I was just at a loss for a new recipe and thought we all needed a break.

Roast Pork Tenderloin With Apple Chutney

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This dish is super easy to prepare and cook, and pork tenderloin is such a tender and lean cut of meat that it is wonderful when you are having guests for dinner.  Bacon and an apple juice and brown sugar glaze help to flavor the mild pork tenderloin.

We had such a beautiful Saturday here in Georgia this past weekend that I decided to change this recipe a bit and make the tenderloins on the grill.  The meat was first marinaded for a couple of hours with lemon juice, garlic, onions, fresh oregano and a bit of Worcestershire Sauce. I then dried them in paper towels and browned and seared them in a very hot fire without the bacon or the rosemary so they wouldn't burn.  They were then removed to a plate to cool slightly, wrapped in just a couple of bacon slices around and covered with some rosemary sprigs.  Back to the grill they went, to the cool part this time, where they cooked covered for another 30 minute or so. Brilliant!

You can baste with the glace if you want.  I didn't but I did serve them with the Apple Chutney recipe below.  You can do both. The next day, we had the tenderloin cold, with the chutney and some potato salad for a wonderful picnic lunch on the boat.

I am sharing the original recipe, just in case you prefer to roast in the oven.

Printable Recipe


Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes


Ingredients:

2 pork tenderloins, about 2 pounds

grill seasoning for pork or chicken, about 2 teaspoons, or a similar seasoning blend

6 slices bacon

Rosemary Sprigs

•Glaze:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup apple juice

1 tablespoon Dijon or grainy mustard

dash cinnamon


Preparation:

Heat oven to 400°.

Line a 13x9-inch baking dish with foil; lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Trim excess fat and silver skin from the pork; rub all over with the seasoning blend.

Brown the pork quickly on all sides in an iron skillet on top of the stove.  Remove to a platter and let cool slightly.

Lay a few sprigs of rosemary over pork, wrap bacon around the tenderloins and arrange in the baking dish.

Blend glaze ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat and set aside  

Bake the pork for 30 to 40 minutes, or until temperature registers 150° on an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the meat. Brush the pork generously with the glaze mixture and continue baking for about 10 minutes, or until temperature reaches 160°. Let rest for 5 minutes before slicing.

For the Apple Chutney

2 TB olive oil

1 large onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice

4 green apples (such as Granny Smith), peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch dice

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1 stick cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1/2 cup golden raisins

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

Directions

 in a large saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat; add onion. Saute over medium heat until translucent and beginning to brown, about 6 minutes. Add apples; saute 4 minutes more. Add vinegar, raisins, ginger, mustard,  cayenne, cloves, allspice and cinammon stick. Stir well to combine; cover. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until apples are very tender but hold their shape, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, and serve with the roast pork.

Makes 4 cups

Photo Lindaraxa

Curried Pumpkin and Leek Flans

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This makes for a beautiful first course or as a side to the main dish.  I usually serve them on a silver platter with the sauce on the side and pass them around.  Everyone can pour a little over their flans.

You can use any type of cooking pumpkin or squash, preferably butternut squash.

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 small cooking pumpkin, about 2 pounds

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

6 leeks, including 1-inch of green, carefully rinsed and cut into 1/2-inch dice

3 whole eggs

3 egg yolks

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon curry powder

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Boiling water, as needed

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley, plus extra for garnish


Directions
Preheat oven to 375*F (190*C). Lightly oil a baking sheet. Cut the pumpkin in half through the stem end and place, cut side down, on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until easily pierced with a knife, 40 to 50 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Leave the oven set at 375*F (190*C). Using a spoon, scoop out the seeds and fibers and discard. Spoon the flesh into a blender. Puree until smooth.

Meanwhile, in a large frying pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the leeks and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are very soft and begin to fall apart, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the heat.

In a bowl, whisk together the whole eggs and egg yolks, 1 cup of the cream, the sugar, curry powder, salt and pepper to taste. Add three-fourths of the pumpkin puree and all the leeks and stir well.

Butter six 2/3 cup (5 ounce) ramekins or flan molds. Place in a large baking pan and divide the flan mixture evenly among the prepared molds. Pour boiling water into the baking pan to reach halfway up the sides of the molds. Cover the pan loosely with aluminum foil. Bake until the custards are firm in the center and browned on top, 20 to 25 minutes.

While the flans are baking, combine the chicken stock, the remaining pumpkin puree and the remaining 1/2 cup cream in a saucepan. Place over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Boil gently until reduced by half, 5 to 10 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean pan. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Remove the flans from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of each mold and invert onto individual plates. Ladle the sauce around the custards. Garnish with the parsley and serve.

Serves 6.

Recipe adapted from Joanne Weir
Photo by Penina

Memories of the Past...Shrimp Newburg

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A great recipe and a shame it has been forgotten for so long.  This is one of those quintessential dishes of the 50's and 60's that like the tomato aspic got overdone and forgotten forever.  It actually goes back much farther than that to the days of Delmonico's the famous restaurant of the turn of the century.

I don't know what got me thinking of it except that I wanted to do something different with the shrimp, something that was not garlicky or lemony or Chinese.  It was so easy to make that I made it at the same time that I was making an apple chutney for Saturday's dinner party and apple crumb with the leftover fruit for dessert.  Multitasking in the kitchen can sometimes lead you to big boo boos unless you finish something before you start the next and then sit back and watch everything cook at the same time.  This time it worked...but there have been others.

You can serve Shrimp Newburg in pastry shells or with biscuits but my favorite is white rice.  A nice green salad is all you need to accompany.  It is rich and filling but oh so good!

The Newburg Sauce can be used with shrimp or lobster or a mix of the two.

Printable Recipe

Serves 2

Ingredients

3/4 to 1 lbs of shrimp

1 TB butter

Sauce Newburg

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots

1 teaspoon paprika

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

Salt and Pepper

1 egg yolk

Freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons dry sherry

Dash of cayenne

Preparation

1.Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the shallots and paprika. Cook, stirring, until shallots are wilted. Sprinkle the mixture with flour and stir with a wire whisk.

2.Add the milk, stirring vigorously with the whisk. Add the cream, salt and pepper to taste. Strain the sauce through a sieve, preferably of the sort known in French kitchens as a chinois. (I didn't but for a dinner party you should)) Press with a spatula to extract as much liquid as possible from the shallots.  Reheat and add the egg yolk.   Remember to add some sauce to the yolk beforehand if it is still hot.  Mix well and add the sherry and a dash of cayenne.  Set aside.

In a separate skillet heat the 2TB of butter and lightly sautee the shrimp for a couple of minutes.  Don't let them brown. Add the sauce to the shrimp and simmer for a couple of minutes so the shrimp can finish cooking.  Taste for salt and pepper.  You can serve immediately or let cool and reheat later,very low, if you are having guests for dinner.

YIELD  About one and one-half cups .

Recipe adapted from Craig Claiborne & Pierre Franey NYT