Dinner Party

We had a Thank You party for some friends. I wanted it to be special because these friends have done so much for us. Here’s the menu, the meal planning, the timeline, and the recipes. It's a bit long, but maybe you can use something from this.

MENU

Appetizer: stuffed mushrooms
Spinach salad
Pumpkin rolls
Spiced cranberry butter

Plain butter

Pear butter

Chokecherry jelly

Grilled pork loin
Roasted potatoes

Bulgarian green beans
Chocolate molten cakes with whipped cream 

TIMELINE

The day before:
Make butter
Make spiced cranberry sauce for butter
Brine pork loin
Make and freeze molten cakes

Make cranberry butter

The day of:
Set table

Make salad dressing

Make stuffing for mushrooms and stuff mushrooms

Make smoke packets

Get out pork
Make roll dough
Grill pork 1 ½ hours
Assemble and cook green beans

Get potatoes ready

Make whipped cream

Get out butter, jelly

Rolls in pan

Assemble salad

Bake mushrooms

Cook potatoes

Water with lemon

Bake rolls

Slice pork after it rests 15 minutes

Reheat green beans

Light candles

Bake molten cakes towards end of dinner

Whipped cream and dust with cocoa 

Seriously, if I didn’t do this time line, I would forget most of these things. Something would get left in the oven or the refrigerator and I wouldn’t discover it until the next day. So all these detailed lists are just because I’m forgetful. Okay, let’s get cooking!

RECIPES: (they are organized in the order I prepared them)
BUTTER

1 qt. heavy cream – room temperature for 30 minutes

Salt, optional

(See the Pancakes and Butter blog for instructions and pictures)

 

Spiced Cranberry Butter
Simmer ½ c. cranberries

1 tbs. water

¼ c. honey or sugar (I used honey)
A strip of lemon peel from 1 lemon
1 cinnamon stick
A few whole cloves

Simmer all this together for 6-8 minutes. Oh my goodness! Can you smell that? I think I’m ready for Christmas now. Just feed me this. Anyway, remove spices and lemon peel. I mashed it through a sieve because of those pesky whole cloves.

Let cool. Chill.

Puree with ½ c.  butter.

That is so pretty! And yummy!

GRILLED PORK LOIN

Brine:
4 – 5 pound pork loin roast (get one with the nice fat layer on the top)
6 cups water
½ cup salt
½ cup Dark Brown Sugar
2 Bay leaves
1 handful of peppercorns
4 sprigs of Thyme
2 sprigs of Rosemary 

Combine the brown sugar and salt in the water and bring to a boil.

Stir until dissolved and then add the rest of the brine ingredients.

Lower heat and simmer for about 5 minutes to dissolve the salt and sugar.

Turn off the heat and allow to cool completely.

Once the solution has completely cooled, add the pork loin roast and brine solution to a Ziploc type bag. Seal and squeeze out as much air as possible.

Put the sealed bag with the now brining pork roast into a pot or large bowl, one that can hold all of the liquid in case something happens to the bag. Place the bowl containing the brining meat into a refrigerator for at least 12 hours, up to 24 hours.

Then you need:

Wood Chips (get them at any box store)

Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil

Bowl to soak the wood

Knife

Soak the wood chips in a bowl of water for about 30 minutes.

Put a handful (or several, depending on how long you will be grilling) onto the middle of a sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil. About a cup of wood chips should be good for most grilling. For meats requiring longer grilling times, go ahead and make two smoke pouches so you can throw the other one on the grill when the first stops smoking.

Fold all ends of the aluminum foil together to make a burrito-looking pouch.

Turn the pouch over and poke about 10 holes in the bottom of the pouch with a knife or fork. 

Remove the pork roast from the refrigerator at least 45 minute prior to cooking. Give it a little time to warm to room temperature, so remove it from the brining solution and leave it on a baking sheet or platter.

Prep the grill and smoke pouches.
After about 45 minutes, rinse and pat the pork roast dry.

Rub the pork loin with fresh ground black pepper.

Light the grill to high.

Once the grill is heated up, add the smoke pouches to the sides of the grill so they can start to smolder.

Sear the pork loin roast on all sides to create some of those nice grill marks.

Once the pork roast is seared, turn off the middle burner(s) on your grill to prepare for indirect grilling.

I use a rack to elevate the roast so the smoke can circulate. I put foil on the bottom to use as a drip pan.

Place the seared pork loin on the grate (or rack) fat side up. Roasting meats fat side up also aides in keeping them juicy.

You want to grill the pork loin at around 300°- 325°. If you have a grilling thermometer, place it right next to the pork loin on the grill.

Now close the lid and your job is done for at least an hour. Make sure you monitor the thermometer for the first 20 minutes or so to get the temperature right. Adjust the burners to get the thermometer to between 300° and 325°. Also, keep an eye on the smoke pouches and add more if needed to keep that smoke going.

After about an hour, insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the roast and then close the lid.

Continue cooking until the meat thermometer measures around 145-150°.

Remove the pork loin roast from the grill, place on a platter and cover with a tent of aluminum foil and allow to rest for about 15 minutes before carving.

Chocolate-Chile Molten Cake
This molten cake is the combination of chocolate with just a little chile heat. The batter must be frozen before baking; going directly from freezer to oven to table (put it in towards the end of dinner). It’s baked in individual ramekins and served hot. Or you can bake them in muffin tins, but they are harder to get out on individual plates in muffin tins. And although chipotle pepper may sound odd, it produces a nice kick that’s perfect with cooling vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Use as much or as little of the pepper as you like.

I doubled this because Thanksgiving is coming up and it’s nice to have a dessert in the freezer.

Cooking spray
½ cup sugar, divided   

5 ½ ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate (such as Ghirardelli), chopped or chips
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, chopped
10 tablespoons butter, softened
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
Optional: 1 tbs. finely chopped canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (or ½ tsp. chipotle powder)
3 eggs
¼ tsp. salt
3 tbs. cornmeal
2 tbs. all-purpose flour
2 tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder
Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, cocoa nibs, cocoa, or raspberries or other fresh fruit for garnish

Spray six 1-cup ramekins with cooking spray. Coat each with 1 teaspoon sugar.

Or muffin tins

Place chocolates in a double boiler set over barely simmering hot water. Stir occasionally until chocolates melt. Remove from heat. Or microwave until just before the chocolate is melted.

Beat butter and sugar together with a mixer until fluffy.

Beat in vanilla and chopped chipotle; the mixture may separate slightly. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping bowl and beating 1 minute between additions.

Add chocolate and beat 5 minutes. (Batter will be thick.)

Combine salt, cornmeal, flour and cocoa; sift over batter and stir.

Divide batter among ramekins. Don’t worry about smoothing out the tops. Cover each tightly with plastic wrap and freeze at least 4 hours.

 

Preheat oven to 400°F. Bake frozen cakes 10 minutes. (Tops will smooth out.)

Let stand 5 minutes. Invert onto serving plates. Serve immediately. Serves 6.

Stuffed Mushrooms
You can use either cremini or regular button mushrooms. The recipe can easily be scaled up - doubled or tripled. Scrub the mushrooms well first, then just snap out the stems. They'll come out easily, no need to use a knife. For parties, make the stuffing and have the mushrooms cleaned and stems removed ahead of time. But don't cook them until you want to serve: Once cooked, stuffed mushrooms do not hold up well for long periods. Bake some, serve and repeat.

18-24 button or cremini mushrooms, scrubbed clean, stems separated from the caps
1 Tbsp butter

2 small shallots, minced, about 2 Tbsp

1 large garlic clove, minced

2 Tbsp chopped walnuts

Salt

2 Tbsp chopped parsley

1 teaspoon herbes de Provence (basil, fennel, thyme) or dried thyme

2 Tbsp breadcrumbs

2 Tbsp chicken stock

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese

Finely chop the mushroom stems.

Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a small frying pan over medium-high heat. Sauté the chopped mushroom stems and the shallots for 4-5 minutes, stirring often.

Add the garlic and walnuts and sprinkle with salt. Stir well and sauté 2 more minutes. Turn off the heat and add the parsley, herbes de Provence and breadcrumbs.

Pour the chicken stock into a food processor, then the rest of the stuffing. Pulse several times to get a fine mixture, almost a paste.

Toss the mushroom caps with olive oil.

Fill each mushroom with the stuffing – about 1 tsp. per mushroom.

Sprinkle grated parmesan cheese over each mushroom.

At this point, you can cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until you’re ready to bake them. Let them come to room temperature before baking.

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 375°F., or until the cheese browns a little. Allow to cool for 5 minutes or so before serving. Serves 4-6 as an appetizer.

PUMPKIN DINNER ROLLS

2 ½ tsp. yeast

1/3 c. shortening
1 c. milk (I used the buttermilk from making butter)

1 c. pureed pumpkin

1 tsp. salt
1/3 c. sugar

2 beaten eggs
about 6 c. flour – white, whole wheat or both

Soften yeast in ¼ c. warm water. Melt shortening; add milk, sugar, pumpkin and salt. Warm milk mixture just to lukewarm. Add yeast and beat in eggs.


 
Add 2 c. flour and beat.

Stir in enough flour to make soft dough.

Knead about 5 minutes. Place in a bowl coated with oil. Turn to grease top. Let rise 1 or 1 ½ hours.

Turn out onto lightly floured surface. Divide in half. Divide each half into 12-16 pieces.

Form into rolls. This is hard to describe, but you sort of keep turning under the edges of the dough until the top is smooth.

Place in baking pan coated with melted butter. Turn each roll to grease the tops.

You can put them in the refrigerator at this point and take them out an hour before serving. Let rise 25 minutes. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes until golden brown. About 24-30 rolls.
 

 
CRANBERRY SPINACH SALAD

1 tbs. butter

¾ c. almonds, blanched and slivered

1 lb. spinach, rinsed and torn into bite size pieces

1 c. dried cranberries

2 tbs. toasted sesame seeds

1 tbs. poppy seeds

½ c. white sugar

2 tsp. minced onion

¼ tsp. paprika

¼ c. white vinegar

¼ c. cider vinegar

½ c. vegetable or canola oil

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Cook and stir almonds in butter until lightly toasted. Remove from heat and let cool.

Toast the sesame seeds in the same pan.

In a large bowl, combine spinach, almonds and cranberries.

In a medium bowl, whisk together sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, onion, paprika, vinegars, and vegetable oil.

Toss with spinach just before serving.

Or put the spinach on individual plates, sprinkle with almonds and cranberries. Spoon dressing over the top.

BULGARIAN GREEN BEANS - these are a colorful addition to the plate

2-3 sliced onions

4 tomatoes, quartered
¼ c. olive oil

1 chopped green pepper

1 chopped red pepper

2 cloves minced garlic
1 lb. washed and broken green beans

Herbs to taste (for this, I used tarragon and thyme)
2 thinly sliced carrots

Paprika to taste

Sauté onions and peppers in oil. Add garlic.

Sauté another minute. Sprinkle with paprika,

add beans and carrots. Simmer 15 minutes.

Add tomatoes.

At this point, I covered them and put them in the refrigerator until about 20 minutes before serving. Simmer 15 more minutes. Sprinkle with herbs. Serves 6-8.

GARLIC ROASTED POTATOES
1 tbs. oil

¼ tsp. ground red pepper
5 minced garlic cloves

1 ½ lbs. red potatoes, cut into 1 ½“pieces
2 tsp. cumin

½ tsp. salt

Heat oil in skillet; add garlic; cook till golden (30 seconds), stirring constantly.

Add cumin and red pepper.

Add potatoes and salt; toss.

Place mixture in roasting pan coated with cooking spray. I also covered these and put them in the refrigerator until about 40 minutes before serving. Bake at 400° for 30 minutes or till tender. 4-6 servings

 

 
This was such a delightful meal to prepare and serve to delightful people.