Well, my foodie friends, it’s official: Our Food & Friends Club is a smash hit! Woohoo!!!
We had our first get-together last night and I must say, I was impressed at the culinary talents gathered in one room. From Jan’s “Curried Apple Soup” to Todd’s “Key Lime Pie”, every morsel was simply divine. One could almost hear the collective moans of joy stemming from our taste buds. Ahem. Perhaps I should move on before I get carried away with more cryptic descriptions…
I’ve promised to post available recipes from our get-togethers, so here goes:
CURRIED APPLE SOUP (4-6 servings)
(Inspired by the recipe from “The Enchanted Broccoli Forest” by Mollie Katzen)
1 stick butter 1 cup chopped onion
6 apples (cut into chunks) 3 cups water
1 cup half-and-half 3/4 teaspoon curry powder
Melt butter in a pot and saute the onions. Add apple chunks and water. Bring to a boil. Cook until apples are tender. Puree mixture. Add half-and-half and curry powder. Puree again. Serve hot.
BACON QUESADILLAS
(Modified from a web recipe)
2 6″ flour tortillas 1/4 cup Colby & Monterey Jack Cheese
1 green onion (sliced) 4 slices cooked bacon (crumbled)
Cilantro to taste 1 1/2 tablespoons Jack Daniels barbecue sauce
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine all ingredients (except tortillas), spread onto one-half of each tortilla round. Fold over, bake on greased cooking sheet for 8-10 minutes, until brown and crisp.
ORANGE-CAULIFLOWER SALAD
(Courtesy of Cooks.com)
2 11oz cans mandarin orange segments (drained)
2 cups uncooked cauliflowerets 1/4 cup chopped green pepper
2 cups bite sized pieces spinach (approximately 2 oz)
1/4 cup French salad dressing Lettuce cups
Toss mandarin orange segments with cauliflowerets, green pepper, spinach and salad dressing. Serve in lettuce cups.
ARTICHOKE HEARTS & MUSHROOM CASSEROLE
(Sue’s family recipe)
1 cup plain artichoke hearts 1 cup sliced mushrooms
Olive oil Bread crumbs
1 tablespoon minced garlic Salt & pepper to taste
Butter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drain artichoke hearts. Quarter half, leave the other half whole. Place artichoke hearts and mushrooms in a casserole dish. Drizzle olive oil all over, season with salt & pepper (Sue uses sea salt and lemon pepper). Add minced garlic. Toss to combine. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top, finish with pats of butter. Bake for approximately one hour.
POPATOES AU GRATIN (8 servings)
(From “New Lessons in Gourmet Cooking” by Libby Hillman)
4 tablespoons butter 2 large onions (very thinly sliced)
6 potatoes (sliced thin) 6 oz Swiss or Gruyere cheese (grated or sliced)
2-3 teaspoons salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 1/4 cups sweet cream
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place pieces of some of the butter on the bottom of a shallow baking dish, cover with some of the sliced onions, potatoes and swiss cheese. Sprinkle with salt & pepper to taste. Continue layering with butter, onions, potatoes and cheese until done. Pour sweet cream all over. Cover and bake for one hour. Uncover. Bake for another 30 minutes until the top is browned.
CHICKEN AND BROCCOLI
(This is a web recipe that is meant to imitate Olive Garden’s “Chicken con Broccoli” dish. A click on a search engine pulled up several. Since I do not know exactly which one was used, I will leave it up to the reader to find their own to try.)
KEY LIME PIE
(Printed on Nellie & Joe’s Key West Lime Juice bottle)
1 9″ graham cracker pie crust 1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
3 egg yolks 1/2 cup Nellie & Joe’s Key West Lime Juice
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks and lime juice. Blend until smooth. Pour into pie crust and bake for 15 minutes. Allow to stand 10 minutes before refrigerating. Top with freshly whipped cream (or meringue) and garnish with lime slices before serving.
That’s all I have for now. I will update this post as soon as I receive more recipes.
Until next time,
Dorothy