dinner-to-go

As a sanity break (or a break in sanity) from studying last week, I cooked for a little meals-on-wheels type dinner party with some good couple friends. How very relaxing to bounce around my kitchen and dirty everything I touched then leave it all behind as we headed over to their house with a delicious spread in hand!

Menu:

Summer peach and cherry tomato salad with goat cheese and lime vinaigrette in half an avocado

“Blue” bread

Porcini and rosemary crusted beef tenderloin w/ port wine reduction

Fruit foster w/ vanilla bean ice cream

The beef tenderloin and bread recipes below were followed directly off other blogs instructions, and the fruit dessert was a create-as-you-go type thing but I tried to recall my steps for easy repeatability’s sake.

New York Times No Knead Bread (Blue Bread)

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting


¼ teaspoon instant yeast


1¼ teaspoons salt


Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. ******Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

*****At this point, I crumbled one wedge of really good blue cheese and spread it in a layer over my flattened bread dough. I then folded up bread from the outside in (to wrap up the blue cheese) then let it rest seam side down.

(http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html)

Porcini and rosemary crusted beef tenderloin w/ port wine reduction 

Serves 6-8

For the Beef Tenderloin:

1 center-cut beef tenderloin, 3 pounds

Salt

1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms

2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves, finely chopped

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

Olive oil

Season the tenderloin all over with salt. Refrigerate 4 hours or up to 24 hours. Thirty minutes before roasting remove beef from refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 400 F. Combine mushrooms, rosemary and peppercorns in spice grinder. Grind to a coarse powder. Rub beef with olive oil. Coat all over with porcini rosemary rub. (Note: Make sure your mushrooms are completely dry and brittle, or they won't willingly grind into powder. If they're at all pliant, you can dry them out in the oven until they break easily.)

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a wide skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add beef and brown on all sides, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a roasting pan. Roast in oven until thermometer inserted in thickest part reads 125 F., about 30 minutes, for medium rare. Remove from oven and transfer to a cutting board. Tent with foil and let stand for 15 minutes.

Carve beef in 1/4 inch slices. Serve with Port Wine Sauce.

For the Port Wine Sauce::

1/2 ounce dried porcini mushrooms, reconstituted in 3/4 cup water, liquid reserved

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

1 medium shallot, finely chopped

1 cup port wine

1 cup heavy bodied red wine

2 rosemary sprigs

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Strain the porcini water through an un-bleached paper towel into a small bowl. Reserve strained liquid. Coarsely chop porcini.

Using the same skillet from browning the meat, add 1 tablespoon butter, shallots and chopped porcini. Sauté over medium heat until shallots are translucent, about 2 minutes.

Add port wine, scraping up any brown bits in the pan. Add red wine, mushroom stock and rosemary. Bring to a boil and cook uncovered until sauce is reduced by about half to approximately 1 1/2 cups. Add salt and taste for seasoning. Strain through a fine-meshed seive into a small saucepan, pressing firmly on solids. Discard solids.

Heat sauce over medium heat. Whisk in 2 tablespoons butter, 1 tablespoon at a time. Keep warm until serving.

(http://food52.com/recipes/14725_porcini_and_rosemary_crusted_beef_tenderloin_with_port_wine_sauce) 

Fruit Foster

¼ cup butter

¼ cup brown sugar

dash of cinnamon

2 oz. spiced dark rum

3 cups sliced fruit (apricots, strawberries, blackberries)

Vanilla bean ice cream

Soak fruit in rum 4-5 hours ahead of time (keep refrigerated). When ready for dessert, melt butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a skillet until bubbling. Pour in fruit into skillet and sauté until soft, about 3 minutes. Spoon into four bowls and top with a generous scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. Serve immediately!