The Last Dinner

By Sunday, one chef will be nearly to his new East Coast home. Where he will become an East Coast Liberal Elite. Not that he's not already a Liberal Elite.

A menu befitting the solemn occasion of our final Sunday Night Dinner was necessary. Old favorites were brought out. Fresh pasta, chicken fricassee, salad, and profiteroles for dessert.

What will Sunday nights become without a Tuscan-scene bowl full of fresh, buttered pasta?



Without chicken browned by our chicken browning specialist chef?



A sauce prepared by his sauce-preparing specialist chef?



Without a salad prepared by the salad specialist chef?



And without profiteroles prepared by our pate a choux specialist chef?



Not good Sunday nights, that's for sure.

The chicken fricassee recipe is the one from The Professional Chef that these chefs have used more than once in the last 3 years. The salad was a modified waldorf salad, with walnuts, dried cranberries and apples. And the profiteroles were from Nick Malgieri. With chocolate sauce from Cooks Illustrated.

A bittersweet chocolate ending to a good run of Sunday nights.

No new dinners to report

but some pie making activity has been going on in the home of one chef. Another chef has foiled plans for Sunday Night Dinner for three Sundays in a row, due to travel. He is personally responsible for the unhappiness of the other three.

In order to appease the viewing public, here is a short photo essay on apple pie.

Apples, peeled.



Apples, mixed with sugar, cinnamon and a touch of flour.



Fill the pies.



Both pies!



Cover the pies with crust. Fix the edges up nice.



Put them in the oven, wrapped up around the edges so they don't get burnt.



Take them out when they are golden.



Nestle them in the orange box.



These pies are ready for travel. But where are they going??

A serious lack of dedication

to Sunday night dinner has taken over the chefs. Last week, the host chef was working, this week one of the chefs was missing. But the remaining chefs couldn't give up that easily. It was a lovely night for a fall dinner. On the menu: butternut squash ravioli, salad, and pumpkin doughnuts (or donuts).

The chefs branched out and used non CI recipes this week. The pasta recipe was from Professional Chef, vol. 7. The butternut squash ravioli recipe from foodtv.com and the doughnuts from epicurious.com.

Let's start with the ravioli. The chefs are very good at pasta making. The filling for the ravioli was more interesting. A 5lb butternut squash was cut into pieces and roasted in the oven for around an hour. The roasted pieces were peeled and placed into Big Bertha. She made quick work of pureeing them. Then, some minced shallots were sauted in a pan with butter. The squash puree, a little cream, a little parmesan, and a little salt and pepper joined in next. This was cooked briefly, then packaged into ravioli. These were then cooked in boiling water (It's Pasta Time saved the day again!) for about 3 minutes. The cooked ravioli were briefly sauted in a brown butter sage sauce (which, surprisingly I'm sure, contained butter and sage leaves) and then were ready to be eaten! The delicious nature of these ravioli cannot be overstated.

The salad was a variation on a common salad theme. Baby greens, sliced strawberries and walnuts. On the side, for those not afraid of unknown black material, was an apricot vinaigrette.
And if the butternut squash ravioli weren't enough, the pumpkin doughnuts (donuts) capped off a delicious fall meal. The dough contains the usuals, sugar, eggs, flour, salt, baking powder, pumpkin and lots of spices. The dough is mixed and then needs a rest in the refrigerator. After its nap it's ready to be rolled out and cut with a doughnut (donut) cutter. Then a four minute bath in hot oil, a quick draining on some paper towels, and into the cinnamon sugar!

It's so hard to eat just one pumpkin doughnut (donut).

At last we meet again

It's been a busy month for the four chefs. Travels, illness (imaginary illness it seems) and scheduling conflicts have prevented the preparation of Sunday Night Dinner.

This week's menu was based around marinara sauce. Marinara sauce, chicken parmesan, garlic bread and salad.



Uh oh, the garlic bread is missing from there. Here it is:



Let's start there. The garlic bread was not made from a recipe. A large loaf of french bread was split in half length-wise and width-wise. This was covered in butter. Lots and lots of butter. The butter had been mixed with some roasted garlic and some fresh garlic. The roasted garlic was quickly roasted in a pan on the stove, not for an hour in the oven. The bread, as everything usually is, was delicious.


Blogger is rotating the pictures again. Up next is tomato sauce.



This is the same tomato sauce from the Eggplant Parmesan from a few weeks ago. This time, due to an oversight at the grocery store, whole tomatoes were used instead of diced tomatoes. This would not be a recommended substitution, unless no other tomatoes were available. These whole tomatoes were a little...seedy. Bertha quickly pureed the whole tomatoes (though she did leave some chunks like we wanted). In a sauce pan, some garlic and red chili flakes were heated in some oil, and then the tomatoes were added. This was reduced for around 20 minutes and then the chopped basil was added. It was, as expected, delicious.

The chicken parmesan was "Champion", or so a back issue of Cooking Light declared. This recipe was from 2001. The chicken was pounded thin, dipped in egg white, then coated in a herb, flour, grated parmesan mixture. Into the frying pan until golden brown then into the baking dish. Once in the baking dish, the chicken was covered in sauce and some mozzarella.



Mmmm.

The salad was simple. A box of organic baby greens and some grape tomatoes, halved. For dressing a vinaigrette was prepared using the ratio from Professional Chef, Vol 7. One-sixth red wine vinegar, one-sixth balsamic vinegar, two thirds olive oil. Throw in a little salt, pepper and sugar and it's done!



Overall, a fine return for the Sunday Night Chefs.

Pimentos make every meal a big deal!

Tonight's menu: Arroz con pollo and Avocado-Orange Salad with Romaine and Lime-Cumin Dressing. Both were from CI, from the Latin Comfort Food menu. And were they ever comforting.

Let's start at the very beginning. It's a very good place to start. And tonight that means with red onion, lime, avocado and oranges. Mrs. Butterworth is there to watch over the dinner preparations.



The salad had a romaine lettuce base and was topped with red onion, avocado and orange supremes. The dressing was a simple mixture of lime juice, cumin seed, olive oil, garlic and jalapeno. The avocado and red onion were tossed in the dressing, but the lettuce was dressed according to the diner's preference.



The arroz con pollo had several steps. The chicken was first marinated in a garlic marinade. Then a mixture of diced onion and green pepper was sauted in a pan. Once this was done, the chicken was added. After the chicken was no longer transparent, but before it browned, it was put into a soup pot. The pan was deglazed with chicken broth and then the chicken broth and fond was put into the soup pot with a little water and some tomato sauce. Bring up to a simmer and then add the arroz!

The pot was put into the oven and at 10 minute intervals, the pot contents were stirred from the bottom to the top. Once the rice and chicken were cooked, the chicken was separated out and pulled from the bone and mixed with a pimento-olive oil-cilantro mixture.



Mmm pimentos.

Finally, arroz:


pollo:



arroz con pollo:



Ta-da!

Super fantastic Italian food

Tonight's menu was Italian-based with a French dessert. Eggplant parmesan (with eggplant from the farmer's market, locally grown of course) and fresh pasta. Tarte Tatin for dessert.

Let's start with the dessert tonight. This dish featured apples obtained from one of the best apple orchards in the area, which isn't saying much at all. Minnesota orchards don't even hold a candle to Michigan apple orchards.

Anyway, first, butter was melted in a pan:


Quite a substantial amount of butter. Sugar was added, and then quartered apples were carefully placed in the pan Once the apples were cooked and the sugar and butter started to carmelize, a crust was placed over the top of the pan. Then into the oven for thirty minutes. After cooling, the pan was turned over, to reveal a lovely tarte tatin.



Fresh pasta is not new to these chefs. One chef was assigned to work the pasta dough, and after it was well rested, that was done. This picture captures the pasta at stage 2 of 5. Hanging on the rack in the background are sheets in stage 4.



Mmmmm.



The eggplant parmesan recipe was from Cooks Illustrated. The first step is to drain sliced eggplants that have been salted with KOSHER salt. Not table salt, or Christopher Kimball might come after you. After draining for 40 minutes, they were pressed in towels. Then they were dipped in egg and then shaken in a bag full of fresh bread crumbs (only premium sandwich bread can be used) and parmesan. Then onto a baking sheet covered with oil and into the oven. Flip halfway through the baking time, and then out for assembly. The eggplant slices were layered in a baking dish topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella. Then back into the oven for melting. Super fantastic!



The sauce was a basic tomato sauce. Some tomatoes, some basil, some garlic. The usuals.



Ooh! Look at that piping hot pasta!

Chefs on holiday

The chefs will not be cooking for the next two Sundays, as they travel the continent. Until they all reunite, here is a look back at a meal from last November. Coq au vin, pommes Anna, a light salad, and profiteroles for dessert. We have featured coq au vin on this site previously, so we will focus here on the pommes and the profiteroles. But the coq au vin is just so lovely in the blue Le Creuset dutch oven.




The pommes anna start with a few pounds of potatoes. Russets for this recipes, though Yukon golds are generally the preferred potatoes for this group. The potatoes were sliced using a mandoline and then mixed with melted butter. More melted butter than the chefs will admit to. Then, in a hot pan, the potatoes were layered first counterclockwise around the pan, then clockwise until no slices remain except those that do not complete a layer. These are cooked in the pan for fifteen minutes, then flipped carefully onto a baking sheet and baked in the oven for at least another 15 minutes. Serve in the most beautiful butterfly dish you can find.



A delicious meal. Perfect for a November night.



The profiteroles have made more than one appearance in the Sunday night chefs' kitchen. This is one of the first things one chef ever learned to make. A quick pate a choux was mixed up and then baked into cream puffs. The puffs get filled with vanilla ice cream and then, this is topped with the most glorious chocolate sauce ever. The key is using the bittersweet Ghiradelli chocolate chips. These are melted and combined with cream, butter, and a little corn syrup. Yum.



The only thing that could make them better would be if blogger would realize that this is a landscape picture, not a profile.