100 Recipes - #83 - 87 Tasting Menu Items
Dinner tonight included five new recipes:
#83 Grapefruit-Ginger-Basil Sorbet I have owned an ice cream maker for several years, but never quite gathered the courage to use it. Turns out that it's just as easy as everyone says it is. I used this recipe, although I skipped the tuile cups. It made a lovely start to the meal.
#84 Tuna and Avocado in Ponzu Sauce This is something we had at a dinner catered by the late, lamented Kiwi Grill in Newburyport. It's very simple--I used about 6 oz. of raw tuna and an avocado, diced to chunks about the same size, and marinated in a tablespoon of ponzu mixed with about 1/2 teaspoon of soy. I served it in little Asian spoons, garnished with black sesame to add color and a little crunch. Totally delicious!
#85 Chili-Cocoa Rubbed Pork Loin with Mango Salsa This came from a recipe in America's Test Kitchen's magazine, Cooking for Two. The rub was quite different and gave an interesting flavor and the mango salsa was lovely. All in all, though, when I do pork loin again, I'm going back to the mustard-crusted one I did a while back.
#86 Earl Grey Sorbet This was really the reason I broke out the ice cream maker, an attempt to replicate the sorbet that brought tears to Jason's eyes at Restaurant Guy Savoy. This recipe wasn't quite it--too much lemon and too strong a tea--but it was a good first try! It made an excellent palate cleanser.
#87 Red-Wine Poached Pear Crisp I swear I tore a recipe for this out of one of the many cooking magazines floating through my life these days. But could I find it when I needed it? No, of course not. So I used this recipe for the pears and referred to several different crisp recipes before coming up with this:
Ingredients
4 pears, diced poached in red wine, etc. and then drained
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup gingersnap crumbs
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
Directions
• Preheat oven to 350F
• Butter six 6 oz. ramekins or one large baking dish
• Mix together everything except the pears until crumbly
• Press half of the crumbs into the bottom of the baking dish(es)
• Place the pears on top of the crust
• Sprinkle remaining crumbs over the pears
• Bake for 45 minutes
• Serve with unsweetened whipped cream and reduced poaching liquid
One of our guests liked it so much, that when others were unable to finish theirs (it was Course #13) he ended up eating three. Now that's praise!
#83 Grapefruit-Ginger-Basil Sorbet I have owned an ice cream maker for several years, but never quite gathered the courage to use it. Turns out that it's just as easy as everyone says it is. I used this recipe, although I skipped the tuile cups. It made a lovely start to the meal.
#84 Tuna and Avocado in Ponzu Sauce This is something we had at a dinner catered by the late, lamented Kiwi Grill in Newburyport. It's very simple--I used about 6 oz. of raw tuna and an avocado, diced to chunks about the same size, and marinated in a tablespoon of ponzu mixed with about 1/2 teaspoon of soy. I served it in little Asian spoons, garnished with black sesame to add color and a little crunch. Totally delicious!
#85 Chili-Cocoa Rubbed Pork Loin with Mango Salsa This came from a recipe in America's Test Kitchen's magazine, Cooking for Two. The rub was quite different and gave an interesting flavor and the mango salsa was lovely. All in all, though, when I do pork loin again, I'm going back to the mustard-crusted one I did a while back.
#86 Earl Grey Sorbet This was really the reason I broke out the ice cream maker, an attempt to replicate the sorbet that brought tears to Jason's eyes at Restaurant Guy Savoy. This recipe wasn't quite it--too much lemon and too strong a tea--but it was a good first try! It made an excellent palate cleanser.
#87 Red-Wine Poached Pear Crisp I swear I tore a recipe for this out of one of the many cooking magazines floating through my life these days. But could I find it when I needed it? No, of course not. So I used this recipe for the pears and referred to several different crisp recipes before coming up with this:
Ingredients
4 pears, diced poached in red wine, etc. and then drained
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup gingersnap crumbs
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
Directions
• Preheat oven to 350F
• Butter six 6 oz. ramekins or one large baking dish
• Mix together everything except the pears until crumbly
• Press half of the crumbs into the bottom of the baking dish(es)
• Place the pears on top of the crust
• Sprinkle remaining crumbs over the pears
• Bake for 45 minutes
• Serve with unsweetened whipped cream and reduced poaching liquid
One of our guests liked it so much, that when others were unable to finish theirs (it was Course #13) he ended up eating three. Now that's praise!