Peggy
10-01-2003, 11:18 PM
I am going to shock my group and actually get the reviews for our September dinner posted the week after the dinner!;) This is definately a first... Anyway, our hostess wanted to try some of the recipes from the Home Bistro article in the March '02 issue. Since this involved making several main courses, we kept the portions small and didn't double any of the recipes except for the appetizer. Here is our menu and our reviews:
Goat Cheese, Roasted Garlic, and Tomato Croutes (CL - 3/02) Several in our group didn't have a lot of experience with goat cheese so I think they were slightly apprehensive about this appetizer. It was easy to make but a bit time consuming because of the oven time for roasting the tomatoes and garlic. The end result was wonderful and everyone liked them. Fantastic flavors with the slight tang of the tomatoes and goat cheese blended with the mellow taste of roasted garlic. The only negative was the low curb appeal of some of the roasted tomatoes, but their flavor was good.
Bouillabaise (CL - 3/02) This soup recipe received mixed reviews. Some liked it; others found it lacking. The comments ranged from needing more salt and tomatoes to those that thought it was fine as is. We decided that it depended on what you were comparing it to. I think those that wanted more tomato flavor were comparing it to Cioppino. The recipe called for two lobster tails, but we only used one and added 1 1/2 dungenous crabs instead and doubled the clams.
Olive Bread (CL - 3/02) We have been meeting for over 3 years and this is the first recipe we have ever repeated. We had first made it about a year ago but decided to repeat it this month because it was part of the article we were puling our recipes from. No complaints from anyone because we all loved it the first time and we still do. This bread was fantastic served with the Bouillabaise!
Cabbage Remoulade (CL - 3/02) This was another contraversial recipe. One enthusiastic DH had seconds but many disliked the presence of capers in the salad. Several felt it was in need of something...toasted sesame seds and sugar were some of the suggested additions. Overall, it only received average ratings.
Chicory and Roasted Beet Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing (CL - 3/02) Chicory was another ingredient that was new to many in our group. Some were pleasantly surprised by its flavor and stated that, after trying it, they were going to have to eat it more often! The dressing was a bit thick so one of the complaints was that it didn't coat the chicory uniformly. We cheated and used canned beets instead of roasting our own. Our resident beet hater, (quoted as saying "that recipe ratings go into negative numbers when evaluating anything with beets in it"), skipped the beets and suggested that they could be replaced with toasted almonds and orange slices.
Lamb Shanks on Cannellini Beans (CL - 3/02) This robust main course was the hit of the evening! Most were a bit shy about eating lamb, however, all but one person agreed that it tasted much more like beef. Possible improvements suggested included substituting pearl onions for the chopped onions and cherry tomatoes for the diced tomatoes. Several felt a touch of gremulata would be wonderful served on top of each serving. Personally, I can't wait to make this again!
Quick Coq Au Vin (CL - 3/02) This recipe was easy to make but we felt it didn't have as much flavor as a traditional Coq Au Vin. Would be a good choice for a quick weeknight dinner but nothing special.
Apple Marzipan Galette (CL - 3/02) This galette was a happy success for our group (our last galette was a bit of a failure). It was very easy to prepare because it used a premade Pillsbury pie crust. We substituted almond paste for the marzipan since I had exactly the right amount in my refrigerator at home. Most liked it because it wasn't too sweet. I was the lone dissenter because I thought it was too tart. The tartness may be due to the fact that we discovered we didn't have any fresh lemon juice so we substituted 1/2 a teaspoon of Penzeys lemon powder. Unfortunately, our sugar coating hardened in the pan so we weren't able to drizzle that over the galette in the final step. We served this dessert with a Hungarian Muscat and that was a near perfect food/wine pairing!:)
We managed to make eight out of the nine recipes in the 3/02 article. We decided to skip the Mussels with Fennel because last month we served Paella with mussels in it and they weren't a big hit with most of the group!:o
Peggy
Goat Cheese, Roasted Garlic, and Tomato Croutes (CL - 3/02) Several in our group didn't have a lot of experience with goat cheese so I think they were slightly apprehensive about this appetizer. It was easy to make but a bit time consuming because of the oven time for roasting the tomatoes and garlic. The end result was wonderful and everyone liked them. Fantastic flavors with the slight tang of the tomatoes and goat cheese blended with the mellow taste of roasted garlic. The only negative was the low curb appeal of some of the roasted tomatoes, but their flavor was good.
Bouillabaise (CL - 3/02) This soup recipe received mixed reviews. Some liked it; others found it lacking. The comments ranged from needing more salt and tomatoes to those that thought it was fine as is. We decided that it depended on what you were comparing it to. I think those that wanted more tomato flavor were comparing it to Cioppino. The recipe called for two lobster tails, but we only used one and added 1 1/2 dungenous crabs instead and doubled the clams.
Olive Bread (CL - 3/02) We have been meeting for over 3 years and this is the first recipe we have ever repeated. We had first made it about a year ago but decided to repeat it this month because it was part of the article we were puling our recipes from. No complaints from anyone because we all loved it the first time and we still do. This bread was fantastic served with the Bouillabaise!
Cabbage Remoulade (CL - 3/02) This was another contraversial recipe. One enthusiastic DH had seconds but many disliked the presence of capers in the salad. Several felt it was in need of something...toasted sesame seds and sugar were some of the suggested additions. Overall, it only received average ratings.
Chicory and Roasted Beet Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing (CL - 3/02) Chicory was another ingredient that was new to many in our group. Some were pleasantly surprised by its flavor and stated that, after trying it, they were going to have to eat it more often! The dressing was a bit thick so one of the complaints was that it didn't coat the chicory uniformly. We cheated and used canned beets instead of roasting our own. Our resident beet hater, (quoted as saying "that recipe ratings go into negative numbers when evaluating anything with beets in it"), skipped the beets and suggested that they could be replaced with toasted almonds and orange slices.
Lamb Shanks on Cannellini Beans (CL - 3/02) This robust main course was the hit of the evening! Most were a bit shy about eating lamb, however, all but one person agreed that it tasted much more like beef. Possible improvements suggested included substituting pearl onions for the chopped onions and cherry tomatoes for the diced tomatoes. Several felt a touch of gremulata would be wonderful served on top of each serving. Personally, I can't wait to make this again!
Quick Coq Au Vin (CL - 3/02) This recipe was easy to make but we felt it didn't have as much flavor as a traditional Coq Au Vin. Would be a good choice for a quick weeknight dinner but nothing special.
Apple Marzipan Galette (CL - 3/02) This galette was a happy success for our group (our last galette was a bit of a failure). It was very easy to prepare because it used a premade Pillsbury pie crust. We substituted almond paste for the marzipan since I had exactly the right amount in my refrigerator at home. Most liked it because it wasn't too sweet. I was the lone dissenter because I thought it was too tart. The tartness may be due to the fact that we discovered we didn't have any fresh lemon juice so we substituted 1/2 a teaspoon of Penzeys lemon powder. Unfortunately, our sugar coating hardened in the pan so we weren't able to drizzle that over the galette in the final step. We served this dessert with a Hungarian Muscat and that was a near perfect food/wine pairing!:)
We managed to make eight out of the nine recipes in the 3/02 article. We decided to skip the Mussels with Fennel because last month we served Paella with mussels in it and they weren't a big hit with most of the group!:o
Peggy