BRUCHETTA
10 plum tomatoes diced
3 cloves minced garlic
3/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
French or Italian bread slices
In a medium bowl, mix all ingredients except bread; set aside. Toast slices of French or Italian bread. Serve tomato mixture, room temperature in a bowl with a spoon and lots of toasted bread slices. ENJOY!
Champagne Fruit Punch
Ice Blocks
24 ounces pineapple juice
2 Tblsp lime juice
One bottle champagne
1 quart lemon, pineapple, or other flavored sherbet
Chill all ingredients. Place ice blocks in bowl. Add juices to bowl. Stir in champagne and scoops of sherbet just before serving.
Salade Niçoise
Ingredients :
8 potatoes
4 tomatoes (sliced)
4 hard boiled eggs (quartered)
1 green pepper (sliced)
20 green olives
1 can of albacore tuna (drained and crushed)
12 anchovy fillets
1 shallot (minced)
1 tspoon hot mustard
5 Tblsp olive oil
3 Tblsp vinegar
salt & pepper to taste
- Cook the potatoes in salted boiling water
- Meanwhile, prepare the sauce :
mix the mustard, minced shallot, and vinigar. Slowly add olive oil, and salt & pepper.
- When potatoes are cooked, cool them under cold water and peel them. Cut them in thick
slices. Gently put them in a big salad bowl and cover with half of the sauce.
- Mix eggs with olives and anchovies.
- Gently add all the ingredients to the potatoes except the egg mixture.
-Mix all with great care (you don't want to crush the potato slices) then top the salad with the egg quarters and the rest of sauce.
Cheese & Chive Fondue
6 teaspoons unsalted butter
1 onion, very finely chopped
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sour cream
2 cups grated Gruyère
2 cups grated Cheddar
2 Tablespoons chopped, fresh chives
freshly ground black pepper
Serve with:
small cooked sausages, cooked fingerling potatoes, use your imagination.
PREPARATION:
1. Melt the butter over low heat in a saucepan or fondue pot. Add onion and cook slowly until softened - about 5 minutes.
2. Stir in the flour; then stir in the sour cream and cook for about 2 minut
3. Add the cheeses and cook, stirring, until the mixture is smooth.
4. Add the chives and season with the pepper.
5. Pour the fondue into a fondue pot and place over the lit burner.
CREME BRULEE (my personal favorite)
8 egg yokes
1/3 c. granulated sugar
2 c. heavy cream
1 tsp. pure bourbon vanilla
1/4 c. granulated white sugar
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together egg yokes and sugar until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is thick and pale yellow. Add cream and vanilla, and continue to whisk until well blended. Strain into large bowl, skimming off any foam or bubbles.
Divide mixture among 6 ramkins. Place in a 13x9 inch pan filled with enough water that the ramkins are emerged halfway in the water. Bake until set around the edges, but loose in the center...about 50 minutes to an hour. Longer for larger ramkins. Remove from the oven and leave in the 13x9 with water until cool. Chill for 4 hours or up to 2 days.
Just before serving, sprinkle about 2 tsp. of sugar over each. To carmalize the sugar, use a small hand held torch until sugar is melted and golden brown ( take your time). Serve.
NOTE: If you do not have a hand held torch; you can broil them. Place the custards on baking sheet, no more than 5 inches away from heat. Turn if needed. WATCH CLOSELY!
