NUMBER 264 - BOARD PLANNING RETREAT!
This is my last year on the Young Lawyers board, which means oddly I am in charge! So, I decided it would be fun to host the planning retreat at my house. It would give me a great excuse to try some new recipes, and force me to clean the house! Win-Win! The menu:
- Loaded Twice Baked Potatoes
- Flammkuche Aux Cerises
- Shrimp Dip
- Vegetable Crudité
- Mixed nuts
- Lemon Bars
- No Holds Bars (mix from Williams Sonoma...yummmmm...)
- Assorted beer, wine, and lemonade
Of course, nothing is ever as easy as it seems. I started off the morning with a broken kitchen faucet. Now I don't know about you, but I almost threw in the towel right there and then. But, luckily for me my mom and her husband are visiting and after two hours of driving all over town we were saved by the gracious owner of Curry-Thomas Hardware who just happened to have the one 1/16" thick piece of metal necessary to fix my 1942 faucet! WHEW! Crisis averted.
So, back to work. I started with baking the potatoes so they could get baked and cooling while I worked on my other projects. About this time my most perfect nephew was dropped off to help with the fun. His lack of interest in a nap was of course rewarded by getting to lick the beater of the brownies. (Shhh...don't tell! I know, I know, Bad Aunt! Bad Aunt!) The No Holds Bars are a mix from Williams Sonoma which was graciously donated to the fete. It starts out with a layer of brownies, then a layer of cookies, then a crumble topping. And somewhere in there is peanut butter. All I can say is, yum.
After the potatoes had cooled, I went ahead with scooping them out and saved the rest of their prep for the day of the event.
Finally, I made the shrimp dip, which is amazing and I am remiss in not taking any pictures! I also made the lemon bars. I am a big fan of lemon bars and am constantly on the hunt for a better recipe. Last time I made them I was sorely disappointed in Paula Deen's recipe. This version from Ina Garten was definitely better, but still not quite good enough.
The next morning I got up and got started. I needed bacon for both the potatoes and the Flammkuche Aux Cerises so I went ahead and cut all the bacon into thin strips and baked it. I am not a big fan of all the bacon grease that comes with frying it, so this was a big help. I layered a large casserole with paper towel, bacon, paper towel, bacon, etc. and set it aside.
Now that I had the bacon, I completed the mix for the potatoes, got them all stuffed, and back into the refrigerator on the cookie sheets. Nothing further needed with them except baking!
It was time for the real test, Flammkuche Aux Cerises. Any time my friends Sally Anne and Scott invite me over for dinner, I am there. Scott is forever whipping up something amazing and appearing as if it took no time or effort at all. You all remember the poached egg, that was inspired by a dinner at their house. That same night, Scott also made Flammkuche Aux Cerises. Which I fell in love with. He promised me I could make it too. And I have to say, it really was easy! I switched the recipe up just a little bit and used red onions instead of yellow onions but it still turned out well.
So, all in all, nothing too difficult and based on the number of potatoes eaten (and taken home) by the Board members, I would say it was a success!
Loaded Twice Baked Potatoes (Recipe care of JMG):
- 1 bag of small new red potaotes (5 lbs)
- 1 to 2 pounds bacon
- Chives
- Butter
- Sour Cream
- Cheddar Cheese
- Olive Oil
- Salt
- Pepper
Wash and cut red potatoes in half. Place potatoes on cookie sheet and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake at 350, until fork tender, approximately 20 minutes. Let cool. Once cool, use small spoon (melon baller works perfectly) to scoop out the middle of the potatoes. Place potato insides into large bowl. Place potato "cups" back onto cookie sheet, right side up. Use fork or pastry blender to break up potato insides until smooth. Potatoes can be made the night before.
While potatoes are baking, fry up bacon and then chop into bits. Alternatively, you can cut the bacon into very small strips and bake in the oven until crispy. Place bacon on paper towel to cool and remove grease.
Mix potato insides with sour cream, butter, chives, bacon pieces, cheddar cheese, salt and pepper to taste.
Use spoon to fill potato cups with mixture.
Bake stuffed potatoes at 400 until melted and crispy on top!
TADA!
Flammkuche Aux Cerises (Recipe care of Scott "the Professor" Brown):
- 1 sheet puff pastry
- Sour cream
- Cream or milk
- Cherries, pitted and quartered
- Thick cut bacon
- Onion
Slice bacon crosswise into thin strips. Bake at 375 on a pan lined with foil until crisp. Mix several tablespoons of sour cream with a couple tablespoons of cream or milk. Put mixture in a plastic sandwich bag to be piped onto tart.
Defrost puff pastry and roll out on a floured surface to flatten and thin out.
Place pastry on an oiled sheet of parchment paper lining a baking sheet. Prick pastry all over with a fork. Heat over to 400.
Slice onion very thinly and spread over pastry. Top with bacon and cherries.
Cut the smallest part of one corner of the sandwich bag with the cream. Pipe cream mixture onto tart in zigzag patterns. Salt and pepper tart to taste.
Bake for 14 to 20 minutes.
Shrimp Dip (Recipe care of Sally Anne and Macon, GA):
- 8oz Philly Cream Cheese (I used Lite)
- 1/4 to 1/2 Stick of Butter
- Diced Onion
- Lemon Juice
- Worchester Sauce
- Black or White Pepper
- 1 Can of Bumblebee Shrimp
Soften cream cheese and butter and mix. Add shrimp and mix. Add remaining ingredients to taste. If needed, add garlic salt. Serve with Club Crackers.
Lemon Bars (Recipe care of Foodnetwork.com/Ina Garten):
- 1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 extra-large eggs at room temperature
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons grated lemon zest (4 to 6 lemons)
- 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 cup flour
- Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
For the crust, cream the butter and sugar until light in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Combine the flour and salt and, with the mixer on low, add to the butter until just mixed. Dump the dough onto a well-floured board and gather into a ball. Flatten the dough with floured hands and press it into a 9 by 13 by 2-inch baking sheet, building up a 1/2-inch edge on all sides. Chill.
Bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes, until very lightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack. Leave the oven on.
For the filling, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour. Pour over the crust and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the filling is set. Let cool to room temperature.
Cut into triangles and dust with confectioners' sugar.
