An EQ Dinner Party!
When I tell people I work at EQ, the cooking school @ The Party Source most ask, “What does
EQ stand for?” I reply, “EQ stands for Entertainment Quotient, and we are here to raise
yours!” Today I received an e-mail and photos from EQ customer Sue Poling. All I can say
is “WOW!” Sue and her friends ended 2008 with a dinner party chock full of EQ recipes from
the classes they attended. This group of women embraced all EQ stands for and we are
touched by their enthusiasm for great food, wine and spirits. Below you will find the e-mail, recipes and photos from the dinner party.
Connie Volker, EQ Event and Marketing Director
Julie Henderson and I started taking Party Source Cooking Classes (demos only as we think it is more fun to have someone else do the work) in January 2008 when Julie’s husband gave her a gift certificate for a free cooking class for two. Our experience was so wonderful that we signed up for more and encouraged our friends Susan Schroeder and Loy Jonson to join us.
Thus it went. We attended at least one demo class per month and a few E-Quickies in
between. Towards the end of the year they started offering A Toast to Tuesday (Cocktail
Class) which quickly became a new favorite for us. Also to expand our horizons we attended
several of the Wined up Wednesdays offered during warmer weather which we feel gave us a
better understanding of all wines.
We plan on doing many more of these dinners but we are going to do them more often as it
was difficult to remember some things from the first classes we took. Our husbands were
very impressed with what we had learned and were thrilled to be able to enjoy the delicious
food……and the bonus is we had great fun doing it!!
Sue, Loy, Tam, Susan and Julie make pear martinis and champagne cocktails from A
Toast to Tuesday. Also from that class we made Pistachio Mini Cheese Balls (recipe
follows), crostinis and stuffed mushrooms for appetizers.
Sue is adding final ingredients to Tomato Blue Cheese Soup from A Soupcon of Soups
class (recipe follows). Despite a lighter color (hydroponic tomatoes were used and the
instructor, Pam Walling used heirloom tomatoes) the soup tasted exactly the same.
Julie serves as Sue adds the crumbled bacon on top of soup.
Susan and Loy are serving Grilled Steak Salad with Ricotta Salata from
EQuickie: Salad Spinners with Jean Strasser
minus the steak
since we had chicken in our main course. Whether you add steak or not, the salad is
wonderful! (recipe follows)
The soup and salad have been served and we are ready for the men to join us for
dinner.
Seated at the table starting on the left side are: Dave Schroeder, Susan Schroeder, LoyJonson, Chris Jonson, Julie Henderson, Ray Henderson, Tam Warren, Gene Wedertz and Dave Poling (I took the picture). We are toasting good friends and the Party Source for such a
wonderful year.
Julie, Loy, Sue and Tam are serving the Mediterranean Chicken from
Chef’s Secrets for Entertaining withChef Steve Hellmich
The chicken was especially a hit with the men
as it was very moist and tender, but had some “zip” from the sauce that accompanied it.
Julie is serving final pieces of Mediterranean Chicken.
Loy is setting up to serve Zabaglione from A Taste of Barresiʼs Italian Restaurant
Tam is helping her fill the glasses. It was a great dessert to wind up a big
meal with. Not only was the presentation beautiful but it tasted delicious.
The mess we made in the kitchen preparing and serving the dinner. It
didn’t take long, however, to clean everything up as “many hand made short work” of it.
We all had to admit that we had made slight alterations to the recipes as some items were
not available this time of year and some flavors would not enhance other foods we were
serving. That is how we wound up serving the New Year’s Eve Potatoes from epicurious.com
which Steve Hellmich suggested in one of his classes. We had originally chosen a sweet
potato dish from another class, but decided that the flavors would not “mesh” with the
Mediterranean Chicken. It was very difficult to come up with our menu as we have enjoyed
most all of the recipes we have gotten from these classes.
Below are several of the recipes from the dinner party! Enjoy!
Mediterranean Chicken- 2 servings
2 lg. skinless, boneless chicken breasts
3 Tbs. fresh rosemary, chopped
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 ½ c. thinly sliced bell peppers, assorted colors
1 tsp. chopped garlic
1/3 c. pitted black olives (such as Kalamata)
4 tsp. Balsamic vinegar
Sprinkle chicken with 1 ½ tsp. of rosemary, salt and pepper. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and cook until brown and cooked through – about 5 min per side. Remove chicken to plate, cover with foil and set aside. Increase heat to medium-high and add bell peppers and garlic to the skillet. Saute until wilted – about 3 min. Add the rest of the rosemary to the peppers and stir for 30 sec. Mix in the olives and vinegar. Then return the chicken to the skillet and simmer for 1-2 minutes.
Note: ¼ to 1/3 c. chicken stock can be added with the vinegar if more liquid is desired. Serve over cooked orzo, rice or noodles.
Grilled Steak Salad With Ricotta Salata – serves 8
Chili glaze: ½ of a small 7 oz. can of chipotle chilies in adobe pureed with ¼ c. honey.
Salad dressing: ½ c. extra virgin olive oil
4 Tbs. lime juice
1 Tbs. chili glaze
Pinch of salt
Whisk all together in a small bowl.
Steak Salad:
1 # flank steak
2 Tbs. olive oil
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 head romaine lettuce, washed, dried, and cut into ½ inch strips
1 small red onion, very thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 small jicama, peeled and cut into julienne slices
2/3 c. ripe black olives, pitted and sliced
1 ½ c. tortilla chips, crushed into small pieces or Party Source has
a bag of strips that are perfect.
4 oz. Ricotta Salata, crumbled or you can use Feta
Preheat the grill to high. Rub the steak with the olive oil and season well with the salt and pepper. Grill the steak for a couple of minutes on each side to sear it, then baste it with the remaining chili glaze. Turn it often so that it does not burn and grill to medium rare: 8 – 10 min. Set aside to cool to room temperature, then slice on the diagonal into thin pieces.
In a large bowl, combine the lettuce, onion, red pepper, jicama and black olives and steak. Drizzle the dressing on top and toss well. Add the tortilla chips and the Ricotta Salata and toss again before serving.
New Year’s Eve Potatoes
1 # potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 Tbs. milk
1 Tbs. butter
¼ tsp. salt
1/3 c. sour cream
1/3 c. ricotta cheese
2 Tbs. beaten egg
3 green onions, finely chopped
Boil potatoes until tender. Drain and place in large mixing bowl. Add the milk, butter and salt and mash until fluffy. Fold in the sour cream, ricotta cheese, egg and onions.
Generously coat six muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray. Fill with potato mixture; smooth tops. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool for 5 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edge of each muffin cup; invert onto a baking sheet or serving platter. Makes 6 servings. Can also be made in a 1 ½ qt. casserole. Can also be made ahead by make them up to the point of putting them in the oven and then covering them and putting them in the refrigerator. Remove 30 minutes before and bake as directed.
Tomato Blue Cheese Soup
3 pounds ripe tomatoes, peeled, quartered, and seeded
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and pepper
2 T butter
1 leek, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 qt. chicken stock
4 oz. blue cheese, crumbled
3 T. heavy cream
Several large fresh basil leaves
2 fresh parsley sprigs
6 oz. bacon, cooked and crumbled
Spread tomatoes in a baking dish and sprinkle with garlic, salt and pepper. Bake at 400 degrees for 35 min. Heat butter in a large saucepan, add the leek and carrot, season with salt and pepper and cook over low heat, stirring often until softened, about 10 min. Stir in stock and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer 20 min. Add the blue cheese, cream, basil and parsley. Place in a blender and process until smooth. Ladle in bowls and top with bacon and basil—could be blended in, I thought.
Zabaglione
6 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup Marsala wine
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
Ground cinnamon
Vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy cream, whipped
Strawberries, raspberries, or biscotti
Place egg yolks, and sugar in a large, round-bottomed stainless steel bowl. Add grated lemon peel and a pinch of cinnamon and a drop of vanilla extract to the yolk mixture. Pour in the Marsala wine. You can use sweet Vermouth as a substitute for the Marsala.
Half-fill a pot with water, bring the water to a simmer and reduce the heat to low. Set the pan or bowl containing the custard mixture over the water; the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water. Whisk the custard mixture, making sure that the water does not boil. This ensures that a gentle, even heat thickens the mixture without curdling it. Whisking traps air in the yolks for a light, fluffy mixture.
Continue whisking for about 10 minutes, until the mixture triples in volume, froths up and becomes pale. When it reaches the desired consistency, take the container of custard out of the pot. Slightly thickened, the custard can be used as a sauce. Longer cooking will thicken the custard further, giving it the texture of mousse. Continue whisking for a minute or two to prevent the custard from sticking to its container.
Serve the custard while still warm, or, if you want to serve it cool, set it aside for about 15 minutes. Whisk heavy cream until it forms soft peaks; add the whipped cream to the cooled custard and use a whisk to gently fold them together. Reserve some of the whipped cream to serve on top.
Ladle the zabaglione into individual dishes. Serve with whipped cream, berries, and/or cookies such as biscotti.
Serves 6.
Pistachio Mini Cheese Balls
Purchase Robert Rothschild Farm’s Hot Pepper Peach Cheese Ball and put in the refrigerator for several hours until chilled. Spoon out with melon baller and roll in crushed Pistachio nuts. Insert a toothpick for easy of picking up and serve with crackers. Also tastes great just by itself.
Korbel Champagne Cocktail
The Champagne Cocktail is one of the oldest known cocktails and one of the few that has retained its original name over the years.
6oz Champagne
1 sugar cube
dash bitters
Tags: blue cheese, champagne, cheese ball, chicken, cocktail, salad, soup, steak, tomato, zabaglione