The Kentucky Derby is this weekend and it’s time to prepare your party provisions! Share these on Saturday in a small backyard soiree or savor them television side with the hubby.
We all know and love the term, “Spring is in the air,” but imagine, too, the divine way it smells, beckoning us to our backyards with the promise of barbeque with the fixin’s….And with Kentucky Derby right around the corner, we can really pull out the Southern stops for a safe and delicious outdoor gathering. Whether you’re setting an elegant table or wearing a Kentucky Derby hat as you graze an outdoor buffet, consider these your go-to Kentucky Derby party plans:
The Kentucky Derby doesn’t have to be a marathon if you play host this weekend. A simple charcuterie board elevated with Southern-style taste and ingredients will come to the rescue! This board’s arranged with deviled eggs, spiced crackers, pimento spread, pickled okra, millionaire’s bacon, my special cilantro shrimp recipe, and an assortment of turkey and ham roll-ups. Serve with Kentucky Derby’s infamous Mint Juleps and you’ll have yourself a party: The Savoy Cocktail Book, Harry Craddock, 1930
4 sprigs fresh mint
½ tbls powdered sugar
1 glass bourbon, rye, or Canadian whisky
Use a long tumbler and crush mint leaves and dissolved sugar lightly together. Add spirits and fill glass with cracked ice. Stir gently until glass is frosted. Decorate on top with 3 sprigs of mint.
From family to family, here in the South, there is debate about how to make a traditional hand pie. But one thing is for sure: This recipe makes for a delicious peach pie! This recipe yields a pie that looks like a puffy, jelly doughnut and is over-the-top delicious. Top with confectioners’ sugar and cinnamon and serve with vanilla ice cream for a delicious Southern treat.
This Southern recipe was made from my Farmer’s Market opening day bounty and pulls together a few of my favorite farmer’s market finds: Tender collard greens, paired with rich pork belly. This dish is perfect if you’ve just had a stash of your greens in your drawer that you’ve been looking to work into a dish or perhaps bought a bushel too much from your local farmer’s market trip. This dish makes for a lovely first course or a wonderful side dish.
My chilled soup adds farm-fresh sweet strawberries for a cool and refreshing treat.This recipe features both ways of making a gazpacho – you have the option to seed the tomatoes or you don’t. Either way, you’ll still have a great batch of gazpacho!
Like pickles? You’ll love this recipe, and you’ll be delighted to discover that there are so many ways to create a delicious batter for your fried pickles. I personally like the combination of seasoned flour and buttermilk for a tangy topping. You can fry them whole or sliced, fried in vegetable or peanut oil – Whatever floats your boat! The comeback sauce featured in this recipe is definitely to die for.
I’ve always considered that my recipe for hush puppies is TOO GOOD…Try it and you be the judge. This recipe is my own version of that South Carolina fisherman’s special recipe. The great thing about it is that you don’t have to follow it precisely to get a tasty result. If you’re looking for a recipe that you can get creative with, this is it! Pick and choose your add-ins and sauces.
It’s World Health Day, and I’m highlighting five recipes that can kickstart your goal of adding more veggies to your meal plans and staying on the healthy-ish side of the table.
The theme for this year’s World Health Day is “Building a fairer, healthier world”. The theme is fitting, considering the year we’ve had surrounding our own health and the health of our families and communities.
The “Pandemic 15” is real!
Maybe you’ve pledged to improve your health, now that the world is slowly opening up. You can start by putting one fork in front of the next. It’s easy! The key is not to feel discouraged, but to start small and build towards healthier habits!
So, to give you a boost for this year’s World Health Day, I have compiled put together a little listy of my favorite fresh and healthy-ish recipes that are tasty enough that even a picky hubby wouldn’t turn down a plate.
If you’re looking to start your healthy eating journey, start small by adding more veggies with these meals:
Salads are a great start to your healthy journey! Aside from being easy to prepare, this Mediterranean Tuna Salad won’t make you feel guilty about eating something tasty. It’s tuna salad on steroids… and just what you are looking for when that mid-afternoon craving hits!
I originally made this recipe because we had so many leftover potatoes. My solution? Turn them as a hash side dish for your main course meal instead! Who says you can’t include carbs in your healthy-ish meal plan. Certainly not me!
This Vietnamese Eggplant Stew is something I’m really proud of. The eggplant comes out as delicious, velvety, and rich. I learned the technique to make this dish in a cooking class when I visited Hoi An, Vietnam. Totally deserving of my listy since it is WORLD Health Day!
Just because you are trying to eat veggie-forward meals, doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy your favorite dishes, like roasted chicken with stuffing. Yumm.
This dressing with veggies recipe that I made has squash, mushrooms, and more! Cinnamon, thyme, and chicken broth combine to make this one of the most delish side dishes you can find. I stuff it into roasted chicken, thick pork chops, or even more veggie-forward into zucchini boats. It’s all good!
Carrots, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and squash are the stars of this veggie salad. It’s so filling, it doubles as a side dish or main dish meal. Top everything with my very favorite vinaigrette and you have a veggie-forward meal to share with family and friends.
The secret to entertaining and still having a good time?
PLANNING!
Steal my very best springtime entertaining ideas that will guarantee you have just as much fun as your guests with these main course salad ideas!
While March isn’t quite marching away from winter, I feel Spring in the air. Easter is right around the corner and with vaccinations occurring rapidly, families and friends may start gathering to celebrate a new season.
I have a theory about entertaining. I like to keep my eye on the prize of enjoying my party as much as my guests do.I must admit that I usually accomplish this goal! The secret to making it all happen is to plan, plan, plan. If you spend the time preparing before-hand, when it comes to party time, everything will be ready!
Putting these two ideas together, I have a party plan to share with you for your right-around-the-corner Spring get-together. My book,“At Home Entertaining”(If you don’t find it on your shelf, you can still find it on Amazon), contains a plan for a Sunset Picnic Supper. This party plan was one that our catering company created when we were asked to design a party to go with a groundbreaking ceremony on the lot that would eventually house a four-story office building. The lot was vacant, so we erected a tent and set each place at multiple tables with individual picnic baskets that held the guest’s china, linen napkins, glassware, and even a stem vase with a single fresh flower. The meal was presented family-style with servers offering platters of main course salads. We prepared all of the pieces of each salad in advance and keep them refrigerated, assembled the dishes on-site, right before serving. The party was a hit and I’ve served these main dish salads again and again over the years. I used that party plan to create one for this year. It includes these dishes:
Grilled Flank Steak With Roasted Onions, Sliced Tomatoes, Blue Cheese and Poblano Pepper Vinaigrette
Here’s how: The day before I’ll pound the flank steaks with the rough side of a meat mallet and place them in marinade overnight. I’ll roast the poblano peppers and add them and a handful of spinach leaves to my favorite vinaigrette recipe to create a deeply colored, subtly spiced sauce. This I’ll chill in the fridge.
I’ll roast small (palm-size) white onions, cut into quarters, in the oven until they are golden and syrupy, and store these in the fridge as well. On the day of the party, I’ll grill the steaks to just medium-rare. I’ll wrap them in foil and refrigerate until about an hour before the party. Removing the steaks, vinaigrette, and onions from the fridge, about an hour before gives me the time I need to bring everything to room temperature. (I like the way food tastes at room temperature instead of chilled from the fridge.) To assemble the salad, I cut ripe, beefsteak tomatoes into slices and lay them around the outside of a large platter. Then I’ll top these with chunks of blue cheese. I’ll lay the onions inside the ring of tomatoes. Then I’ll slice the steaks into thin strips and pile them high into the center of the dish. I’ll drizzle some of the vinaigrette over the top of the salad and serve the rest on the side. And I’ll do all of this before the first guest arrives! The salad will be good-to-go for several hours.
Poached Chicken In Tuna Sauce
This is a dish based loosely on a dish called Vitello Tonnato (veal with tuna-caper sauce) and is perfect for this party because it is made the day ahead. Whole chicken breasts are poached in wine and broth with veggies and herbs. Then these are sliced and layered onto a platter and covered in a rich sauce made with tuna, anchovies, capers, lemon juice, and mayo. I’ll refrigerate the dish overnight which allows the slices of chicken to absorb all the flavors of the sauce. All I have to do is remove the platter from the fridge and garnish with lemon slices, capers, and fresh parsley. I’ll add a ring of baby artichokes around the edge of the platter…. just because I can!
Roasted Salmon In the Grass With Cucumber Mint Sauce
This is the secret to perfectly roasted salmon….Shhhhhhh… don’t tell! ….It’s brown sugar. Yup, I spice my salmon with brown sugar. I mix the sugar with everything else in my spice drawer and then rub it all over the salmon. Twenty minutes of roasting in a hot oven and you have the most delish salmon that you can easily serve at room temperature. I’ll lay the salmon over barely sauteed spinach (the grass) and drizzle it with a sauce made from fresh cucumbers, sour cream, and fresh mint. Oh boy!
With so many large-scale activities canceled for the 4th of July holiday, small gatherings with appropriate social distancing are the sign of the times. This year, my family barbecue is trimmed down to immediate family with only a few (very close) family friends. I will miss the annual get-together of friends and neighbors. Mostly, I will miss seeing the kids that grow from children to tweens to teens to young adults each year. But, with my “glass is always half-full” vision, I appreciate the opportunity to spend more time with loved ones and less time preparing for a big bash. After all, those glow-in-the-dark bracelets will last ‘til next year!
We are who we are, and we Americans will celebrate! Trying to plan for my slimmed-down annual party, I started by putting my caterer’s hat on.
Back in the day, when my pals and I were planning a Memorable Occasion’s (the name of my old catering company) party we would lay out the menu and then come up with some clever way to serve it. We were always short of staff, so serve-yourself food was a great solution when feeding a crowd. This strategy works perfectly when you are planning an appropriate socially distanced backyard Fourth of July barbecue. Allowing your guests to choose their own items from individual containers is smarter in today’s climate.
Here are some pointers for a safe and social distancing get-together:
Fresh air is best for this year’s celebration. If it’s possible sit outside. Sit on your back porch, in your back yard, even in your driveway. If you are rained out, or don’t have enough space, open the windows to let the fresh air in.
It’s still okay to ask your guests to bring a dish. No one says you, the host, must do it all. But we’re going to ask either that the dish is brought in individual portions, or that you dish it up in the kitchen before serving. This is not the time for a buffet supper.
Serve right from the grill. For example, let guests bring their bun to you when grilling dogs and burgers! Condiment packs are key here for mustard and ketchup, but you can also be safe by providing several bowls of condiments and allowing each guest to use his or her own spoon for scooping diced onions and peppers.
As much as you can, serve everything individually. Use whatever you have around the house as containers. My plan this year is to serve scoops of potato salad in metal cups, shrimp on skewers, and stuffed mushrooms on porcelain tasting spoons. A homemade milkshake served in a mason jar, dripping with chocolate and nuts, or doused in sprinkles is the best of the best when you’re talking personal desserts. Get creative with what you have, but also take a look at all the clever paper goods that are available to hold sides and desserts.
Don’t forget to get the kids involved. Kids can pass around trays of individual appys and help prepare those decorative shakes. The more people involved, in the safest way… the better!
There are lots of ways to celebrate what is a most important American holiday, but there’s only one way to make it perfect. And that is by sharing it with your friends and family who you love and who love you back!
Happy Fourth, everyone. And here are a couple of my favorite recipes for you to try.
Spicy Potato Salad
Ingredients
Potato salad is a picnic and cold supper staple. When spiced up with a little hot sauce, it becomes a devilish addition to most everyday meals. Feel free to make this day a day in advance to allow the spicy flavors to marry with the potatoes.
5 pounds small red creamer potatoes, cut into ¼-inch pieces
1 bunch (6 to 8) green onions, chopped (about ½ cup)
½ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup sour cream
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon paprika
4 to 6 drops hot pepper sauce
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Servings: 6 – 8
Time: 30 minutes, plus chilling
Boil the potatoes in salted water until just tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Drain and place into a bowl.
Add the onions to the bowl. Stir together the mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard paprika and hot sauce. Pour this mixture over the potatoes. Toss the potatoes with the dressing.
Season with salt and pepper and if you like with additional hot pepper sauce.
Chill the salad for 1 hour or overnight. Sprinkle the salad with fresh cilantro.
Beer Basted Baby Back Ribs with Jack Daniels Barbecue Sauce
Ingredients
This is a foolproof way to prepare moist, tender, and never over-cooked ribs. By steaming the ribs in a slow oven, the meat cooks in advance of grilling; therefore, the time spent grilling is significantly reduced.
For ribs:
6 pounds baby back ribs
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Garlic powder
1 (12-ounce) can beer
For sauce:
1 (16-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 cup cider vinegar
½ cup dark molasses
¼ cup canola oil
¼ cup Jack Daniels whiskey
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 or more drops hot pepper sauce
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Servings: 4 – 6
Time: Several hours in the oven and about 20 minutes on the grill
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Season the ribs with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Place them onto a rack in the bottom of a large roasting pan. Pour the beer into the pan. Cover the pan with aluminum foil. Place the pan into the oven. Cook until the ribs are quite tender, but not falling off the bone, about 2 to 3 hours.
For the sauce, bring the tomatoes, vinegar, molasses, canola oil, whiskey, mustard, chili powder, cinnamon, and as much hot pepper sauce as you like, to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Transfer the ribs to an outdoor grill over medium-high heat. Cook, turning often until well browned, about 15 to 20 minutes. Baste the ribs with sauce during the last 5 minutes of cooking. Transfer the ribs to a board and slice into individual servings.
Invite guests to bring their plates to you and serve with a drizzle of extra sauce on the side.
Bulk cooking equals budget meals without sacrificing good taste! Learn how to freeze food and make the most of your dinner. Click to skip to the recipe
For years and years, I have poo-pooed the notion that it is difficult to cook for two. My solution has always been to cook more and people will come and eat it. This was my mantra and it came true because I had friends and kids and kid’s friends and friends of friends that would drop by. I had food prepared and ready to go. Then the world changed. My drop-by visitors have dried up! The leftovers are piling up and although I love leftovers for lunch the next day, hubby does not agree! Try as I might, he won’t give up that liverwurst sandwich for a previously baked lemon chicken thigh.
All of a sudden, I got it! Couple this with our new normal trend of “take-out dining” and I began to ponder a new truth.
While I support local restaurants (I take-out) but I must admit, it’s not like the real thing. That French fry or crisply fried chicken skin grows limp as it steams in the bag waiting for the drive home. Rare fish goes to well done if it is left to sit longer than normal. Veggies get soggy, salads warm to room temperature. This is not the restaurant’s fault. Painstakingly plated chef-prepared food is not designed to be served 20 to 30 minutes after it has been cooked.
How to Freeze Food For Budget Meals
In order to have food that is prepared and served as it is intended to be eaten, you have to take a look at your freezer. I wondered why frozen food that is heated in the oven or microwave tastes better than take-home food from the restaurant. Something about the process of preparing the food, freezing it, and then finishing in the oven is better than delivery and reheating. So, I thought I would experiment and ya know what? It worked!!
Pork loin usually comes two to a package. A smart menu planner would open the package and freeze the loins separately when cooking for two. That’s unfortunately not in my (cook-more-than-you-need) wheelhouse. So, when I defrosted my package of pork loins a few days ago, the opportunity to flash freeze presented itself.
I thought about schnitzel, which are breaded cutlets sometimes served with mashed potatoes and white gravy. I took the schnitzel idea and made two recipes.
The recipes follow, but here’s the experiment in a nutshell: I cut each loin into 3-inch medallions. I placed each medallion in between two pieces of plastic wrap. I used my trusty meat mallet to flatten the medallions into thin cutlets. These I breaded. I froze half of the breaded cutlets for later use and used those that were left to create Pork Parmesan. Delish! The best part was that when I defrosted the remaining cutlets to make Pork Milanese it worked like a dream! Perfection and a second delish!
Now, I’m not saying refrain from taking out food from your favorite spot, because it is our duty to support our local restaurants. But what I am saying is that on those evenings when you choose to cook, prepare more than you might need.
Waste Less Food = Make More Meals Pre-freeze instead of post-freeze and you will have a jump start on another meal that will taste right-out-of-the-oven perfect!
Pork Schnitzel Parmesan
Serves:
Time:
4
45-Minute Cuisine
Ingredients
A tad more sturdy than eggplant parm, this dish comes together quickly and only requires a side of spaghetti tossed in olive oil and a green salad.
Pour the tomatoes into a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the lemon juice, sugar, and oregano. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to low and simmer the sauce while you prepare the cutlets.
Slice the tenderloin into 3-inch medallions. Place each medallion in between two pieces of plastic wrap. Use a mallet to flatten the medallions into thin cutlets. Season with salt and pepper. Place the flour into a shallow dish. Place the egg into a separate dish and mix with 2 tablespoons water. Place the breadcrumbs into a third dish. Take each cutlet and dip it first into the flour (shaking off the excess), then into the egg wash, and finally into the panko breadcrumbs. Place each cutlet onto a rack.
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Place the cutlets into the skillet. (You can do this in batches depending on the size of the skillet.) Cook until the cutlet is golden on one side, about 2 to 3 minutes. Turn the cutlet over and cook until the second side is golden, about 2 to 3 minutes more. Transfer the cutlets to a baking dish.
Pour the sauce over the cutlets. Top with both cheeses. Bake until the cheese melts and the cutlets are cooked through, about 20 minutes. Garnish with fresh parsley.
Pork Schnitzel Milanese
Serves:
Time:
4
45-Minute Cuisine
Ingredients
A riff on veal or chicken Milanese, this dish comes together quickly if you’ve managed to previously prepare the cutlets and then just thaw them. For the salad, I used Romaine, red leaf, and arugula lettuces with a chiffon of basil and a bit of dill in the mix. Anything you have in your vegetable drawer will work well here. The secret is to slice the salad ingredients very thinly, so they fit nicely on the cutlet.
For tenderloin:
1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
For salad:
6 cups finely sliced mix greens and herbs
Juice of lemon, about 2 tablespoons
2 ounces Parmesan cheese, shaved
Handful (love this amount!) cherry tomatoes, halved
Slice the tenderloin into 3-inch medallions. Place each medallion in between two pieces of plastic wrap. Use a mallet to flatten the medallions into thin cutlets. Season with salt and pepper. Place the flour into a shallow dish. Place the egg into a separate dish and mix with 2 tablespoons water. Place the breadcrumbs into a third dish. Take each cutlet and dip it first into the flour (shaking off the excess), then into the egg wash and finally into the panko breadcrumbs. Place each cutlet onto a rack.
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Place the cutlets into the skillet. (You can do this in batches depending on the size of the skillet.) Cook until the cutlet is golden on one side, about 2 to 3 minutes. Turn the cutlet over and cook until the second side is golden, about 2 to 3 minutes more. Transfer the cutlets to a baking dish.
As spring slowly begins to surround our stay-at home lives, we find ourselves searching for something different to do. A little change of pace. A supper to look forward to.
I have a plan based on my new favorite corner pub, the end of my driveway! Driveway drinks is my new normal during cocktail hour… but that’s another (socially distancing story).
For now, I’m thinking about setting up the ultimate picnic, and have the perfect recipes in mind.
What makes this supper special is that you can prepare it in advance (like even the day before). It tastes better served at room temperature than it does right out of the fridge. And, you can leisurely enjoy the meal. There’s no rush. If you are a grazer like me, eating this supper will take up some valuable time during these very long days.
For my supper, I’ll include three dishes
The first is a caprese salad. This dish is simply arranged by layering slices of tomato, mozzarella cheese and basil. Drizzle the dish with a splash of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt. But, here’s the secret. Make this salad several hours before serving and DO NOT REFRIGERATE it. The salt and olive oil will bring out the flavor of the tomatoes.
The second dish is a riff on Niçoise salad, but in place of tuna, I substitute salmon that has been simply roasted with a rub of brown sugar, chili powder, lemon juice, salt and pepper. I include olives, hard boiled eggs, simply sautéed green beans, roasted baby potatoes and a white balsamic vinaigrette.
The third dish is one of my very favorites! Based on the Italian dish, Vitello Tonnato, cold poached veal with a tuna and caper sauce, I substitute chicken for the veal. The chicken is poached in wine and broth.
The liquid is flavored with onion, lemon and celery, but you can add whatever you like. Parsley, fennel and radishes are excellent additions. The trick is that the chicken is moist and retains that moisture by covering it with the very flavorful sauce. Again, although you refrigerate the dish to marry the flavors, the chicken is best eaten at room temperature.
So, set up your picnic table, lay out your platters, pour a glass of something FUN and leisurely enjoy the first picnic supper of the season.
Let’s look forward to many more to come….. together!
Poached Chicken
In a Rich Tuna Sauce
serves 6 to 8
For chicken:
2 large (or 4 medium) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
2 cups dry white wine
2 cups chicken broth
1 small white onion, peeled and cut into quarters
1 small lemon, sliced
2 to 3 stalks celery
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
For tuna sauce:
1 (7-ounce) can tuna packed in oil
4 to 5 anchovies
2 tablespoons capers, drained
Zest of 1 lemon, about 1 tablespoon
Juice of 1 lemon, about 2 tablespoons
1 cup mayonnaise
Place the chicken breasts into a pot. Pour in the wine and chicken broth. Add the onion, sliced lemon and celery. Add the salt and pepper. Bring the liquid to a simmer (some steady bubbles but not a mad bubbling volcano). Cook the chicken in the poaching liquid until it is just cooked through, about 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the breast. Use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature. About 165° is perfect. Remove the pot from the heat and keep the chicken in the poaching liquid,
Place the tuna, anchovies, capers, lemon zest and lemon juice into the bowl of a processor. Pulse to combine. Transfer the tuna mixture to a bowl. Fold in the mayonnaise. Remove one breast from the poaching liquid and place onto your cutting board. Cut the breast (across the grain) into ½-inch medallions. Fan these out onto your serving platter. Continue with the remaining chicken. Smooth the tuna sauce over the chicken. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour (or up to several hours) so that the sauce seeps into the chicken.
To serve, remove the platter from the fridge and bring to room temperature. Garnish with slices of lemon, capers and fresh parsley.
