As promised, here are some of the recipes from the Mediterranean Party from last weekend. Here is a quick overview:

I am not a huge fan of sangria in general, because I like wine and prefer other sweet drinks. This one however is so fun! How can you go wrong with champagne? I will absolutely use this again, especially on a hot summer day…or for a bridal shower perhaps? I have to say, the favorite had to be the dates. They are rich and sweet and salty and a little spicy and just perfect. The gazpacho tastes like a garden in a glass. Such a great way to add a healthy element and would also be a wonderful first course, especially in the summer. Paella is something you can find a basic recipe for and add your own flare. Use the seafood and veggies you like and it will be lovely.

The one thing I do recommend is to use something as your focal point if you are looking to impress. We used a fan of asparagus and scallops in ours, but muscles or lobster on top create a lovely effect as well. The ice cream is like nothing else you have had. It has a wonderful texture and the nuts give it a toasty richness. With the ginger cookies (my staple), a few berries, and a sprinkling of toasted nuts, it was a lovely finish. I can’t wait to hear what you think!

Kelly

Citrus Champagne Sangria

Combine grapefruit juice, ginger ale, simple syrup (if you like sweetness) with thinly sliced blood oranges, tangerines, and apples overnight. Add half a glass of champagne or white wine to fancy glassware and top with the citrus mixture for fabulous presentation. Make sure some of the fruit makes it to the glass.

Gazpacho Shooters – Adapted from
Marge Cirinelli’s Twisted Gazpacho

2 cans (11.5 ounces each) tomato juice

Juice from 1 lemon

1 cup fennel, fine dice

1 cup cucumber (1 medium), seeded and peeled, fine dice

2 large carrots, fine dice

1/2 cup red onion (1 small), fine dice

1/2 cup celery (2 stalks), fine dice

1/2 orange bell pepper, fine dice

1 pint sweet 100 or other small cherry tomatoes, stemmed and quartered

2 tablespoons italian parsley, fine chop

3 tablespoons sherry vinegar

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon garlic, minced

2-3 tablespoons jalapeño pepper, seeded, fine mince

1/2 cup dry white wine

salt and pepper to taste

splash of tequila

In a bowl, combine tomato juice, lemon juice, fennel, cucumber, red onion, celery, tomatoes, parsley, basil and sherry vinegar. Add olive oil to a small sauté pan along with minced garlic over medium heat, stirring until lightly browned. Add minced jalapeño and cook, stirring for 15 seconds. Add wine and cook until reduced by half. Stir mixture into the gazpacho and chill for 1-2 hours or overnight. Add a splash of tequila. Spoon mixture into shot glasses or small martini glasses.

Note: If you are serving them as shooters, you can use a hand held blender to smooth out the texture a bit, but if you use a fine enough dice, it will work anyway.

Chorizo-Filled Dates

Yield: Makes 12 dates

4 ounces fresh Mexican chorizo, coarsely crumbled

Salt and Pepper

1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley

12 large Medjool dates

6 slices applewood-smoked bacon, cut crosswise in half

Cook chorizo in heavy small skillet over medium heat until browned and cooked through, stirring frequently and breaking up lumps with spoon, about 5 minutes. Drain off fat; transfer sausage to small bowl. Add parsley; stir to combine. Cool.

Working with one date at a time, cut slit along top of date. Gently pry open date and remove pit, leaving pocket. Stuff pocket with 1 scant tablespoon chorizo mixture. Wrap 1 bacon piece around each date, overlapping ends slightly; fasten ends with toothpick. Place wrapped dates on a baking sheet and place in a preheated 375° oven. Bake the dates for about 20 minutes or until bacon is brown. Remove toothpicks. Serve warm.

Note: I have also made these stuffed with a chunk of parmesan cheese in place of the chorizo and they were also amazing. A combination of the two might be gracing my next party.
J

Dulce de Leche Ice Cream – Gourmet, May 2007

Yield: Makes about 1 1/2 quarts

2 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

1 pound dulce de leche (about 1 2/3 cups; preferably La Salamandra brand)

1/8 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (2 1/2 to 3 oz), toasted

Bring milk and cream just to a boil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, then remove from heat and whisk in dulce de leche until dissolved. Whisk in vanilla and transfer to a metal bowl. Quick-chill by putting bowl in a larger bowl of ice and cold water and stirring occasionally until cold, 15 to 20 minutes. Freeze mixture in ice cream maker until almost firm, then fold in pecans. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden, at least 1 hour.

Note: We found that it works best if all the ingredients are cold when you add them, so freeze the nuts for a while before adding them.

Ginger Cookies

Courtesy of ‘The SONO Baking Company Cookbook’ by John Barricelli

**Makes about 60 cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 t. baking soda

¼ t. coarse salt

1 t. ground cinnamon

1 t. ground cloves

1 t. ground ginger

1 cup sugar, plus ¾ cup for rolling

¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 large egg, at room temperature

¼ cup unsulfured molasses

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger; set aside. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the sugar and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl halfway through. Beat in the egg and molasses until combined. Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture beating until combined. Transfer the dough to a clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until well chilled, about an hour (and up to 24 hours).

Arrange the oven rack in the middle position. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick silicone baking mats; set aside. Place the extra sugar for rolling on a plate; set aside. Use a 1 ½-inch ice cream scoop to scoop out the dough, and roll balls in the sugar to coat, and place about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake one sheet at a time, rotating the sheet two-thirds of the way through the baking time, until the cookies are deep golden brown and the centers are firm, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer the sheet to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Use a spatula to transfer the cookies to the rack and let cool completely. Continue to roll and bake the remaining cookies in the same way.

Note: I like to keep these in the freezer. To do so, scoop into balls and roll in sugar then place on a baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap and freeze for several hours. Once the dough is frozen, place the dough in a freezer bag. Bake as usual using the frozen dough, no need to defrost. These will keep for several months in the freezer and are a great thing to have on hand for unexpected guests or late night cravings! Also, if you want to get really fancy make them into ice cream sandwiches…yum!

There are few things I love more than lemon on chicken. The acid just imparts great flavor and tenderness to something that can end up bland. There are a lot of ways to make lemony chicken; remember Chicken Piccata? Sometimes when it comes to chicken, I just want something easy to throw together that I can reuse for various meals throughout the week.

One day I had some leftover salad dressing that I used as a marinade with some fresh herbs; it was surprisingly good and I decided to recreate it with the addition of some wine. This is seriously so easy and you can have it ready very quickly. Just a quick bath in the marinade and throw it on the grill, not to mention it is really healthy. This is a staple that I will be keeping around!

P.S. We have been buying the “thin sliced” chicken breasts because they are closer to a regular serving size than most of the chicken breasts you see in the market now. Organic seems to be better as well. You do have to be careful not to overcook the thin ones because they dry out. Just 2-3 minutes per side is good.

Kelly

Lemon Herb Chicken

1 Package Thin Sliced Chicken Breasts
Juice of 2 Lemons
¼ Cup White Wine
¼ Cup Olive Oil
½ T Dijon Mustard
2 Cloves Garlic, peeled and crushed
Handful of Fresh Herbs, roughly chopped (anything available that you like ie- rosemary, thyme, sage, parsley)
Salt & Pepper
1 T Butter

Add the lemon juice, wine and mustard to a bowl large enough to accommodate the chicken.

Pour the olive oil in a steady stream whisking continuously to emulsify.

Add the garlic, herbs, salt, and pepper; stir to combine. Add the chicken and marinate for 20 minutes to an hour.

Heat the grill to high heat while the chicken marinates. Cook about 2-3 minutes per side.

You can serve as is or take the leftover marinade and add it to a pan straining out any big pieces of garlic or herbs (adding a ¼ to ½ cup more wine if you need more volume) and bring to a boil.

Add butter and whisk until reduced and the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Season with salt, black pepper and crushed red pepper.

Top the chicken with the sauce and serve.

There are few better crowd pleasers than chicken fingers; especially for children. The problem is they are usually fried (read: high cal) and if they aren’t, they are often bland or soggy. This recipe is the remedy for both of these problems. I swear these are some of the best baked chicken fingers I have ever made. The original recipe has layers of flavors which is what caught my attention, but they were supposed to be fried, so I took a page out of my mom’s book and baked them like she did when we were kids. The addition of the orange makes these a bit more appealing to grownups than the generic versions that kids love. Not to mention the sauce was amazing! Of course, the original recipe called for blood orange, but I couldn’t find any so I substituted regular orange. I do think the blood orange would add really beautiful color. This one is definitely worth the effort! You could even make them as an appetizer.

Kelly

Baked Crispy Chicken Fingers with Orange Sweet and Sour Sauce

Inspired by Everday Exotic: Blood Orange chef Roger Mooking

Blood Orange Rub:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (6 ounces each), cut into strips

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper

2 teaspoons fennel seeds, ground in a mortar and pestle

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

*Zest* of 1 blood orange, chopped

Crispy Chicken Fingers:

Vegetable oil spray

1 cup flour, seasoned with salt and pepper

2 eggs, whisked

2 1/2 cups breadcrumbs (use good fresh bread)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Sweet and Sour Blood Orange Sauce:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 red onion, diced

1 cup honey

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

*Zest* of 2 oranges

4 blood oranges, peeled and roughly chopped

1 cinnamon stick

1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons cold water

8 fresh basil leaves, julienned

For the blood orange rub: Place chicken pieces in a large dish and add the garlic powder, pepper, ground fennel, olive oil and orange *zest*. Coat the chicken with the rub and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

For the crispy chicken fingers: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking tray with foil and spray lightly with vegetable oil spray. Place the flour, whisked eggs and breadcrumbs into individual dishes.

Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour, followed by the eggs and then the breadcrumbs. Place the breaded chicken on the prepared baking tray leaving a little space between each piece.

Spray the tops of the chicken fingers with cooking spray. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden and cooked through rotating the tray halfway through.

For the sweet and sour blood orange sauce: Heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the red onions and sweat until tender and translucent. Mix the honey, red wine vinegar and 1/2 cup water in a bowl. Add to the saute pan and stir.

Add the orange *zest*, blood orange pieces and cinnamon stick.

Season with salt and pepper, stir and cook until the mixture has reduced by half. Strain the mixture through a sieve into a new pot over medium heat making sure to get as much liquid through as possible.

Bring to a simmer and then remove from the heat. Continue to cook over very low heat for 3 to 5 minutes. Place the pot back over medium heat, add the cornstarch mixture and bring to a simmer to cook the cornstarch out, 3 to 5 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in the basil.

Serve alongside the chicken fingers and enjoy!!