For Dinner Club this month we explored coffee as an
ingredient. Sometimes it’s great center in on a specific flavor and see how
many ways it can be enjoyed. And I was actually able to sleep afterward! (Full
stomach / wine with my meal! J )
Our appetizer course was a coffee-pecan brie. It was
ooey-gooey delicious and, according to the couple who made it, very simple to
prepare. They baked it in the oven and served along with crusty baguette to
spoon it over. Fantastic! The coffee element in this dish was slightly sweet
and included Kahlua coffee liqueur, but it wasn’t overly “dessert” sweet. Just
the right combination with brie and the pecans. Here’s a link to the recipe for
you to try if you’d like:
We then had a cream of porcini mushroom soup with coffee.
Even the mushroom “haters” in the group really enjoyed this creamy, rich and
savory soup. This was my portion of the meal to prepare and, being me, I did
not follow a recipe. I did use one for inspiration and I’ve included the link
for you. I’m sure it’s amazing just “as is”, but the original didn’t call for coffee.
I substituted out beef stock for the chicken broth and added in one tablespoon
of instant espresso powder for the delicate coffee-beef combination that suits
one another so perfectly just as it did in our entrée for the night.
Don’t hesitate to play with recipes now and then yourself to
achieve the results you desire. When we were searching for soup elements for
this particular meal there simply weren’t many to be had that included coffee
as an ingredient. Knowing that beef and coffee flavors pair so well with one
another and that mushrooms and beef do as well, I made the connection and found
a way to pair mushroom, beef and coffee together in the same dish. Here’s the
link to the original recipe. Try it on its own or with my adjustments and see
what you think:
Our salad course was a contender for “best dish” for the
evening. The fresh greens with coffee vinaigrette sounds strange, but the
coffee was a delicate, yet noticeable element and presented in the dish as a
smoky aroma to the nose more than on the tongue. It was a gorgeous, colorful
plate and just a drizzle of the dressing was perfect. Overdone would be too
much. Here’s a link to a coffee vinaigrette for you to try:
Our entrée included my “best dish” for the night and I’ll
expand on that next week, but on to more important items for now… Dessert!
They say homemade cakes can be difficult to get right. I,
myself, am not a baker and possess neither the patience nor skill to pull off
something like our coffee-chocolate layer cake with mocha mascarpone frosting!
That’s a mouthful to say and it was a mouthful of sweet, moist
perfectly-“coffee-eye” deliciousness! I couldn’t finish my piece after the
meal, but I wanted to. The gal who made it really did an amazing job, and who
doesn’t want to finish with chocolate cake?! Here’s a link. Try it if you bake!http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2009/04/coffee_chocolate_layer_cake_with_mocha_mascarpone_frosting
I’ll expand next week on our “best dish”. You should
definitely tune in for it if you’re looking for something new in your world of
basic steak! Keep reading and thanks!
