Our Final Dinner Club of the Season Is in The Books!

Hors d'oeuvres table centerpiece!

Our “Mad Men Dinner” last Saturday marks the final meeting of this, our fifth year, of Dinner Club. We agreed with one another over our delicious meal that we’ve indeed gotten better as the years have gone by… Better at cooking, better at presenting, better at planning; we’re much better friends than we were five years ago. We’ve grown close as a group and comfortable with one another. Comfortable enough to make mistakes in our cooking or to wear a beehive hair-do to the dinner table without feeling self-conscious in the least!

This Dinner Club was terrific in so many ways; first, our host and hostess really put some thought into what their home would have looked like for a dinner party in the 1960’s. No, they didn’t go out and buy new furniture. However they did find a few thrift store buys, hand-me-down’s from their parents and borrowed items that set the scene perfectly.

Ash trays aplenty; check! Boxes of cigarettes (candy cigarettes); check! A fully stocked bar with all the trimmings; check! A centerpiece that screamed sixties, a beautifully set table… place cards; check, check and check! The centerpiece of the hors d’oeuvre table, was in fact, an enjoyably ridiculous 60’s spectacle that our hostess came across while doing some research online. (I LOVE that she did research online – and she’s not the only one – keep reading!)

The centerpiece consisted of an enormous pineapple with wooden picks protruding from it. On each pick was a series of pineapple chunks and maraschino cherries, ending with a cocktail weenie and finally a candle. After dinner, we all gathered for cocktails again near the bar and hors d’ oeuvres table where our hostess ceremoniously lit the candles for us all to admire! Hilarious!

We had some very traditional 60’s dishes that we had never before prepared, like the baked Alaska dessert, which was quite tasty indeed. The beef wellington entrée was served in a new, updated format  - as individually pastry wrapped portions – that maintained the classic vibe of the dish, while making it new, different, and easier to serve to a large group. Watch for more later this week on our hostess’ “Individual Beef Wellingtons”! It's a terrific company-worthy recipe to have onhand.

The star attraction of the meal was definitely our Caesar salad; prepared tableside for each of us just as restaurants more commonly did in times-gone-by. Our friend who prepared it had definitely done his “You Tube” research, as well, and knew his stuff! He explained, as he was preparing, just what he was incorporating and let me just say that this freshly-made preparation of a very traditional salad is the way to go. It is so delicious. You simply can’t have a pre-prepared salad or a bottled dressing that will “wow” you the way this does. I’ve done this at home for my family and it’s really not difficult. Do some research and give it a try yourself.

Well, folks... this is it for our Dinner Club season. I'll be taking a "blogging break" for a few months until it's time to gear up again for planning. Call it a summer vacation, if you will! When we're ready to plan for our 2011-2012 season, I'll be sure to pick up where I left off with the fun details for you on how and what we have in store for our 6th year of Gretna's Dinner Club!

Thanks for reading during the season. I hope you'll stay with me and use some of our ideas in the future!
Andrea

This bar setup  was well thought-out and
included all the little details... even drink
recipes of the times for us to try out!

The dining room table was beautifully set for
a proper dinner party of the time.

Martinis, Tom Collins, Old Fashioneds, Oh My!

What happened to the days of the cocktail? In our group they’re still alive and well; we try to incorporate a special mixed drink or two into most of our themed meals, but with the rise of the microbrew and California wines in this country, people are less likely to mix a drink from their living room wet bar these days… so it seems.

Yes, in the sixties, unless it was Riunite (introduced in the US in 1967), expensive - and often unaffordable - French wines, or Schlitz (a favorite of my parents back in the day) you had few choices other than to stir up a little something yourself! So what were the popular cocktails of the “Mad Men” era? Our hostess has done a little research and plans to provide us with the basics for Old Fashions (which I’ve also seen spelled “fashioned” – take your pick!), Tom Collins, Martinis and Mint Juleps. She happens to have most of the needed ingredients on hand, so she’s going to have a 60’s style bar for us to self-serve from! How nice she is!

Some other drinks that come to mind for me are the Highball, the Manhattan and the Boxcar. I’ve heard of these, and remember my grandfather referring to drinking Highballs, but what is in one exactly? According to my beloved www.wikipedia.org, “Highball is the name for a family of mixed drinks that are composed of an alcoholic base spirit and a larger proportion of a non-alcoholic mixer. Originally, the most common highball was made with Scotch whisky and carbonated water, which is today called a ‘Scotch and Soda’….The Online Etymology Dictionary suggests that the name originated around 1898 and probably derives from ball meaning a "drink of whiskey" and high because it is served in a tall glass.” (1)

I’ve included a couple of drink recipes below for you to try if you’re inspired to host your own “Mad Men” themed dinner. I know I’ve said it before, but you know I’ll say it here again: Try something new! Yes, I’ll revert back to my wine drinking ways once I sit down to dinner, but before dinner it’s all about the cocktail, darling!

Dinner Club is this Saturday, so I’ll make sure to follow up next week with my “best dish of the night” recipe as well as photos of our ensembles (mine is an attempt at “Holly Golightly” the main character from the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s circa 1961! I’m no Audrey Hepburn, but I’ll have fun giving it a shot, complete with eyeliner, cigarette holder and up do if I can make it work! Wish me luck!).

Thanks for reading! Mix a cocktail this weekend, will you?

The Tom Collins
Found at: www.thebar.com
Ingredients:

• 1.5oz. Gin
• 1 oz. lemon or lime juice
• 1 teaspoon sweet and sour mix
• 1 splash club soda
• 1 slice orange

To prepare:

• In a shaker half filled with ice cubes, add gin, lemon or lime juice, and sweet and sour mix.
• Shake well.
• Strain into collins glass filled with ice.
• Add club soda and stir well.
• Garnish with maraschino cherry and orange slice.

The Manhattan

Found at: http://www.epicurious.com/
September 2009 by Clinton Kelly

Bourbon:
Bourbon is a type of whiskey that is only made in America from at least 51% corn. In that regard, it differs from Scotch and Irish whiskeys, which are made from malted barley. Rye whiskey is made from—you guessed it—rye. There's a helluva lot more you could learn on the subject of whiskeys, but you're not gonna learn it here. All you need to know is that good bourbon is delicious.

Ingredients:

Shaker with ice

Hearty shot of bourbon
Splash of sweet vermouth
Dash of bitters

Preparation:
Fill a shaker with ice.
Add a hearty shot of bourbon.
Add a splash of sweet vermouth and dash of bitters.
You can also add a few drops of maraschino cherry juice, whatever that stuff is.
Shake and strain into a martini glass, and garnish with a maraschino cherry. If you're lazy, or alone, just drink it on the rocks.

The Boxcar

Found at: www.esquire.com

Ingredients:Boxcar

• 2 ounces London dry gin
• 1/2 ounce Cointreau
• 1/2 ounce lime juice
• 1 egg whites 

Glass Type: cocktail glass

Instructions:

Shake ingredients well with cracked ice, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass whose rim has been wet with lime juice and dipped in sugar.

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/drinks/boxcar-drink-recipe#ixzz1Jd4VRgHn
(1) Quoted directly from Wikipedia.org

I’m “Mad” About Our Final Dinner Club of the Season!

Many of you may know and love the show “Mad Men”. We, as a group, definitely love their style! The hair, the clothing, the scotch during business meetings… those were the days, weren’t they?

In our planning for this year’s get-togethers, we all agreed that this show – quite a phenomenon in current pop culture – was a perfect opportunity at a “period” dinner. We’ve done them before, of course. Our “Last Night on the Titanic” dinner turned out terrific! We had a “Back to the Roaring 20’s” night that was quite the party as well.

For this one we envisioned the classic 1960’s dinner among friends; an era where people actually invited one another over for sit down meals occasionally as opposed to our more hectic lifestyles today. In our “Mad Men vision” our shining hostess would greet guests in her apron and make sure everyone is settled with a cocktail immediately. For those of you who have seen the show, you know there is never a shortage of scotch, martinis, highballs and other drinks of the time. Men and women wound down after their respective days at the home or office with a drink and an appetizer before a fairly elaborate meal (on the nights when they were entertaining, at least).

Luckily for our hostess on this particular 60’s sit-down, it’s Dinner Club, so she doesn’t have to slave away in the kitchen, alone, during the bulk of her fancy-pantsy dinner party! She can actually mingle and enjoy herself because we all share the work of cooking by contributing a part of the meal!

I’ve posted this month’s menu below. We’re having all of the traditional foods of a dinner party of the time, including beginning with a classic shrimp cocktail (recipe is shown below) and ending with baked Alaska (which I have never had – can’t wait to give it a shot!) Watch for more this week on some popular cocktails of the 1960’s and I’ll be posting follow-up photos as well.

By the way, for this one, we’re dressing for the occasion yet keeping it simple. Our group prefers to include only one “full out” costume extravaganza each Dinner Club season. Since we planned for our “Night at the Disco” to be that evening (and it was “full out” and hilarious) for this get-together we’ve left it up to each couple to decide for themselves how far they want to go. If they’ve already got something they can make work in their closet (as I plan to do) – great! Some have picked up a thrift store item or two to present themselves at their 1960’s best! Either way, we haven’t made any significant effort or financial investment in our wardrobe for this one. We simply plan to enjoy a classy cocktail-ridden affair featuring some great food and fantastic friends!

Here’s our menu for the evening (for the shrimp cocktail recipe – see down the page further!):

The Shrimp Cocktail

Found on: www.foodnetwork.com
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 32 shell-on (21 to 25 count) tiger shrimp

For the brine:

• 1/4 cup kosher salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 2 cups ice

For the cocktail sauce:

• 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1/2 cup prepared chili sauce
• 4 tablespoons prepared horseradish
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• Few grinds fresh black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Sprinkle Old Bay seasoning

Directions: Using a pair of scissors or a serrated knife, make an incision down the backside of the shrimp, following the intestinal track. Eviscerate shrimp and rinse under cool water leaving shells intact.

Place cleaned shrimp into a bowl with brine and refrigerate mixture for 20 to 25 minutes. While shrimp are brining, place tomatoes, chili sauce, horseradish, sugar, pepper, and salt in food processor and blend until smooth. Refrigerate cocktail sauce until ready to serve.
Place a baking sheet or broiler pan under oven broiler and preheat for 5 minutes. Remove shrimp from brine and drain thoroughly. Rinse the shrimp under cold water and dry on paper towels. In a large bowl, toss shrimp with olive oil and sprinkle with Old Bay seasoning, if desired.
Place shrimp onto a sizzling sheet pan and return to broiler immediately. After 2 minutes, turn the shrimp with a pair of tongs. Return the shrimp to broiler for 1 minute. Transfer to a cold cookie sheet. Refrigerate immediately.
Once shrimp have chilled, arrange with cocktail sauce in a martini glass or as desired.

A Few Notes on Our “Best Dish” of the Night… Then It’s On To Our Final Dinner Club of the Year (In My Next Posting!)

I promised a few tidbits on what I thought was our “best dish” for aphrodisiac night, the “Pepper Crusted Beef with Chocolate Port Sauce”. Let me start by saying that this was divine. It was full-flavored beefy and the sauce did not overwhelm our appreciation of an expensive cut of meat.

Our beef entree, alongside "Gratin Dauphinois" and
sauteed broccoli rabe! Delicious!

The sauce sounds heavy and cloying, but upon further inspection of the recipe (which I posted in my blog on March 21^st) you’ll notice that the port is boiled down to its very essence and the chocolate is but a hint of said flavor, stirred in as a final step to deepen and to thicken the sauce. The flavors of beef and rosemary – excellent with meat – are ever present and very well balanced.

We all agreed it was delectable; so much so for me that I’m actually considering replacing my yearly Christmas Eve beef tenderloin recipe with this one! Mmmmm! So, a few notes on adapting the original recipe to make it more suitable (and easier to prepare) for a large group:

Let’s talk beef tenderloin for a second. A few years ago I watched an episode of Good Eats, featuring Alton Brown of the Food Network. He gave instructions at that time for dry aging your own meat in the refrigerator to “beef up” the flavor. I’ve been doing this for awhile now, and for every recipe I prepare from whole tenderloin as well as for whole standing rib roasts.

Besides the fact that the meat reduces in water weight and deepens in its rich, beefy flavor, it also is something you do AHEAD; therefore it adds to the advance preparation that makes any dinner party easier to prepare for. If you would like to read up on Alton’s process, as I did, you can simply search “dry aging beef at home, Alton Brown” on Google. A few of his recipes come up for you to look at.

For my part, I simply clean the tenderloin VERY well (I hate any remaining connective tissue on my meat), tie it if necessary and place it on a rack in a deep pan so it can release moisture. I cover the pan with aluminum foil and use the end of a wooden spoon to poke holes in the foil to allow air to circulate over, around and underneath the meat. I place it in the coldest part of my refrigerator and leave it for up to four days before I continue with my recipe. Try this! You end up with much more flavorful meat; of the quality you would expect from higher grades often available only to restaurants.

Long story short, for this recipe (which was written for two, when I needed to prepare it for 12) my husband simply grilled the prepared beef – brushed with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper – until done, at which point we rested it, sliced it and served it with the amazing sauce. Nothing about the flavors of the recipe was changed; simply the method of preparation to make it MUCH easier to serve twelve people relatively hot beef tenderloin!

As for the sauce, although it did not specifically note in the recipe that it could be prepared in advance, I did in fact do that as well… Nearly any sauce can be prepared somewhat early; especially one that is stock-based such as this. As a matter of fact, I believe that most sauces have a chance to deepen in flavor – much like soups – if prepared in advance. This one was no exception. I simply followed the directions up to just before the introduction of the chocolate (the only part that I feared wouldn’t hold well) and then placed the sauce in the refrigerator. Just before dinner, I pulled the sauce out, reheated it on the stovetop and whisked in the chocolate. Voila! No effort at the last minute to finish and serve!

I hope these tips help you. They can be applied to so many different recipes and meals. The basic point is this: Be unafraid to find your own way with recipes. The things I changed didn’t affect the flavor outcome of the dish (except possibly for the better) and I kept my sanity intact with eleven others hungrily awaiting their entrée at the table!

ENJOY your cooking and good luck!