A Harvest Feast

As promised, I am finally posting the recipes from the most delicious feast I cooked for my friends!

Here is a link to the original posting, with images

1^st Course:

Seared Nantucket Bay Scallops

atop a Butternut Squash Puree and an Apple Cider-Maple Reduction (serves 8)

Wine Pairing: Triennes Sainte Fleur Viognier

Recipe:

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp olive oil

60 Bay Scallops (approx 7 bay scallops per plate)

Salt and pepper

Butternut Squash Puree (below)

Maple – Apple Cider Reduction (below)

Chives for garnish

Heat sauté pan to hot. Reduce heat to medium-high and add butter and oil. Season scallops with salt and pepper. Cook scallops on one end until nicely browned on bottom, approximately a minute or so. Flip on sear on other end. Remove from pan and keep warm.

For plating, place a dollop of warm puree in the center of a plate. Stack scallops, 4 on bottom layer, on puree, and place another scallop atop these. Drizzle reduction on top of scallops and around plate (5 drips). Scatter chives on top and serve.

Apple Cider-Maple Reduction

2 cups apple cider

1/4 c maple syrup

Bring cider and syrup to boil in a small saucepan. Cook until reduced to a syrup. Keep warm for serving.

Butternut Squash Puree

1 large butternut squash (yields approx. 5-6 c puree)

1 1/2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp maple syrup

Salt, to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Slice butternut squash in half vertically and place on foil lined baking sheet, cut side down. Roast in oven until fork tender.

While still warm, scoop out filling into a saucepan. Add butter and maple syrup and stir to combine while heating. Puree with immersion blender and season to taste. Keep warm for serving.

2^nd Course:

Creamy Chestnut Soup with Crème Fraiche and Candied Walnuts (serves 8)

inspired by Rachael Ray

4 tbsp butter

3 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp nutmeg

2 14.1 oz cans chestnuts in water

3/4 c carrots, emincer

3/4 c small stalks celery, emincer

3/4 small onion, ciseler

1/4 c port

1 15.3 oz can chestnut puree

32oz plus 2 cups chicken stock

Salt to taste

Crème fraiche

Parsley, hacher

Candied Walnuts (recipe below)

Heat butter in a sauté pan. When melted, add sugar, salt, and nutmeg and stir to combine. Add chestnuts and their liquid. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook until liquid reduced and the chestnuts are beginning to caramelize.

While the chestnuts cook, heat remaining 2 tbsp butter in a stockpot. Add the carrot, celery, and onion and sweat until translucent. Add chestnut mixture to stockpot. Deglaze sauté pan with port and add to stockpot. Add chestnut puree and stock to stockpot. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer on medium-low. Cook for 30 minutes. Puree with an immersion blender until smooth. Test seasoning.

Serve soup in a bowl with a dollop of crème fraiche, topped with a couple of candied walnuts, and a sprinkle of parsley.

Candied Walnuts

from Rachael Ray, Rachael Ray Magazine, December 2009[3]

1 tbsp melted butter

1/4 c sugar

1 egg white

Pinch salt

2 c walnut halves

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Mix melted butter, sugar, egg white, and salt together in bowl. Add walnuts and stir to combine. Pour onto foil lined baking sheet and bake until golden. Let cool part way and crumble. Cool completely

3^rd Course:

Roasted Rack of Rhode Island Lamb

with a Fresh Corn Cake and Sautéed Garden Swiss Chard with Cranberries (serves 8)

Wine Pairing - Bordeaux - Chateau Tour Prignac 2005

Rack of Lamb

From Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Parties!

3 tbsp salt

4 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves

6 cloves garlic

1 c Dijon mustard

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

4 racks of lamb, frenched (2 portions of 3 chops per rack)

In a food processor, process salt, rosemary, and garlic until they are as finely minced as possible. Add the mustard and vinegar and process for a minute.

Place the lamb in a roasting pan or baking sheet with the ribs curving down. Coat the tops of the meat with the mustard. Let stand for 1 hour at room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Roast the lamb for about 20 minutes for rare, 25 minutes for medium rare. Remove from oven and tent with foil while meat rests for approximately 15 minutes (keep in warm area, such as atop the stove). Cut into individual ribs.

Fresh Corn Cake, made with Walker’s Corn and Gray’s Cornmeal

Inspired from “Polenta Corn Cakes with Wild Mushroom Pan Roast “21” Club,” from Gourmet

2 1/2 c skim milk

1 1/2 c heavy cream

2 c Gray’s Cornmeal

4 ears of fresh corn, blanched and cut off cobs

4 tbsp butter

Water, if needed

4 oz semi-hard cheese, like Gruyere or Ewephoria

Salt, to taste

Butter a 9x13” baking pan. In a large heavy saucepan, stir together milk, cream, and cornmeal over medium heat. Add fresh corn and butter. Bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer, cooking for 15-20 minutes, stirring constantly so that it doesn’t stick or burn, until the polenta is thick and the corn and cornmeal are cooked. If the polenta gets too thick, you may add water, a tablespoon at a time. Stir in cheese until incorporated and season to taste. Pour into prepared pan and chill until cold, 2-3 hours.

To serve, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut 4” rounds of polenta and place on a silpat lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Once warmed through, remove from oven and turn on broiler. Broil 4” away from element for 2-3 minutes, or until just golden.

To plate, place corn cake in center of plate. Top with some cranberry chard. Arrange three lamb chops just forward of corn cake, with ribs curving over corn cake and chard.

Sautéed Garden Swiss Chard with Cranberries

3 large bunches Swiss chard, rinsed

3 tbsp olive oil

3/4 c dried cranberries

Salt, to taste.

Roll still-wet rinsed leaves of Swiss chard together and cut into 1/2” ribbons. Heat large sauté pan and add oil. When shimmering, add wet chard. Cook until just wilted. Add dried cranberries and season to taste. Continue cooking until chard is tender and cranberries are warmed through, and water has evaporated.

4^th Course:

Soft Gingerbread with a Local Apple Compote and Salted Caramel Sauce (serves 8)

Soft Gingerbread

From Marion Cunningham’s The Breakfast Book

1 c sugar

1 c dark molasses

1 c vegetable oil

3 eggs

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cloves

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

2 c flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 c boiling water

Local Apple Compote (below)

Salted Caramel Sauce (below)

Crème Chantilly (below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and lightly flour a 8x8” baking pan. Put the sugar, molasses, oil, and eggs in a mixing bowl and cream until smooth. In another bowl, combine the salt, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, flour, and baking soda and stir to combine thoroughly with a fork. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Add the boiling water and beat well to combine and batter is smooth (it will be thin!). Pour into prepared baking pans and bake for about 40-45 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Slice slightly warm gingerbread into 2” squares. Serve on a pool of salted caramel sauce with warm apple compote on the side, and a drizzle of caramel and a dollop of crème chantilly on top.

Apple Compote

adapted from Martha Stewart Living, October 2005

3 lbs apples, peeled, cored and diced

1/4 c brown sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

1/4 c water

Place cut apples, sugar, lemon juice, and water in a saucepan and cover. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce to low heat and cook covered until apples are tender. Remove top and simmer while stirring until juices evaporate and compote looks like a chunky applesauce. Keep warm for plating dessert.

Salted Caramel Sauce

from Christine Muhlke’s “The Way We Eat: Salt With a Deadly Weapon,” from The New York Times Magazine

2 1/4 cups white sugar

1/2 cup water

2/3 cup cream

3 tbsp butter

1/2 c milk

Salt to taste (I used about 3 tsp)

Combine sugar and water in a large (tall sides) saucepan. Do not stir. Cook over medium-high heat to a dark caramel, swirling once the edges begin to brown (this may take 5-10 minutes). Reduce the heat to low when the caramel turns a dark brown shade and you can smell the dark caramel scent. Deglaze with cream (watch out, it will bubble). Add butter and milk. Stir well. Season to taste. Keep warm for serving.

Crème Chantilly

1 c heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp confectioners’ sugar

In a cold bowl, whip together all ingredients to stiff peaks.