A Weekend with the Burrs

Company coming means another batch of 18-hour bread!! Roy starts salivating as soon as the bread mixture begins fermenting and looking breadlike.



Our friends, Joyce & Bill Burr came to visit this weekend - Joyce is a realtor, still working and Bill has recently retired from a company who did business with Roy for years. We four have been friends for a number of years and always have a ball when we get together - especially because Bill is a wonderful cook, who never shys away from a good recipe or food. So, we are two peas in a pod.





Friday nite's dinner was done in the manner that I really prefer the last couple of years. Nothing is done at the same time. We have an appy, then we visit, then comes a soup or salad, then we visit, then the entree, then we...... Besides being so easy because no multiple dishes have to be correctly timed and completed at the same, it's just more fun do a dinner party this way. Sometime we have the appetizers in the living room around the fire, move into the kitchen around the island for soup or salad and finally to the dining room for the main course. I so loved Morris's Buttermilk Blue Cheese Creme Fraiche on the Sweet Potato & Pear Soup, I copied it for my Butternut Squash Soup and was that ever a hit! I love the combination - and the sprinkling of (fresh ;) ) bacon bits mixed with a little duck cracklin's - super! The Creme Fraiche is a method that June Jacob's gave me and it's so easy and tastey. I just added Roquefort cheese to taste and used it as a garnish for the soup.

CREME FRAICHE - HOW TO MAKE (June Jacobs)

2 cups whipping (heavy) cream preferably NOT ultra-pasteurized
1/4 cup buttermilk -- room temperature

1. Warm cream in heavy small saucepan to lukewarm (85 degrees F). Remove from heat and mix in buttermilk. Put the mixture into a clean glass jar (that has a tight-fitting lid), Leave the jar open and cover with a piece of waxed paper fastened with a rubber band. Let it stand in a warm draft-free area until slightly thickened, 24 to 48 hours, depending on temperature of room.

2. When the cream has "clotted," remove the paper and replace it with the lid. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Teacher's Tip Stored in this manner, the Crème Fraîche should keep until you've used it up (and made more!) Like fine cheese, it may develop a "skin", but you can remove it and use what's underneath.
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Well, murphy's law - my heavy cream WAS ultra-pastuerized and the only buttermilk on the shelves around here was/is reduced fat/1 1/2% milkfat/50%less fat than whole milk!!!
But, it works beautifully!

Decided to go with it and see what would result - oh my, it is delicious, creamy, beautiful creme fraiche. I left it 30 hours.

June’s notes: - it WHIPS!!! so when you want that great tang on a strawberry shortcake, you can have it fluffy!

As well, it doesn't break if it gets boiled the way sour cream does, so it's great for finishing sauces.
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June
06/03/05 08:00 PM
I regularly make crème fraiche with heavy cream and buttermilk, so I keep it in a quart jar. Here's the recipe:
makes about 2 cups.

The entree was penne sauced with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce (recipe from Kevin/UptownKevin, a friend from C2C - and this is the story of why we had the same thing two nights in a row...


Well, I must say I am so proud of myself - and what a fun time I had Thursday! I had dinner all planned - Three Sisters Stew (meatless), with a Native American Spice packet, that I tasted and picked up 2 packets of at the Portland Farmer's Market. It was delicious - but that's another story, for when I DO make it...

Roy was whining about a veggie dinner (see above... ) so thot I'd surprise him with a shrimp appy. I had a recipe for Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce that I’d been wanting to try, so we had - oven-roasted shrimp and drizzled this sauce over them - wonderful.

I also had just cleaned the above two ducks and was really wanting to do something with the scraps, etc. Had some of the cream sauce left over from the shrimp - so cooked up a little pasta.

Fried one slice of diced bacon and removed, added the small pcs. of duck scraps and seasoned floured pcs. of liver (just used about 6 slices, cause I HAVE NEVER CARED FOR LIVER) and fried those up.

On to plating - tossed the pasta with the cream sauce and put in bowls, topped with slices of the duck and liver and sprinkled with bacon and bits of the cracklins from rendering the duck fat. Oh My, was that wonderful!!! and for the first time in my life I loved the fried liver!!!!!

Now, I've scraped my entire menu, almost, for dinner Friday night with the Burrs. I'm going to do this all again, but I'll serve the pasta, sauce and liver slices with the sautéed duck breasts!!!

And, this story is a little bittersweet because my mother and I battled all my life about me not willing to eat liver...and now that I have enjoyed it, I want to tell her so much, but it won't really mean anything to her where her mind is now...damn.

Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce - with Shrimp or Duck

1 large shallot -- minced
4 cloves garlic -- minced
2 large red peppers -- roasted
1 ½ to 2 cups half & half or heavy cream (I naturally used heavy cream... )
Butter
Extra Virgin Olive oil
S&P
Cayenne pepper, just a pinch or to taste

Roast the red pepper, peel, de-seed and dice.

Coat a sauté pan with olive oil & butter, and sweat the shallot and diced red pepper on low heat.

After several minutes, add the garlic and season with kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper and cayenne.

Once garlic has been cooked, pour mixture into a blender, add heavy cream and puree. Pour the mixture back into the pan and add additional cream if needed. Let the sauce reduce for approximately 10 min. on low heat, stirring often.

Season again if needed.

Now, back to Friday nite - I made more sauce and tossed it with the penne and served it topped with duck cracklin's and fried duck liver slices. Served along side pan-seared duck breasts. Dessert was slices of Glazed Chocolate/Pumpkin Loaf.

Saturday, off to Port Townsend for eating, wine tasting and shopping! I picked up a lot of fun things at the Food Co-op:
- Teff Flour, for Cis's and my fledgling passions for Ethiopian foods.
- lots of chocolate for the pantry and some for Saturday's dessert.
- a new snack folks were raving about at the Co-op that I've never seen before - Sahale's Sing Buri (cashew, pineapple, peanut, lemongrass, chinese chili) and Sahale's Socorro Blend (macadamia, hazelnut, mango papya, chipolte). Haven't opened them yet.
- Sour Cherries to try out the wonderful Bittersweet chocolate braised rabbit and griottines (sour cherries) - another goodie from Morris' restaurant.

On the way home, we picked up clams, mussels, prawns, a crab and Asiago Potato bread in addition to a few bottles of wine from the Wine Sellar in P.T. Found some bargains and some old favorties - temperanillo! and a few others.

Sunday morning, I wanted to use some of the leftover crab and prawns, and while searching the Bed & Breakfast website, found a dish that sounded awfully good - from the Greenhouse Bed and Breakfast, "Guia's Crabmeat Au-Gratin - and it lived up to expectations, it's a keeper!

Served the Au-Gratin over toasted slices of 18-hour bread - wonderful!




Guia's Crabmeat Au-Gratin presented by Greenhouse Bed and Breakfast
Can be served over buttered toast or as a brunch casserole.
6 tbsp. butter
1 cup thinly sliced green onions
6 tbsp. chopped parsley
1/4 cup red sweet bell pepper diced small
2 tbsp. flour
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cup milk
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 tbsp. dry sherry
2 lbs. crabmeat (it certainly does not need this much! I used one pound - a combination of prawns and crabmeat)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 tbsp. paprika
2 tsp cayenne (optional) (I just sprinkled some over)

Preheat oven to 350ºF. In a medium skillet melt butter and sauté the onions, pepper and parsley for about 4 minutes. Add the flour all at once and stir until combined. Season with salt and pepper.

Turn the heat to simmer. Add the softened cream cheese. Stir until combined. Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly until smooth.

Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the sherry.
Place the crabmeat in a large greased ovenproof casserole dish and pour the milk mixture over it. Fold gently to combine.

Sprinkle with parmesan, cayenne, and paprika. Bake for 20 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling.
Serves 8.

This was another wonderful time with Bill & Joyce. Next time will be at their house and Bill will be making Singapore Slings for us - says he has the best recipe ever for them......(to be continued.....)