Monthly dinners - March

As part of my attempt to get a little more creative with Christmas gifts this past Christmas, we gave my inlaws a gift certificate for 12 meals (once a month) at our home. Each month I give them a menu of meals and dates to chose from. They loved it and it's a great way for us to get together each month. I also get to be a little more creative with meals on these days since my kiddos and husband can be a bit picky. Tonight we hosted our monthly dinner and it was yummy!  You can find a copy of the March menu here. My inlaws chose Warm Marinated Olives, Chicken and Green Chiles Enchiladas, and Irish Creme Brulee.  

Warm Marinated Olives (modified from Martha Stewart Living magazine, March 2011)

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 chiles de arbol
• 1 rosemary sprig, broken into 1-inch pieces
• 1/4 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
• 1/4 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
• 1 cup of Spanish queen olives, rinsed and patted dry
• 1 cup of kalamata olives, rinsed and patted dry

Directions:

• Heat the oil, chiles, rosemary, fennel and coriander in a saucepan over medium heat about 2 minutes.
• Add the olives and toss.  Heat until the olives are warm, about 10 minutes.

I was given a subscription to Martha Stewart Living for Christmas and I love it! The recipes I've tried so far have been great!

Chicken and Green Chiles Enchiladas

Ingredients:

• 1 lb skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
• 1 4 oz can of diced mild green chiles
• 1 8 oz brick of cream cheese, softened
• 6 flour tortillas (soft taco size)
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray
• Combine chicken, chiles and cream cheese.
• Divide equally into tortillas and roll them up.  Place seam side down in pan.
• Cook, covered, at 350 for 20 minutes.
• Remove cover and sprinkle with shredded cheese. Return to oven until cheese is melted, about 5 minutes.
• Serve with sour cream and salsa.

These are really simple and very delicious. I boiled the chicken for about 20 minutes. If you're like me and almost always not prepared, you could place frozen chicken breasts in a crockpot with a cup of water for 8 hours. The chicken is really tender and shreds so nicely this way. I would've done that for this recipe, but my crockpot was being utilized for the refried beans :)

Irish Creme Brulee (from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 6 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons Irish cream liqueur
• superfine sugar as needed

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 300.  
• Stir together cream and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat.  Cook until very hot and sugar is dissolved.
• Whisk together egg yolks, vanilla and Irish creme until well blended.  Slowly whisk in half of the cream mixture a couple of tbsps at a time.  
• Whisk in the remaining cream mixture.
• Pour into 6 ramekins, place in a roasting pan and fill the pan with boiling water to halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
• Bake at 300 for 50-60 minutes, until set.
• Remove from pan and set on a wire rack to cool at room temperature for 1 hour.
• Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or until ready to serve.
• Unwrap ramekins and sprinkle with 1 tsp superfine sugar.  Gently shake the custards to spread the sugar around.
• Broil for 5 minutes until sugar has melted and slightly browned.

This recipe was phenomenal.  I'm salivating just thinking of it.  In fact, I may make some for dessert later!  The top was nice and crisp and the custard was melt-in-your-mouth.  I'm not one who would typically order a non-chocolate dessert, but I can see myself making this over and over again!  Very simple and extremely tasty!

 

Comments

[catering new york]

Great recipe, I'll be sure to try this out. Thanks.