brunosdream

Nestled in a quaint neighborhood in the village of “Cla-Due” lies the
home of our foodie Matriarch, Paula, who graciously hosted a
scrumptious, scintillating, springtime supper.
Parties are always less stressful when enlisting the cooking skills
of the Zen Zin kids.

Menu
Mixed Green Salad
Grilled NY strips
w/zinfandel Sauce
Grilled Asparagus
Organic fingerling Potatoes
Mandarin Orange Cake
w/fresh strawberries
Zinfandel Chocolate Gelato
Assorted wines
Port
Coffee

Bruno shares culinary secrets
w/Paula while Mandy does
salad duty.

Zinfandel Sauce

1 bottle (750 ml) red zinfandel

4 oz brown beech mushrooms

10 shallots (whole, peeled)

1 cup demiglace

2 cups veggie stock

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp black truffle oil

1 tbsp butter

salt + pepper

Procedure

1) Combine wine and shallots in heavy saucepan and boil over high heat until reduced to 2 tablespoons

2) Add demiglace and veggie stock and reduce to 2 cups

3) Strain shallots from sauce and return sauce to the saucepan

4) In a small nonstick pan, saute’ mushrooms in olive oil and truffle oil

5) Add sauteed mushrooms to the wine sauce

6) Whisk in butter

7) Salt and pepper to taste

Yield: Approx. 2 cups

    finished product

-The dessert challenge was
to counter balance our
awesome but heavy dinner
fare

Mandarian Orange Cake w/ strawberries
1 ½ cups all purpose flour

2 cups white sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

4 eggs

¾ cup vegetable oil

1 11 oz can mandarian oranges w/juice

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350⁰F – Grease and flour 3 round cake pans

Mix flour, sugar, b powder – add eggs oil, oranges w/juice and 1/3 c OJ and vanilla – pour into pans

Bake for ~45 min

Icing –

1- 3 oz pkg instant vanilla pudding mix

1- 9 oz carton Cool whip

1 large can crushed pineapple – drained

Mix together – spread on layers – refrigerate

We ended the night with a lovely Port & Gelato

Zinfandel Chocolate Gelato¾ bottle (750 ml) red zinfandel

10 egg yolks

4 cups half + half

1 cup sugar

6 oz bittersweet chocolate (chopped)

** I originally used ½ bottle of zin and 8 oz chocolate, but in order to be able to taste more zin and less chocolate I changed the proportions

Procedure

1) Reduce wine to ¾ cups, then add chocolate and stir until melted, set aside but keep warm

2) In medium saucepan heat half + half gently to a simmer, then turn off heat

3) In medium size mixing bowl combine egg yolks and sugar and beat together until pale yellow

4) Beat 2 tablespoons of the warm half + half into the egg mixture (do this slowly to avoid curdling the eggs), then beat in the remaining half + half little by little

5) Place bowl over a pot of simmering water and cook over a gentle heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture coats the back of a spoon (do not let temperature exceed 170 degrees or mixture will start to curdle)

6) Cool in an ice bath and thoroughly blend in the wine/chocolate mixture during the cooling process

7) Chill mixture in fridge for at least 4 hours

8) Churn in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions

9) Tranfer gelato to a 2 qt plastic container, cover top w/ parchment paper cut to size (this will reduce air exposure and prevent ice crystals from forming on the surface of gelato), and freeze until firm
Yield: Approx. 1 ½ quarts

Zin sauce & gelato– Bruno
M.O w/S Cake- D.E.W.
Photos &  Prose – Duane