A Taste of Wine and Bourbon
Smoked Salmon Crostini with White Wine Aioli
Beef Tenderloin topped with Scallops and Bourbon Browned Butter
Bacon Potato Rose with Spiked Herb crème
Bacon Bourbon Green Beans
Sparkling Strawberry Trifle
Smoked Salmon Crostini with White Wine Aioli
Yield: 2
¼ thin baguette
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp melted butter
½ cup Greek yogurt
3 tbsp cream cheese
2 tbsp fresh chopped dill
1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Salt to taste
4 oz smoked salmon
Capers and fresh dill for garnish
AOILI
1/4 cup mayo
2 tablespoons sour cream
1/8 cup white wine
Mixed all Aioli ingredients together and set aside.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Slice the baguette along a diagonal into 1/4 inch slices using a serrated knife. Do not slice them thicker than 1/4 inch, or they will be difficult to bite through when toasted.
Thinly slicing a baguette. Place the slices on a cookie sheet. Stir together the melted butter and olive oil. If using unsalted butter, add a small pinch of salt to the mixture and stir to combine. If using salted butter, no need to add any additional salt. Brush the tops of the bread pieces with the oil and butter mixture.
Brushing sliced baguette with olive oil. Place the bread into the oven and let it toast for 8-10 minutes till the bottoms of the bread slices are golden brown and toasted. Flip the slices to check for doneness– they will brown more on the bottom than they will on the top. Toasted crostini on a baking sheet. While baguette slices are toasting, place 1/4 cup Greek yogurt, cream cheese, dill, and lemon juice into a bowl. Mix till ingredients are well combined. Continue to add Greek yogurt till the mixture is soft and spreadable. Add salt to taste.
. When the baguette slices have cooled, top each slice with 1 tsp of the Greek yogurt mixture. Top the Greek yogurt mixture with a slice of smoked salmon. Place another small dollop of Aioli mixture in the center of the smoked salmon slice. Top the small dollop with a couple of capers and small sprig of dill.
Beef Tenderloin topped with Scallops and Bourbon Browned Butter
Yield: 2
Beef Tenderloin
Scallops
2 tablespoons oil
¼ cup bourbon
4 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat Large Skillet over medium heat, Pat scallops dry and add oil to pan. Add scallops and cook until golden brown on one side about 2 minutes. Flip and cook for 30 more seconds. Remove and add to plate. Add extra oil if needed to pan. Season steak with salt and pepper then add to pan. Cook until desired temperature. Remove from pan. Set scallops on top of steak on a plate. Add butter to pan and allow to brown. Once browned turn heat off and add bourbon. Scrap bottom of pan and spoon brown butter over top of steak topped with scallops.
Bacon Potato Rose with Spiked Herb creme
Yield: 6
4 yukon gold potatoes, halved
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
12 strips center cut bacon
fresh thyme, to serve
grated parmesan cheese, to serve
SPIKED HERB CRÈME
½ cup sour cream
2 tablespoons mayo
¼ cup liquor of choice (I like to use bourbon or red wine)
2 tablespoons of dried mixed herbs or ¼ cup fresh (parsley, rosemary, basil, thyme)
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400˚F (200˚C).
Using a mandolin and a hand guard, thinly slice the potatoes into a large mixing bowl.
Add olive oil, garlic powder, thyme, rosemary, pepper, and salt to the sliced potatoes and toss with tongs until evenly coated.
On a cutting board, lay out two pieces of bacon overlapping each other vertically.
Line the bacon with the sliced potatoes, making sure each potato is overlapping.
Starting at one end, gently roll up the bacon, creating a potato rose.
Place the rolled potato roses in a greased muffin tin. Repeat with the remaining bacon strips and potatoes.
Bake for 20 minutes. Cover the roses with tin foil, and bake for an additional 30 minutes.
Top the roses with thyme and Parmesan. Bake for an addition 5-10 minutes uncovered.
Mix all Crème ingredients together and serve.
Skillet Green Beans With Bourbon And Bacon
- 2 strips bacon diced and cooked until crispy
- ▢¼ cup medium sweet yellow oniondiced
- ▢1 clove garlic minced
- ▢1/2 pound green beans cleaned and ends trimmed
- ▢½ teaspoon black pepperfreshly ground
- ▢1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- ▢1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes or to taste
- ▢¼ cup water
- ▢3 tablespoons bourbon
- ▢3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
Instructions
- Cut bacon into ½” pieces, then place in skillet and cook until crisp, but not burned. Remove from bacon grease (save grease) and set aside bacon to use as garnish.
- Add onion to bacon grease and sauté until onion is translucent. Add minced garlic, and cook just until garlic blooms (softens and releases it’s oil) approximately 15-30 seconds.
- Add green beans, pepper, salt and red pepper flakes then cook until the beans begin to show brown spots, 6-8 minutes over medium heat.
- Add water, cover and cook 2 minutes. Beans should still be bright green and crisp.
- Add bourbon and brown sugar and cook 4-5 minutes, uncovered, until beans are barely crisp. Stir often.
- Taste the beans and add salt, if needed.
- Sprinkle beans with crisped bacon and serve.
- ENJOY!
Sparkling Strawberry Trifle
Yield: 4
2 cups of cubed yellow cake
½ cup champagne
1 cup strawberry compote
1 cup vanilla pudding
½ cup caramel sauce
1 cup whipped cream
½ cup sliced fresh strawberries
In a small bowl combine strawberry compote with ¼ cup champagne. Set aside. In another small bowl combine ½ cup whipped cream with 1 cup pudding.
In a water glass or any see through bowl, place a layer of cake, saving half of the cake of the middle layer. Pour 2 tablespoons of champagne over cake, drizzle half caramel sauce over cake and layer with half strawberry compote mixture, and half pudding mixture. Place a layer of strawberries and repeat order until all mixture is used leaving second half of strawberries aside. Top with remaining whipped cream, garnish with remaining strawberries and serve.
Caramel Sauce
- 1cup granulated sugar
- 1/4cup water
- 6tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into pieces
- 1/2cup heavy cream
- 1teaspoon vanilla
- pinchof salt
Instructions
- Add the sugar and water to a 3-quart heavy bottomed saucepan; stir a little so it sits in a flat, even layer.
- Warm pot over medium heat and cook until the sugar dissolves, turns clear, and starts to bubble. (It will be cloudy at first, but will turn into a clear, bubbling liquid.) This takes about 3-4 minutes.
- (At this point, do not stir again – simply allow to bubble, swirl the saucepan occasionally and brush down the sides of the pan, as needed, to prevent crystallization.)
- Sugar will form clumps, but continue swirling and cooking until the mixture thickens and turns a deep amber color like honey (this can take anywhere from 8-12 minutes), keeping a watchful eye so the mixture doesn’t burn.
- Carefully add the butter and whisk until completely melted. (The caramel will bubble up rapidly, so be careful and continue to whisk.)
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and slowly pour in the cream, whisking continuously until all of the cream has been incorporated.
- Whisk in the vanilla and salt.
- Set aside to cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
- Then pour into a lidded glass jar and allow to cool completely. (It will thicken as it cools.)
