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

Chocolate Caramel 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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Add water, cover and cook 2 minutes. Beans should still be bright green and crisp.
5. Add bourbon and brown sugar and cook 4-5 minutes, uncovered, until beans are barely crisp. Stir often.
6. Taste the beans and add salt, if needed.
7. Sprinkle beans with crisped bacon and serve.
8. ENJOY!

Nick’s Supernatural Brownies

1/2 pound/2 sticks/227 grams unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces

1/2 pound/227 grams dark chocolate (60% is perfect), cut into 1/4-inch pieces

1 cup/200 grams firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 cup/200 grams granulated sugar

1 cup/135 grams unbleached all-purpose flour (spoon flour into dry-measure cup and level off)

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups/about 200 grams pecan or walnut pieces, divided (optional)

9×13 pan

1. Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium saucepan melt the butter over medium heat. Let the butter start to sizzle and get very hot. Off heat add the chocolate. Shake the pan to submerge the chocolate and wait a minute. Whisk smooth.
3. Place the brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix with the paddle on medium speed until the mixture is very fine and powdery, 2 or 3 minutes.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate between additions, followed by the vanilla.
5. Remove the bowl from the mixer and thoroughly fold in the butter and chocolate mixture. Fold in three quarters of the nuts, if using.
6. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle with the remaining nuts, if using.
7. Bake the brownies until they are slightly firm and no longer liquid in the center of the pan, about 40 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack, then wrap in plastic and wait until the next day to cut them—they are still too soft immediately after cooling. To rush the process, chill the cooled and wrapped brownies for a couple of hours before cutting the brownies into 2-inch squares.

Chocolate Caramel Trifle

Ingredients

2 boxes 3.4 oz each instant chocolate pudding mix

3 cups cold milk

2 cups cream whipped

Cooked and cooled brownies: two 8×8 pans or one 13×9 batch

Caramel sauce

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the pudding mix and milk for 2 minutes.

Fold in the whipped cream.  Place mixture in refrigerator while preparing the other ingredients.

Cut the brownies into 1-inch cubes.

In a 3-quart bowl, layer 1/3 of the brownies, 1/3 of the pudding and 1/3 of the caramel. Repeat layers two more times. Garnish with reserved whipped topping, if desired.

Cover with plastic wrap and chill until ready to serve.

Bourbon Caramel Sauce

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup bourbon

1/3 cup heavy cream

1, 3 finger pinch salt

2 tablespoon butter

To a saucepan over medium high heat add water then sugar. bring up to a boil, don’t stir. allow to caramelize, this process will happen fast once sugar starts to turn gold. Once sugar has turned brown, add heavy cream and bourbon. stir while pouring in liquid but be careful, mixture might bubble. add vanilla and salt. stir until smooth. remove from heat and stir in butter.