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Retro recipes to delight guests
Here are a few fun recipes for blue cheese straws, pimento cheese, pigs in a blanket, a French Champagne cocktail and a Negroni cocktail that we didn’t have room for in the LIFE section in an article that was written by Aleta Watson from McClatchy Newspapers. Figured we could share them here on our blog instead … enjoy! And if you have any retro recipes of your own, feel free to share ‘em.
NEGRONI: Serves 1. Ingredients: Ice, 2 ounces gin, 1 ounce Campari, 1 ounce Italian (sweet) vermouth, Orange slice. Directions: Fill shaker with ice. Add gin, Campari and vermouth. Shake, then strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with orange slice. From “Straight Up or On the Rocks,” by William Grimes (North Point Press, 2001, 186 pp., $20)
FRENCH 75 CHAMPAGNE COCKTAIL: Serves 4. Ingredients:Champagne, Ice cubes, 1 cup gin, 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, 2 1/2 tablespoons superfine sugar, 4 lemon peel strips, each about 1/4 inch wide and 3-4 inches long. Directions: Chill the Champagne and 4 Champagne flutes or stemmed glasses. Fill a tall cocktail shaker half full with ice. Add the gin, lemon juice, and sugar. Cover with the lid and shake vigorously for 10 seconds. Strain into the chilled glasses. Top with a splash of Champagne. Float a lemon strip on top of each drink and serve at once. From “Williams-Sonoma Holiday Entertaining,” edited by Chuck Williams (Oxmoor House, 2007, 288 pp, $34.95)
BLUE CHEESE STRAWS: Makes about 10 dozen. Ingredients: 1/2 pound extra-sharp white cheddar, 1/2 pound well-aged blue cheese, 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, or more, to taste, 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, teaspoon salt, 2 cups unbleached flour. Directions: Finely grate cheddar with a rotary cheese grater, a box grater or the shredding disk of a food processor. Crumble blue cheese into bowl of food processor fitted with the steel blade or into the bowl of mixer. Add cheddar and butter and cream them together until fluffy and smooth. Add cayenne, black pepper, salt and flour and work it into a uniform dough. Gather it into a ball, wrap well in plastic wrap or wax paper, and chill for at least half an hour to 1 hour. Don’t let it get hard, and, if you are making it ahead to bake later, allow enough time for it to soften at room temperature until it is pliable but still cool. Position a rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees. Put dough in a cookie press fitted with the star die (or a pastry bag fitted with a star tip) and press it out onto an ungreased cookie sheet into 2 1/2-inch straws, leaving about 1/2 inch of space between them. You may also roll dough out to a 1/4-inch thickness and cut it into 1/2-inch by 2 1/2-inch strips. Bake about 18 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned on the bottom and pale gold on top. Cool on pan before transferring them to an airtight storage container. From “Damon Lee Fowler’s New Southern Baking,” by Damon Lee Fowler (Simon & Schuster, 2005, 360 pp, $26)
PIMENTO CHEESE: Makes 2 cups, 14 cocktail servings. Ingredients: 1 red bell pepper, 1/2 pound (about 3 cups) finely grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese, 2 ounces (about 1/4 cup) softened cream cheese, cut into pieces, 3 tablespoons mayonnaise, 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Directions: Preheat broiler. Place pepper on its side in a dry, ovenproof skillet and slide it under the broiler until the skin blackens on the side facing up, about 3 minutes. With tongs, turn the pepper so that an unblackened side faces up, and repeat until the skin is blackened on all sides. Place pepper in a small bowl, cover it, and let steam for 5 minutes. Uncover bowl. When blackened pepper is cool enough to handle, transfer to cutting board, reserving any liquid in the bowl. Remove blackened skin with your fingers and discard. Using a paring knife, cut open pepper, remove and discard stem and seeds. Chop pepper into 1/4-inch dice. You should have a scant 1/2 cup. Place grated cheddar in medium bowl and add cream cheese pieces, mayonnaise, diced red pepper and its liquid, and red pepper flakes, distributing them evenly over the cheese. With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, blend ingredients together until the spread is thoroughly mixed, about 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Transfer pimento cheese to a plastic container or bowl, cover tightly, and refrigerate. Pimento cheese keeps in the refrigerator for 1 week. From “The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook,” by Matt Lee and Ted Lee, (W.W. Norton, 2006, 590 pp., $35)
PIGS IN A BLANKET: Makes 36. Ingredients: 1/2 pound butter (2 sticks), 1/2 pound cream cheese, 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons heavy cream, divided use, 2 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, About 36 small sausages, 1 egg. Directions: Make the pastry: In electric mixer, cream butter and cream cheese together thoroughly. Add 1/4 cup cream and whip for 3 minutes. Gradually add flour and salt and work into a firm ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hour. Roll out pastry on a well-floured surface and cut into strips just large enough to wrap sausages around the middle and leave a bit of each end exposed. (For the Aidells sausage, I cut strips about 1 1/4 inches wide and 3 inches long.) Roll each sausage in a strip and pinch ends together firmly. Place sausages on baking sheets, seam side down and slightly separated to allow dough room to puff up. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk egg and remaining 3 tablespoons cream together in a small bowl. Brush each sausage roll with the egg mixture and bake until pastry is golden brown and crisp, about 25 minutes. Sausage rolls may be prepared up to 1 day ahead, placed on baking sheets, covered in plastic wrap and refrigerated. Bake them straight out of the fridge. They’ll need a little more time in the oven to brown adequately. Adapted from “Menus for Entertaining,” by James Beard (Lyons Press, 2004, 401 pp, $19.95)
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Recipes
Comments
By dboss
March 7, 2008 10:59 AM | Link to this
Pimento cheese recipe sounds good. May be a typo though. My packages of cheddar cheese say 2 cups to 1/2 pound. Recipe calls for 3 cups. Thanks.