Lunch at the Scottish Rite

As you may recall, my husband is quite involved with various Masonic bodies. As he currently is an officer in the local Scottish Rite Valley, that means that I also am kept busy with the Ladies' Luncheons. Despite my cold, I had to head out on the road this morning to attend a luncheon at the Scottish Rite Cathedral in Indianapolis. And I even saved you a seat...

I had heard good things about today's menu. Thomas Caterers of Distinction always does a very nice job, though.

Our salads have arrived. The menu card tells us that this is a Salad of Seasonal Greens with Apples, Black Walnuts and Goat Cheese tossed with a Dried Cherry Vinaigrette.

The entree consists of Pecan and Honey Mustard-crusted Pork Tenderloin with a Cinnamon Port Wine Demi (sauce), Vermont White Cheddar Mashed Potatoes, Sugar Snap Peas, and Rolls with Butter.

I have got to find or figure out the recipe for the pork loin and sauce. This was all kinds of good.

Ooh, dessert. Here we have Bananas Foster with Graham Cracker Crumb Base.



I found the Graham Cracker crumb base. I'd say a fair amount of brown sugar was mixed in with the Graham Crackers.

And now, on to the entertainment.





A gentleman from a local florist came to demonstrate how to arrange these beautiful roses.

I learned that the wimpy little angles I was cutting into my flower stems aren't nearly enough. Got it: go big.

We learned that linear arranging is the hot new thing, and that as the roses age, we can extend the life of the blooms by cutting the stems down and rearranging the flowers.

Afterwards, each lady was invited to come up and pick out a flower to take home. We decided that we would start with the oldest and move down to the youngest (me). After the other ladies had chosen their flowers, I went up to pick out one and the nice lady who works for the Cathedral handed me a bunch of flowers to take home. Well, I would hate for them to go to waste, so...

I put my new knowledge to work and created a nice arrangement with these beautiful blooms.

And now I think I'll rest, if you don't mind. Two hours at the luncheon and three hours on the road in heavy traffic is rather tiring, after all.

Another Snowy Day

The weather forecasters really missed this one. We were supposed to get 1 to 2 inches of snow by the end of the day. Instead, we got 3 inches in about 2 hours. Oh, did I mention that it was during morning rush hour? My husband's normal 20 minute commute to work took 45 minutes, while my daughter's 20 minute commute to campus took a full hour. At least they arrived at their destinations safely, and for that I am thankful. White-out conditions caused some nasty accidents in the state, including a multi-vehicle accident with fatalities within sight of my son's house. And you still wonder why I don't like winter?

At least I have the luxury of being able to stay home most days. Ah, the joys of retirement.

And the snow from last week had just started to melt. At least I had been able to get out to fill the bird feeders the day before.

This seems to be a 'sticky' snow.

All right, I'm stuck inside once again, so obviously I need to cook something. Since my daughter and I were eating alone, I asked her for ideas for dinner. After some thought, she requested steak with Jack Daniels sauce and mashed potatoes.

Of course, her favorite mashed potatoes come from the store. She absolutely adores Yoder's mashed potatoes. The daughter doesn't like lumpy mashed potatoes, while I like to have lumps in my mashed potatoes. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that while growing up we often had instant mashed potatoes made from dehydrated potato flakes from a box?

I made an executive decision that in order to make a proper meal we would need some green vegetables. Ah ha! We have some leftover broccoli, carrots and celery from our Super Spread. I think a quick saute is in order.

But first, I have to make the Jack Daniels Sauce. Yes, I know that that is not Jack Daniels whisky. It's what I have on hand. My red wine vinegar was skanky, so I had to substitute white wine and cider vinegars. But hey, I was snowed in. I also subbed real garlic for the garlic powder. That should even things out, right?

My daughter asked me to make a triple batch so that there would be sauce for later.

That's it! No more tears! I'm getting out the chopper to finish off these nasty onions.







All of the ingredients go into the pot. Notice that the level of the liquid is just under 1 liter.

Now, the recipe directs you to bring the liquid to a boil and then simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Since I was making a larger batch, the actual time was more like 45 to 60 minutes. But that's okay. I wasn't going anywhere.

The sauce has reduced to a nice syrup.

I ended up with just 2 cups of the sweet/spicy sauce. My daughter is one happy girl.

I pulled out some veggies for yet the side dish. Here I have carrots, broccoli florets, green onions, celery, crushed red pepper flakes, canola oil and soy sauce. I think I can make this work.

The veggies cook quickly over high heat. A pinch of red pepper flakes nicely seasons the veggies. A splash of soy sauce is added at the very end.

I like my veggies to be crispy, so I made sure to pull them out before they lost their 'bite'.

And now it's time to cook the steak. I have a boneless rib eye steak that I seasoned with kosher salt, freshly cracked black pepper and olive oil. Both sides seared before the cast iron pan was pulled off the heat and a double layer of aluminum foil was placed over the pan. After several minutes, the steak was removed to a plate and allowed to rest with the foil over the top.

This was a nice meal for a snowy winter evening. I also had some tabbouleh left over from the day before.

The veggies were cooked just the way I like them. Tender-crisp, with a hint of heat from the red pepper flakes and the umami from the soy sauce.

The steak was cooked to medium-rare. The Jack Daniel's Sauce added just the right piquancy to the meat. The potatoes satisfied my daughter's craving for the creamy goodness of real mashed potatoes.

My poor husband doesn't know what he missed.

Gathering Around the Table

Once again I searched for recipes for a particular cut of meat, only to end up making up my own recipe. I guess that is par for the course with me.

I had a rough plan for a turkey tenderloin that had been waiting in the freezer. I had prosciutto on hand for another dish, so I pulled that into play. I also had homemade pesto in the freezer, so I think I have the beginnings of a plan. Salt and pepper round out the ingredients for my on-the-fly recipe. Please ignore the white wine and homemade turkey stock as I opted to not use those things in this recipe.

The first step was to carefully cut the turkey tenderloin almost all the way through so that the meat could be opened like a book. This is called butterflying the meat.

The next step was to cover the meat with plastic wrap and then pound it into a uniform thickness.

A thin layer of pesto coated the tenderloin.

Then the buttery slices of prosciutto covered that.

My daughter was nice enough to pick up the camera so you could see the rolling process. I used the plastic wrap to help roll the meat.

I worked away from me in order to get a tight roll.

A bit of salt and pepper were sprinkled on the outside of the roll. The roulade was sealed in the plastic and put in the refrigerator for a few hours. This will help the roll keep its shape when cooked.

The roulade went into a hot pan and was allowed to sear. After the sides were nicely browned, the pan was placed into the oven so that the meat could finish cooking. A meat thermometer confirmed that the internal temperature had reached 155 degrees.

After resting, the roulade was sliced.

Marinara sauce added a nice component to the pesto and prosciutto. I think I have a winner here.

Roasted green beans with shallots and bacon and homemade mashed potatoes round out the dinner. See, I really do make homemade mashed potatoes; it's just that my daughter likes store-bought mashed potatoes better. Guess I need to get a potato ricer so that my mashed potatoes won't be lumpy.

Now, if you recall, I had the prosciutto on hand for something else. This was that something else...

Cantaloupe and prosciutto. The sweet melon combined with the buttery, salty prosciutto was just sublime. What a nice way to round out this Italian-inspired dinner.

Pot Roast Redux

I had planned on having leftovers when I made pot roast the other day. I wanted to make a Darke County, Ohio favorite with those leftovers.

I first pulled the congealed fat off the top of the pot roast. We won't be needing that fat, so off into the trash it goes.

Then I pulled the meat apart and made sure that any other fat or gristle was removed. I set aside the meat and much of the jellied sauce for tonight's dinner. The remaining potatoes, carrots and beef will make a nice lunch this weekend for my husband.

And now it's time to cook. I cooked some noodles in a bit of boiling water before adding the beef and sauce.

A sprinkling of fresh Italian parsley added the finishing touch.

I must admit that I Semi-Ho'd the rest of the meal. I bought a package of pre-made mashed potatoes and dolled that up with butter, Half-and-Half, salt and black pepper. Please don't think any less of me.

Now, I know you are saying "what makes this a Darke County dish?" Peculiar to this area is the practice of placing the mashed potatoes on the plate and then dumping the noodles on top of the mashed potatoes. You wouldn't believe the odd looks you get from strangers when you plate your meal this in this manner.

Hmph. I am calling out my husband and daughter, both of whom were born in Darke County, because they did not plate their food 'correctly'.

I also understand that this meal is also plated this way in other parts of the country, but it still seems to be a rather rare thing.

Ah, this is comfort food.






As a special treat, I bought strawberries and cut them before adding 1/2 cup sugar to the berries. The bowl went back into the refrigerator so that the strawberries could macerate.

Meanwhile, I made another Honey and Vanilla Pound Cake to go with the strawberries and vanilla ice cream.

I'm a happy blogger tonight. This might even be enough to help me forget that it got down to -11 degrees last night.

Dinner, Interrupted

Now, how did that happen? This dinner was originally meant to be cooked over the course of one day, but only after I had started the long process of cooking the meat did I find out that my husband would not be home for dinner that night. Hmm, on to plan B, then. So I seasoned the pork roast with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper. I sauteed the pork roast in olive oil before placing the pork roast with onion, garlic and vegetable stock in the slow-cooker. As the game has now changed, I turned the heat down to low and let it cook away happily all day.

I started this pork roast before I learned that my husband wouldn't be home for dinner.

Later that evening, I pulled the thoroughly cooked pork roast out and prepared to shred it.

I chose to use two serving forks to shred the pork this time. Tedious, but the pork is now ready to become shredded pork barbecue.

Now, you weren't going to throw the vegetable stock out, were you? I pulled the onion and garlic out and set that aside for later. I put the pan on the stove top and began simmering the liquid while I prepared the remaining ingredients for the barbecue sauce.

As I was winging it, I really wasn't sure what ingredients I would use. Let's see: I started out with molasses, Worcestershire Sauce, catsup, soy sauce, bottled barbecue sauce, liquid smoke, hot sauce, apple cider vinegar, whole grain mustard and brown sugar.

At this point, I played 'mad scientist' and added the ingredients to the simmering stock and tasted until I was happy with the results.

Remember the onion and garlic? I couldn't let them go to waste, but first they needed to be chopped.

And now the finely chopped cooked onion and garlic can go back into the sauce.

Now you know it's coming... Can't you just see all the flavors? Well, I did warn you.

And the sauce meets the pork.

Sadly, this will now be covered and set aside until tomorrow.

Oh, look. It's tomorrow already. About an hour before I anticipate dinner being served, I put the pork barbecue in a 350 degree oven.

I decided to make mashed potatoes for dinner. And as you can see from the above picture, I also decided to make sweet mashed potatoes.

Either boil or microwave the cut potatoes in salted water until tender.

And now we mash. Add the butter, milk and more salt and some black pepper. Mash until you have the desired texture.

I'd say this is ready. Since it's not quite dinner time yet, I put the lid on this dish and put it in the oven with the barbecue pork. At this point I turned the heat down to warm.

Now, on to the regular mashed potatoes. I used Yukon Gold potatoes.

First I mashed and then I got the hand mixer out. A food mill can also be used, but never use a food processor or you will end up with a gummy mess.

Now, I had just gotten to this point in my nice family dinner preparations when my dear daughter rushed out of the house yelling that she wouldn't be home for dinner tonight. Hmph, I think I will run out on dinner the next time.

I learned this recipe from my dear friend, Rosie Hawthorne. Thanks, Rosie!

As this dish comes together very quickly, I left it for last.

First I saute the chopped onion in a bit of olive oil.

Add the frozen green peas and cook until just warmed through.

Finally I add the sliced Napa cabbage and again just cook until warmed. Remove from the heat and serve immediately.

Well, what do you know? I guess sometimes a good meal can come out of last minute changes. In case you were wondering, I like to mix my sweet mashed potatoes in with my mashed potatoes.