I wanted to really bless a close friend and she was heading up a luncheon….so I offered to create magic if at all possible. I chose a Southwestern – New England Fusion menu and I will be blogging it over the next week or so.

This is Kyrie creating magic. My daughter Erin took the picture. One of my favorites…

Anyway….

The menu looks like this :

• Maple Caramelized Pear and Pecan Salad with Sharp Cheddar Wedges and  Cranberry Vinaigrette
• Chicken Breast with Maple Chipotle Glaze (only I am not breading the chicken this time)
• Chili Lime Corn
• Dinner Rolls
• Apple Cake with Dulce de Leche Drizzle and Granny Smith slices as garnish

Basically I tried to pull together the spicy southwest with the sweet harvest flavors of the East Coast.  So, I will get Saturday Surfing up as soon as I can.. in the meanwhile – Bake something!

image:   Erin Audet Myers

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But, now that it is over…meh…we’ll see.

Anyway.  I thought you would like to know that the menu and recipes for the inaugural luncheon menu have been released and you can recreate the luncheon in all of it’s glory at home.   For some serious change.  Because these ingredients aren’t cheap.

No, my Dem friends, it is not Hiney of Roast Bush.  It is a rather interesting menu that honors President Abraham Lincoln, a move that I thought was inspired, daring, and very, very cool.

Here is the menu:

Seafood Stew (a favorite of Lincoln’s)

Duck Breast with Oregon Cherry Chutney

Herb Roasted Pheasant with Wild Rice Stuffing

Molasses Whipped Sweet Potatoes

Winter Vegetables

Cinnamon Apple Sponge Cake

If you would like to recreate the menu the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies provides the recipes, and I found them published on Newsday.

image:SXC

Post from: Baking Delights

So…I get up this morning all ready to handle a billion things;catch up on some articles, write some recipes, blog….

We knew that the Trinity River Authority was coming htorugh our property today to check the pipelines.  We are among the blessed few to have huge sewer pipes running through the back of our property…

So I am in the midst of publishing this article on Colloidal Silver when all of a sudden everything goes down.

Please understand that we do not live in one of your high tech areas.  Our DSL line, or whatever kind it is, runs across the side yard  and attaches to the side of the house at about 15 feet.  So when the guy came through with his backhoe he pegged the line, and life as we know it stopped completely.

Dear God, no Internet!

What would you have done? I browsed some old Bon Appetit magazines, decided to practice genoise again..and cleaned the kitchen.  The family got the first decent meal they had had in awhile:

Coffee Barbecued Chicken Breast

Walnut and Baby Lettuce Salad with Ume Plum Vinegar and Toasted Sesame Oil Dressing

Marinated Pasta Salad with Black Olives

Walnut and Coffee Genoise with Coffee Ganache and Whipped Cream

I should have taken the time to make a baguette but I didn’t.

I will be posting recipes from that menu this week, as well as others…    It was so awesome..You know, I have been so busy I forgot how much I like to cook.  That is so sad.   The down time today did put me behind schedule but I think it was…a…very good thing.

I will post the recipe for the genoise tomorrow..It was amazing! I made a few changes to the recipe but I think I am getting the hang of the genoise technique. YAY!

The Bon Appetit recipe called for walnut genoise and coffee infused whipped cream.  I added ground espresso to the walnuts in the genoise, added a ganache infused with espresso…and left the whipped cream as is.

I like it…alot.  The cake was tender and moist, and seemed to do better than the last two  I have done.  So, all in all I was pleased.

It was the whipped cream I had trouble with. 112 degrees in my kitchen and een whipping iwth chilled beaters wasn’t getting the texture I wanted.

Out of 23 chickens only 5 actually decided to brave the heat and lay eggs today…

Oh..and the rest of the story…Time Warner said they could not get out here until tomorrow..but the guy who had brought the lines down in the first place felt so bad that he got on the phone with them and between he and Marc they explained how much we needed the Internet.  Time Warner was out here with in hours and by dinner time it was back up..It will only take me until 3 or 4 a.m. to catch up…Whee!

Images, Marye Audet2008 

Post from: Baking Delights