Girls' Night a Celebration of Friendships - New and Old

What a night! There were 12 amazing women at my house Saturday night enjoying great food, wine, music and conversation. It has been such a long time since we’ve all gotten together that I was a little nervous about what the neighbors would say when we started laughing and boy did we laugh.

Dinner gave me an opportunity to experiment with new foods and introduce my friends to foods they’ve never had. Although our soup for the night and our entrée was something I’ve been making for years, the appetizer was something that came to me in the middle of the night and I found the recipe for the dessert in a cook book called “Tongue Twisters – Sexy Food from Bin 941 & 942,” I only changed it up a little bit because I didn’t have the Kahlua it called for.

Appetizer
Pancetta cups filled with polenta and topped with mini crab cakes and sautéed baby portabella mushrooms and shallots

Soup

Crespele – a delicate crepe sprinkled with freshly ground parmesan cheese, rolled up and served in a bowl topped with chicken broth

Entrée

Homemade Manicotti with Italian Meatballs

Dessert

Toffee Espresso Pots de Crème

The first one is something that came to me at about 3:00 a.m. last week, I sat straight up in bed and thought, hey, I think this would make a great appetizer for the girls. I apologized in advance if it didn’t turn out well, but it was unnecessary because it was amazingly delicious and I will be making it again and again.

Pancetta Cups Filled With Polenta and Topped with Mini Crabcakes and Sauteed Portabella Mushrooms and Shallots

16 slices of pancetta + two ½ inch pieces finely diced

1 box quick polenta prepared according to box instructions

1 cup of freshly grated Asiago cheese, plus some for garnish

3 shallots, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, sliced very thin

salt/pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place slices of pancetta onto the back of muffin cups and bake till slightly crispy and holds the shape of the muffin cup. It is necessary to put this upside down muffin cup pan on a cookie sheet because the pancetta releases a lot of fat when baking.

Prepare polenta as per the directions on the box, adding the Asiago cheese at the end.

Heat olive oil in a large heavy bottomed skillet on medium – high heat; add shallots, garlic and diced pancetta, sautéing until shallots are translucent. Add mushrooms and sauté until mushrooms are slightly tender and pancetta is slightly crispy. Be careful not to burn the garlic or you will need to start all over again. Remove mushroom mixture to a small bowl and set aside. Put approximately 3-4 tblsps. of olive oil into the hot skillet and sauté crab cakes till lightly browned on both sides, remove from pan and set aside. Put mushroom mixture back in pan to reheat.

Gently place pancetta cup on plate, fill with a generous dollop of polenta, top with 2-3 crab cakes and a generous spoonful of mushroom mixture. Sprinkle with Asiago and enjoy.

Mini Crab Cakes

1 lb. fresh crab meat

1 egg

½ cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs

2 tblsps. Mayonaise

1 tblsp. Old Bay Seasoning

salt/pepper to taste

Olive oil

Place crab meat and all other ingredients except olive oil in a bowl large enough to get your hands into it to mix all the ingredients thoroughly. Since you will be making very tiny crab cakes, you will want to use an actual 1 tablespoon size measuring spoon to scoop out the crab mixture and shape into patties. The crab cakes should be about the size of a quarter.

Sauté crab cakes as directed above.

Toffee Espresso Pots de Crème

2 cups sugar

scant 1 ½ cups water

18 egg yolks

3 cups milk

3 cups heavy whipping cream

6 oz. Espresso Vodka

Combine sugar and water in a large heavy bottom pot. Cook on medium – high heat until caramel in color, stirring occasionally and using a wet brush to push the sugar crystals that form on the side of the pot back into the boiling mixture. This process can take up to 25 minutes, but can burn in an instant if not watched carefully.

While sugar mixture boils, bring the milk, cream and vodka to a simmer, stirring occasionally so that it doesn’t burn or develop a skin on top.

When the sugar mixture is a rich caramel color and milk mixture has come to a simmer, remove sugar mixture from heat and slowly, carefully add milk stirring constantly. This sugar is very hot and will bubble up really high; it might be safer to do it over the sink.

Place toffee into the refrigerator to cool completely. While toffee is cooling, separate eggs and whisk gently until very smooth.

Whisk egg yolks into cooled milk mixture.

Pour enough of the milk/egg mixture into clean ramekins so that it reaches the little ridge just below the top of the ramekin. Place filled ramekins into a bain de marie, cover with foil and bake approximately 50 minutes or until there is a only a soft giggly spot about the size of a dime in the center. Cool, then keep refrigerated until ready to use, can be made up to 4 days in advance if covered tightly with cling wrap. Serve with a generous dollop of home made whipped cream and a sprig of fresh mint.

This was an amazing night! I love all my friends and family and can’t wait to do this again.

hugs,

dina