12.28.07

A Wedding Menu

Posted in Cooking Articles at 4:24 pm by henri

Some of your wedding guests may be traveling great distances to get to your wedding. Some may even be flying to get to your wedding. Should you serve them the same type of meal that they got on the plane or should you serve them something better? I have included a menu below which is presented as an alternative to the usual wedding menu of baked chicken or broiled fish, vegetable, and roll.

This menu was served at a great price. Our caterer is exceptional. He has experience in some of the best restaurants in Washington, DC. Because of this, he likes to prepare more complicated meals than the usual wedding menu. He worked with my future wife to prepare this menu. I am hoping that you will find some great ideas from it. For example, we are having cupcakes presented on a tiered fashion that looks like a wedding cake instead of the wedding cake. Why? Our wedding is outdoors. We have many children in attendance. Finally, we wanted to end the meal in a less formal manner.

Enjoy the menu.

Hot and Cold Hors d Oeuvres

Croque Monsieur Black forest Ham and Gruyere Cheese Baked finger Sandwiches

Smoked Salmon in Pastry cup with Cream cheese and capers

Cilantro Shrimp on Skewers

Crab meat spoons-drizzled with marry rose and mango, pear, peach, honey and sake salsa served in Chinese spoons

Creamed Roquefort and toasted walnuts on crostini

Petite Quiche Prosciutto and Florentine

BUFFET DISPLAY

SALADS

Harvest Salad

Poached Pears atop red baby mixed green, Belgium endive drizzled with honey mustard vinaigrette and sprinkled with walnuts and dried cranberries

Salad Louisette Wedges of Iceberg Lettuce and Radicchio topped with Gorgonzola Cheese Crumbles, crispy Bacon and Julienne of Red Peppers in French dressing

Dalmatino Caesar Salad Topped with freshly grated Parmesan and Garlic Croutons with home made dressing

COOKING CORNER

Display of Scottish smoked Salmon Served with the traditional Condiments

Grilled Chicken Marinated with Garlic, Olive Oil and fresh Thyme served with a Madeira Mushroom Sauce

Marinated Grilled Flank Steak Creamy horseradish sauce and Dijon Mustard

Roasted Leg of Lamb With Rosemary Au Jus

Pasta Station

Penne Pasta With your choice of toppings Meatless marinara, Bolognese or Basil Pesto made to order

VEGETABLES AND SIDES

Saffron flavored Rice Pilaf

Marinated Medley of Grilled Vegetables

Crisp Asparagus, Fresh baby Carrots, Yellow and green Squash, Italian Eggplant, Grilled baby Artichokes, Portabella Mushrooms and Roasted Red Bliss Potatoes topped with a Roasted Pepper Confetti

String Beans Almandine French Green beans sautéed with Shaved Almonds

Assorted Breads, Rolls and Butter

CAKE: Cup Cakes (chocolate cup cakes made with dark chocolate white icing and slightly yellowish tinting each decorated separately)

Assortment of Home made Brownies, Lemon Squares and Chocolate chip cookies

Will be presented on separate table in a shape of wedding cake with floral decoration.

BAR SET UP

Beer

Non-Alcoholic Lemonade and Iced Tea

Cabernet Sauvignon

Chardonnay

Champagne for toast

Copyright 2006 Andrew Horan

The menu prepared for the wedding of Andrew Horan (http://www.myhoranwedding.com ) prepared by Vinko Marinkovic (http://www.dalmatinocatering.com )

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Truffles – A Rare Delicacy Lorrain Bodger, twentieth century American writer called truffles as the royalty of homemade candy.

Posted in Cooking Articles at 4:24 pm by henri

Truffles are a delicate and rare type of edible mushroom, which are mostly grown in Croatia, France, Italy and Slovenia. They are also collected in Washington and Oregon states in US. Forming a symbiotic relationship with the environment, truffles grow underground among the roots of chestnut, elm, oak, pine and willows trees. The high price for truffles is due to the inability for humankind to grow them commercially or cost-effectively.

When in season, whole black winter truffles made from fresh black Italian truffles are chef’s favorites. It gives an excellent aroma to dishes made of poultry, meat and in pasta. The season for fresh winter truffles runs from Thanksgiving to March. Because of its limited availability, this perishable item costs around USD 125 per Oz.

A buttery and creamy sauce can be made by fusing Italian truffles with the finest cheese from the Parmesan region. Cannelini Beans with White Summer Truffles is another delicacy made with five percent of white Italian truffle juice, white beans and water.

A more cost efficient way to give the dishes that special flavor that only truffle can offer is to use truffle juice by combining it with main courses and appetizers. By adding truffle juice the dishes become brilliant in seconds.

Fresh truffles are a highly seasonal and rare product, expensive and hard to acquire. Fortunately, the intensity and pungency of the earthy truffle paste makes a great match to any number of bases such as butters, pastes and creams, which enables the chefs to add to their cuisine the distinct taste of truffles at a more economical cost price. Truffle paste on a peanut oil base makes a good start to creams and sauces. Find more info at www.trufflecity.info

Perigord black truffles of France are considered as the greatest truffles of the world. Rich butter made from French white truffle can fuse the intense and complex flavors of the French truffles perfectly. This butter can be added to any variety of dishes to transform it from an average food to an extraordinary one. Being very intense, only little of this butter is needed to add to other dishes. It can replace the use of regular butter too. To get best results, truffle butter should be added at the end of the cooking process.

Chocolate truffles comprise of a gooey sweet centre, coated in cocoa powder or chocolate, usually in a curved or spherical shape. They can have extremely varied fillings and may contain melted chocolate, cream, nuts, caramel, berries, almonds or other assorted sweet fruits, fudge, nougat or mint, toffee, mint, marshmallow, or chocolate chips. Even though they do not actually contain any truffle, they are so named because of their appearance.

Lucy Bartlett is a proud contributing author. Find more articles at http://financeandlegalportal.info/ For more info visit http://trufflecity.info/ or http://trufflecity.info/perigord-truffles.html

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