Saturday Pot Luck Dinner

Friday Jim took me out to dinner at our favorite casual dining spot in Warrenton called the Iron Bridge Wine Company. It is a bar, restaurant and wine store. He likes to walk around and pick a wine after we’ve chosen our meal. We had worked hard all day setting up for our pot luck dinner on Saturday night. It was a wonderful Saturday night. I’ve asked my co-cooks to send me their recipes and I will pass them on to you. Everything was delicious. We had a rainbow of delicious flavors.


We started downstairs with our appetizers and a wine tasting put on by Jim. Suzanne made a fabulous pate with duck and pork. She also made cheese sticks. Bonnie made a composed appetizer on a tooth pick of goat cheese rolled in pistachios and topped with a sundried tomato and mint leaf. Very tasty. The wine tasting was two Bordeaux and two Cabernet Sauvignons. We had a 1999 Chateau Lynch Bages (Pauillac) and a 1998 Chateau Labory de Tayac (Margaux). Comparable California Cabernets were the 1998 Chateau Montelena (northern Napa) and a 1999 Viansa (southern Sonoma).

Our meal started with Laura’s wonderful asparagus and chickpea soup. This is a recipe we all need. Our main course was boneless Australian Leg of Lamb with Pomegranate Molasses, Herbed Bean Ragout, and Mike’s Risotto pancakes. I also made some Cheesy Biscuits and Rosemary Focaccia Bread. Cynthia made two desserts. We should have taken a photo of the fruit tarts they were a rainbow of perfectly aligned fruits and flavor. They were beautiful and the cream filling was light and delicious. She also made chocolate and peanut truffles. With dinner we had two Australian Cabernet Sauvignons, a 2006 Peter Lehmann (Barossa) and a 2007 Thorn Clarke (Barossa).

Twelve people and 12 bottles of wine later, here are the recipes for the items I made. More recipes to follow as they are sent to me.

Leg of Lamb, serves 6-8, by Alton Brown, Food TV, 2006

4-5# boneless leg of lamb

½ C pomegranate molasses (I went over making this on Wednesday)

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

Our lamb came rolled in a mesh, I unrolled it and spread the molasses, salt and pepper on the inside. I then rerolled and tied it with string in 3 places. I spread the remaining molasses on the outside. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. The recipe said 1 hour to 130 degrees. We cooked it to 140 degrees for medium rare. The pomegranate Molasses really added a great flavor to the lamb. When it finished, I covered it with foil and let it set for 20 minutes. We had two roasts for 12 people and probably could have gotten away with one.

Herbed Bean Ragout from Gourmet Magazine, April 2002

6 oz. haricots verts, (thin green beans trimmed and halved crosswise)

1# bag of frozen edamame shelled

2/3 cup finely chopped onion

2 garlic cloves finely chopped

1 bay leaf

2 3” fresh rosemary sprigs

½ t salt

¼ t pepper

1T olive oil

1 medium carrot cut into 1/8” dice

1 med celery rib cut into 1/8” dice

1 15 oz. can of small white beans

1 ½ C chicken stock

2T unsalted butter

2T chopped flat leaf parsley

1T chervil finely chopped

First par boil the green beans and edamame. Stop the cooking in ice water and drain. Drain the canned beans. In a 4qt. pot cook onion, garlic, bay leaf, rosemary, salt and pepper in the olive oil until softened, about 3 minutes. Add carrots and celery and cook an additional 3 minutes. Add the white beans and stock. Cook covered for 10 minutes. Finally add the green beans and the edamame and cook until heated through. Add the butter and the parsley and chervil. My rosemary dissolved and I could not find it to discard. I did get the bay leaf out.

This dish was colorful and so good; I could have made it my entire meal.

I found the cheesy biscuits on line at AOL Food

2C all purpose flour

5t baking powder

1t baking soda

1t salt

½ C grated sharp cheddar cheese

4oz. goat cheese, coarsely broken into chunks

5T cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1C plus 2T cold buttermilk

4T melted unsalted butter

¼ C finely grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and place a 10” cast iron pan in the oven to preheat.

Wisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut the cheddar cheese and half the goat cheese and 4T butter into the flour mixture until the mixture looks like small peas. Pour in the buttermilk and stir just until the mixture is moistened. Fold in the remaining goat cheese. Remove the cast iron pan and melt 1T of butter in the pan. Drop 6 mounds of dough int the hot pan. Brush the tops of the biscuits generously with some of the melted butter. Bake 10 minutes and brush again with butter and bake 10 more minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and brush on the remaining butter and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.

I made these ahead of time but you could easily make this while dinner is cooking. Finally I decided I wanted to make Rosemary Focaccia bread. My recipe comes partially from Lidia’s Italy by Lidia Bastianich. I was going to use a recipe from Viansa winery but it started by saying to start with their bread mix.

2 Packets active dry yeast

2 ¼ C warm water

2t salt

1T extra EVOO

Heat the oven to 425degrees and place a pizza stone in the oven.

Proof your yeast in ¼ cup water. Put the flour and salt in your food processor. Add the remaining water to the proofed yeast and with the processor running pour the liquid through the food tube. This takes about 30 seconds to get perfect dough. Oil a bowl and your hands to remove the dough and place the dough in the bowl. Turn the dough to coat with the oil and cover with plastic wrap for 1 hour. Gently press and stretch the dough evenly into a 16 “diameter pizza pan. Scatter the rosemary and more EVOO over the surface. I then sprinkled with Himalayan pink salt. Let rise uncovered for 20 minutes. Just before baking, gently dimple the dough again with your fingertips. Bake for 20 minutes turn the pan and bake 15 minutes longer. Cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting.