Friday, December 19, 2008

Friday Night Dinner In and Pear Cranberry Crisp

I had some great new friends over for dinner tonight. It has definitely become my love language to cook for people (acts of service if you follow the Gary Chapman guideline). I just love sharing my love for food with others.
So...here's the menu:
Pear/Cherry/Gorgonzola/Spinach Salad with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette (1 pear, spinach, 1/2 cup dried cherries, 1/4 cup gorgonzola cheese) - Vinaigrette was out of the Butterfly Garden Cafe cookbook (honey, dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, and olive oil)
Flat Iron Steak with Marsala Reduction and Sauteed Onions (3.5 lbs of flat iron - s/p/garlic/thyme). 1 1/2 cup each of beef broth and marsala wine - reduced 3/4 to a glaze. 2 onion sauteed in olive oil and 3 T butter). Chris actually finished off the steak and it was so yummy - thanks to his cooking it to perfection (medium or medium rare). It was so tender. The reduction was so good and how can you go wrong with the onions!
Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Bacon and Lemon - 2 lbs brussel sprouts, cleaned and halved. 425 with olive oil, s/p and lemon zest for 18 minutes, stir, 12 minutes, crumble bacon and add some lemon juice.
Creamy Parmesan Orzo. This was good but the only thing that wasn't to my definite liking just because it had sat too long by the time we ate it. Find this recipe on http://www.myrecipes.com/.
Pear Cranberry Crisp - (Fosters, yes the cookbook I use for everything!) - what I liked about this. It was a warm way to end the meal and it cooked while we were eating our dinner.

6 pears - peeled, cored, sliced thin
1 cup fresh cranberries
1/2 cup apple juice
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 T vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch salt
1 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp all-spice
Mix all together and pour into deep dish pie pan or 9 in pan.

1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
4 T unsalted cold butter
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1 t vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
Crumble together and put on top.
Bake at 375 for 40 minutes or until fruit is bubbly. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream!
YUMMY. The sauce mixes with the melted ice cream - oh I love warm desserts in the winter!
It was fun getting to cook for a change (instead of just bake). Glad my guests enjoyed it. And glad I have some leftovers (I sent the dessert to the drum session down the road).

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