Good Friends and Burnt Bread

December was my month to host Girls Night Out.  Many of you know I absolutely love to cook.  Nothing relaxes me more than an afternoon in the kitchen.  I started thinking ahead about what I might prepare.  Last year I found a recipe for a bleu cheese vinagarette dressing and it has become a holiday must have.  The recipe makes enough for multiple dinners so I serve it throughout the holidays.  I knew this dressing along with fresh greens and pears would become part of my GNO menu.  If only I could think of an entree and dessert. 

About a month ago I made chicken piccata for my family.  This is a recipe served at many country clubs.  My kiddos and the hubby loved it and I promised to make more.  A dish very similar to this is veal piccata, but I live in a rural area with limited resources at our local grocery store.  I decided on a simple substitution of pork piccata.  I studied various recipes and thought about what I did and did not like about the chicken version I tried on my family.   I used numerous recipes as well as my own taste buds to create the recipe below.  I hope you get a chance to try it.

For dessert, I decided to revert to a recipe I tried several years ago.  Our local high school band sells citrus fruit as a fundraiser during the holidays.  Several years ago I purchased a ridiculous amount of grapefruit.  This over abundance of grapefruit required me to come up with creative ways to use it.  I looked through numerous cookbooks and located Candied Grapefruit Peel (never again cause it taste like the orange slices you can buy for next to nothing at the grocery store- evidently Martha Stewart had never had the $1.00 bag) and Grapefruit Alaska.  Grapefruit Alaska is different and very beautiful to serve- I must apologize to my friends for one ingredient I like to add to the dessert, but left out.

After I'd decided on a menu I had to ponder on table decor.  I've finally realized I'm highly allergic to almost anything fresh I can cut and bring into the house.  This is the first year in several years I have absolutely nothing fresh on my mantel.  The flowers at the local grocery store looked horrible.  Thank goodness, my flower girl (she is 23 now) came over to cut fresh magnolia to put in the urn in my dining room.  I sent out an urgent Facebook message to the people of my community to help me identify something I could put on the table.  Thank goodness my dear mother-in-law came to my rescue.  She called and offered some fresh greenery and berries from her yard.  I've not gotten the sniffles as of today so I think I've found something I can handle. 

My friends arrived as I made the final preparations for our meal.  I put the bread in the oven and turned it on low.  As we exchanged presents, I got caught up in the conversation and burned the bread.  Thank goodness my friends are forgiving, even though they threatened to post my mishap  as a Facebook status update.

  Hope you enjoy the recipes.

Pork Piccata

Pork tenderloin, cut into 12 or more cutlets
Lawry's seasoning
1 cup flour
four eggs beaten
lots of bread crumbs
olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/cup lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
5 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup parsley
1 1/2 tablespoons capers
Hot cooked fettucine or mashed potatoes
Garnish- lemon slices and parsley

• Pound the pork tenderloin cutlets with a meat mallet to 1/4 inch thickness (it is okay if it isn't exactly 1/4 inch)
• Season the cutlets with Lawry's seasoning
• dredge cutlets in flour
• submerge in cutlets in beaten egg
• coat with bread crumbs
• heat about three tablespoons of oil in a skillet
• brown cutlets on both sides
• place cutlets in a 350 degree oven while you brown the second round of cutlets, then add second round to the oven while you finish preparations
• add wine and lemon juice the skillet and heat
• add butter, garlic, parsley and capers (I also added a tablespoon of flour to help thicken the mixture)
• place fettucine or potatoes on the plate
• top fettucine with three cutlets
• drizzle sauce over cutlets and fettucine
• Makes four servings

Grapefruit Alaska

Four grapefruit
1/2 cup rum
1/4 cup sugar
Vanilla ice cream
4 egg whites
1/4 cup sugar

Cut grapefruit in half and section.  Scoop out the sections and place in a bowl.  Add rum and sugar- place in the refrigerator overnight.  Save grapefruit shells for serving.  When ready to serve, pour liquid off of grapefruit.  Divide grapefruit and place in shells.  Whisk egg whites and 1/4 cup of sugar until it becomes meringue and soft peaks have formed.  Place a scoop of ice cream on top of grapefruit.  Top with meringue.  Brown under broiler.  Serve.  Yields 4 servings.

Bleu Cheese Dressing

½ pint cider vinegar
2 beef bouillon cubes
1 pint Wesson oil
2 tablespoons sugar
20 stuffed olives, sliced
2 teaspoon capers
¼ lb blue cheese, mashed
1 clove garlic, minced
½ pint tomato ketchup
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Worcestershire

Heat vinegar and bouillon cubes over medium heat until cubes are completely dissolved. Add remaining ingredients. Store in refrigerator. Must be stirred each time you serve.

Makes 1 quart or more

***Hint- save the gifts for after dinner as to not burn the bread.