Shrimp and Windex

Tonight's edition of Sunday Supper is going to include a few more guests. 9 total including Kz and myself, should be a great evening. Kz chose tonight's menu and also wanted to make dessert. She has decided cooking is not her cup of tea so she is going to try baking. She found a recipe in House Beautiful for a Goat Cheesecake with strawberry topping courtesy of Tyler Florence ( one of our favorites) and it looked easy enough.

Kz was following the directions, had everything mixed, stirred and looking good. She put the cheesecake in the oven and as she was looking at the counter noticed there was still an unused cup of sugar. Looking back at the recipe instructions, it called for a cup of sugar but never mentioned adding it. So we pulled the cake out of the oven (after it had baked for about half the time), scooped the filling back into a bowl and whisked in the sugar. Back into the oven it went and we think we saved it. Only time will tell.

menu:

Fantastic Caesar Salad

Baked Shrimp Scampi
Peppery Pasta
Goat Cheesecake with Strawberry Topping

With the menu in place all systems were go for a great evening!

Fantastic Caesar Salad - courtesy of Johnny Yoga
Ingredients:

romaine lettuce

croutons

Parmesan cheese

Caesar dressing

directions:

add all ingredients in a large bowl

and mix well







Baked Shrimp Scampi

Ingredients
2 pounds (12 to 15 per pound) shrimp in the shell
3 tablespoons good olive oil
2 tablespoons dry white wine
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 teaspoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
1/4 cup minced shallots
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 extra-large egg yolk
2/3 cup panko (Japanese dried bread flakes)
Lemon wedges, for serving

Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Peel, devein, and butterfly the shrimp, leaving the tails on.
Place the shrimp in a mixing bowl and toss gently with the olive oil,
wine, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper.
Allow to sit at room temperature while you make the butter and garlic mixture.

In a small bowl, mash the softened butter with the garlic,
shallots, parsley, rosemary, red pepper flakes, lemon zest, lemon juice,
egg yolk, panko, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper until combined.

Starting from the outer edge of a 14-inch oval gratin dish,
 arrange the shrimp in a single layer cut side down with the
tails curling up and towards the center of the dish. Pour the
remaining marinade over the shrimp. Spread the butter mixture
evenly over the shrimp. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until hot and bubbly.
If you like the top browned, place under a broiler for 1 minute.
Serve with lemon wedges

Peppery Pasta

Ingredients
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon freshly ground coarse pepper
Salt
1 pound angel hair pasta
1 lemon, zested
3 ounces manchego or Parmesan, finely grated

Directions
In a large straight-sided saute pan over medium heat,
add the olive oil, pepper and a pinch of salt. Heat and
toast the pepper until the oil is fragrant with the pepper scent,
3 to 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling, salted water,
cook the pasta until al dente, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain
in a colander and allow the moisture to evaporate from
the pasta for a couple of minutes.

Add the pasta to the pan with the olive oil, raise the
heat to medium-high and continuously toss the pasta with
tongs to coat with the olive oil and pepper. Remove from
the heat, add the lemon zest and cheese, toss and then
transfer to a serving bowl and serve.

Goat Cheesecake with Strawberry Topping
ingredients
crust

10 oz graham crackers
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter, melted

filling
4 oz cream cheese, room temp
4 oz goat cheese, room temp
1 pint sour cream, room temp
3 eggs, room temp
1 cup sugar
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla

topping
6 oz fresh strawberries, halved
1/4 cup sugar
juice of 2 lemons

2 oz Grand Marnier

(Kz used orange juice instead)

1/2 cup fresh basil

2 Tbs frozen crumbled goat cheese

directions

preheat oven to 325 degrees

heat 6 cups water just to boiling, set aside

crust - combine all ingredients in food processor and process until

evenly moistened. Wrap outside of 9" spring form pan tightly with foil. Press mixture into pan to 1/4 inch thickness and smooth with juice glass. Chill uncovered until ready to use.

filling- combine all ingredients in food processor and mix until smooth.

Note: this is where the instructions in the magazine forgot to mention adding the one cup of sugar and caused the mini drama.

Pour mixture into prepared pan.

Place the pan in the center of a large roasting pan. Pour hot water into roasting to 1 1/2 inch depth around pan. Put pan on center rack of oven and bake for 45 minutes. The cheesecake should be firm at the edges but still jiggle in the middle. Remove pan from oven and cool in pan for 45 minutes. Then chill uncovered until ready to serve.

topping - In large sauce pan combine all ingredients. Cook over medium heat, 5 - 7 minutes. Remove strawberries and continue to cook syrup for 3 - 5 minutes or until reduced by half. Remove pan from heat and let cool.

Spoon the strawberries and syrup liberally over the chilled cheesecake.

Served garnished with basil and frozen goat cheese.

And that's it! Now it is time to enjoy the food and conversation with our friends.

And one final note on tonight's festivities.a couple of our friends were travelling back from Wisconsin on Sunday and realized once they got back to Minnesota they did not have any beer to bring over for the night. (and of course if you live in Minnesota you know the liquor stores are closed on Sunday) So knowing how much Kz enjoys cleaning the island and how much she LOVES the Windex with vinegar, they brought a couple bottles of that along. Awesome! We have such great friends!!!!

Enjoy and see you all next week!