Rolling Hills Casino chefs demonstrated how to make artichoke-encrusted halibut, bananas foster, wild mushroom beurre blanc, and other delicious dishes at the recent Wine, Food and Art Festival. After the demonstrations, attendees sampled the food they had just learned to make.
The food was as beautiful as it was delicious. Don’t take my word for it. Check out this two-minute YouTube video with highlights of the demonstrations and entertainment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r7lyWiB0XA&feature=youtu.be
More than 1,000 people attended the event, which raised over $10,000 for the Corning Rotary Foundation. After expenses are paid, the profits will go towards scholarships and local charities.
Here’s a few of the recipes our chefs made for you to try:
Timbers Artichoke Crusted Halibut
Ingredients:
6 ounces drained, marinated artichoke hearts
1 tbsp. lemon juice
½ tbsp. lemon zest
1 tsp. chopped peeled garlic
6 ounces extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
4-6 fillets of halibut weighing 6 to 7 ounces each
4 ounces of Japanese Panko breadcrumbs
Preparation:
In a stainless steel mixing bowl combine your artichoke hearts, lemon juice, lemon zest, and garlic, and blend together. Then add your Parmesan cheese, panko, and a nice drizzle of olive oil.
Once your crust is well blended, take spread the crust evenly and not too thick on one side of the filet.
Heat your skillet with the remaining olive oil and place the fish, crusted side down, into the pan and cook until golden brown. Flip the halibut over and place in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes
Bananas Foster
Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons rum
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 bananas, peeled and sliced lengthwise and crosswise
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1 pint vanilla ice cream
Preparation:
In a large, deep skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in sugar, rum, vanilla and cinnamon. When mixture begins to bubble, place bananas and walnuts in pan. Cook until bananas are hot, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve at once over vanilla ice cream.
Pan Seared True Cod with Wild Mushroom Beurre Blanc
The Cod
Ingredients:
2 six ounce cod fillets
Salt and pepper to taste
2 Tb. olive oil
¼ cup all purpose flour
Preparation:
Trim, rinse and portion cod fillets. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Heat olive oil in heavy frying pan. Lightly coat fish with flour and shake off excess. Place fish in pan skin side up and cook until the fish releases easily from the pan. Turn fish over and finish cooking other side.
The Wild Mushroom Beurre Blanc
Ingredients:
3 Cloves Garlic (Chopped)
1 Shallot (Chopped)
½ Onion (Chopped)
1 Thyme Sprig
½ Carrot (Chopped)
White Wine
3 Tb. Butter
3 Tb. Lemon Juice
1 Tb. Capers
1 Cup Wild Mushrooms
¼ Cup Tomatoes (Chopped)
¼ cup Fish Stock
Parsley Garnish
Preparation:
With the same pan used to cook the fish, add garlic, shallots, onion, carrots, thyme and a splash of wine. Let cook until carrots are soft. Add butter, lemon juice, capers, mushrooms, tomatoes and stock. Let cook until mushrooms are soft.
Rice Medley
Ingredients:
¼ cup Wild Rice
1 cup Stock
1 cup Assorted mixture of other hardy rice
2 cup Stock
Preparation:
Cook the wild rice and assorted other rice separately. Add rice and stock together, and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer, cover, and cook for about 50 minutes.
Once cooked, mix the two rices together.
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Ingredients:
2 cups Whole Milk
2 cups Heavy Cream
1 cup Granulated Sugar, divided in half
Pinch Salt
1 Whole Vanilla Bean, Halved and Seeds Scraped
5 Large Egg Yolks
11/2 Teaspoons pure Vanilla Extract
Preparation:
In a medium pan over medium low heat, whisk together the milk, cream, half of the sugar, salt and the vanilla bean. Bring mixture to a boil. While the milk mixture is heating, combine the yolks and remaining sugar in a medium bowl. Using a hand mixer on low speed or whisk until mixture is pale and thick. Once the milk mixture comes to a slight boil, whisk about 1/3 of the hot mixture into the yolk mixture. Add another 1/3 and return to the sauce pan. Using a wooden spoon stir the mixture constantly over low heat until it thickens and coats the back of the spoon. Do not boil or the yolks will overcook. Pour the mixture through a sieve, cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Add to ice cream maker until ice cream is achieved.
The Food and Beverage team knew a gigantic 10-foot tall gingerbread tree was going to be their biggest project yet. However, I think they underestimated how huge of an undertaking it would be! Just attaching the lights proved to be a significant task. The tree has 1,600 lights, and each took 30 seconds to attach. If I did my math right that is 8 hours of painstaking labor. Work on the gingerbread tree continues this week in the Buffet.
When I took the photos of the Gingerbread tree’s progress, I started to get hungry. Of course, I had to check out what was on the menu.
Today is another day, and my mouth is watering for the 4-ounce lobster and filet mignon dinner advertised by Timbers Steakhouse for only $28.
have any photos of that as each dinner is cooked to perfection when it is ordered, and I haven’t ordered it yet.
Salmon season is over for 2011, but the spring run is just around the corner.
After a good dinner, I like to laugh. There will be plenty of laughter at this Friday’s Comedy Night featuring Jimmy Shubert and Bruce Baum. With his large mustache and long hair, 
Come back on Saturday and get “All Fired Up” for dancing.
NEW IN AROMA’S COFFEESHOP
PIGS ARE BACK
