Poulettes a La Biere

8 servings

¼ cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
¼ cup vegetable oil
4 Rock Cornish hens, split in half
8 large shallots
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) gin
2 tablespoons flour
1 quart beer
1 teaspoon crushed dried herbs (bay leaf, rosemary, tarragon and thyme) or bouquet garni
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 cup sour cream, room temperature

Serve with rice

In large skillet or sauté pan, melt butter with oil over medium-high heat. Add hens and sauté until thoroughly browned. Remove and keep warm. Add shallots and sauté until lightly golden. Drain off all but 1 tablespoon fat. Return hens to skillet and flame with gin. Remove hens.

Dissolve flour in ½ cup beer. Slowly add to skillet, stirring until well blended. Add remaining beer and herbs and bring to simmer. Return hens and coat with sauce. Cover and simmer until meat is tender, about 45 minutes. Remove and keep warm.

Increase heat to high and cook until sauce is reduced by ½, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat, add mushrooms and let simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream. Return hens to pan and coat with sauce. Serve over rice.

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Cake

This was such a rich & fabulous cake. A little slice sure goes a long way. Though the instructions look a bit daunting, it really wasn't that hard to make...kinda fun to make actually. Next time I'd like to try toasting the pecans a little before adding to the batter.

Ingredients & Directions:

Filling:
8 1/2 (1-ounce) semi-sweet chocolate squares
1/2 cup butter
3 eggs, separated
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup Bourbon
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped

Ganache:
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Grease and flour a 9-inch springform pan. Melt the chocolate and butter in a small bowl over a double boiler. Remove from heat, and set pot aside leaving the bowl on top of pot.

Whisk egg yolks and half of the sugar in a metal mixing bowl. Place bowl over slightly simmering water, and whisk until yolks reach 140 degrees. Remove bowl from heat and beat egg and sugar mixture with an electric mixer to a ribbon stage. Add the Bourbon to the chocolate mixture, then fold the yolk and sugar mixture into the chocolate mixture. Mix flour with pecans and fold into chocolate mixture.

Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites and half of the remaining sugar to form soft peaks, then fold into chocolate mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Allow cake to cool in pan and then place in the freezer for at least 2 hours. Once it's frozen, remove sides of spring pan. Invert cake onto a wire rack and remove bottom of spring form pan.

Prepare ganache by bringing heavy cream to a boil and pouring cream over chocolate chips in a bowl. Whisk until completely smooth. Set wire rack with cake on top of sheet pan. Pour warm lukewarm ganache over cake, coating cake completely, recoating if necessary. Gently jiggle wire rack to help drain excess ganache. Remove cake from wire rack with spatula and place on a serving plate.

Yield: 10 to 12 servings

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

Sweet Potato Stuffing

Ingredients:

1 pound ground pork sausage
1 large chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
3 cups sweetpotatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup orange juice
2 beaten eggs
2 (7 oz.) packages of cornbread or breadcrumb stuffing mix

Preparation:

Brown sausage, drain off fat. Sauté onion, celery, green pepper and sweetpotato cubes in butter until tender. Combine sausage, vegetables, orange peel and parsley. Add broth, orange juice and eggs; stir. Combine with stuffing mix. Makes enough to stuff a 16 to 20 pound turkey. As a side dish, place in greased casserole. Bake in 350 degree F. oven for 1 hour.

Notes:

Yield: 12 servings

Recipe courtesy http://www.ncsweetpotatoes.com