Platinum Celebrations
Unforgettable Fall Party: Secrets of a Star New York Chef
By Mindy Kobrin
Chef Olivier shares culinary secrets with Mindy Kobrin
Fabulous Fall Cheese Tray Display
CHEF OLIVIER’S TARTE FLAMBEE FLAMMENKUCHE
For the dough:
2 lbs 2 oz all-purpose flour
½ quart of milk
1 tsp salt
1 tsp grapeseed or canola oil
For the cream:
6 oz double smoked bacon, thinly sliced into matchsticks
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 lb 2 oz fromage blanc
8 oz crème fraîche
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
Freshly ground nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 450° F. If you have a pizza stone, place this on the bottom of the oven, otherwise, a flat sheet tray or baking pan can be substituted. It should be very hot when you put the flambee on it. For the dough – combine the flour, milk, salt, and oil together in a food processor. Pulse until combined into a loose dough. Using a pasta machine, roll out the dough into a long, very thin sheet (setting #1 on most machines). You will need to do this in several batches. With a pizza cutter, cut the dough into ovals approximately 10” long. Layer them between pieces of parchment and refrigerate.
For the cream – combine the fromage blanc, crème fraîche, flour, egg, nutmeg, salt and pepper together and mix until smooth and creamy.
Assemble:
Place the dough on a lightly floured pizza wheel. Spread the cream in a thin layer over the dough, making sure it is evenly distributed. Leave a ¼” border around the edge of the dough. Sprinkle the onions and bacon evenly over the cream. Slide the flambee onto the pizza stone and bake until crispy on the bottom and lightly browned on top. Slice and stamp your passport in Alsace!
CRISPY SALSIFY ROLLS WITH PROSCIUTTO AND PARMESAN
Adapted from Cooking with Daniel Boulud, Random House 1993
5 to 6 salsify roots or asparagus (about ½ pound), ends cut off and roots peeled
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and freshly ground pepper
6 to 8 slices of prosciutto, 8 inches by 3 inches (about ¼ pound)
5 to 6 sheets phyllo dough
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
4 pinches of freshly ground nutmeg
Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Boil the peeled whole roots in a deep pan with 2 quarts water, the lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. When easily pierced with a knife, after approximately 15 to 20 minutes, remove the salsify from the heat, drain, and set aside to cool on a paper towel. Season each salsify with salt and pepper. Use about 1½ slices prosciutto lengthwise to wrap each root (the width of the slices should fit tightly around the cooked salsify). Place a sheet of phyllo dough on the countertop. Brush the sheet with melted butter and sprinkle it with Parmesan, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Place a salsify wrapped in prosciutto along the edge of the shorter length of the dough. Tightly wrap the salsify. Trim off any leftover dough. Repeat with each salsify until they are all wrapped. Brush each roll with butter and sprinkle with or roll them in Parmesan. Place the rolls on a greased baking sheet and bake until golden, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Cut each roll at an angle into 8 pieces. Place them on a Parmiagianno Wedge.
CHEF OLIVIER’S SQUASH SOUP
6 pieces butternut squash, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 pieces Delicata squash, halved and seeded
1 piece Kabocha squash, quartered and seeded
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 leek, white part only, washed very well and thinly sliced
1 stalks celery, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 bouquet garni of thyme, sage, parsley, and bay leaf
Sachet of black peppercorns, coriander seed, clove, and fennel
1 cup butter
¼ gallon Chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
Preheat oven to 325° F. Brush the Delicata and Kabocha squashes with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in oven until very tender, then scoop out the flesh, discarding the skins. Meanwhile, heat a large rondeau and slowly sweat the onion, leek, celery, and garlic in the butter. When the vegetables are tender, add the butternut squash pieces, the sachet and the bouquet garni. **Cover with 3 parts chicken stock and 1 part water and bring to a simmer. Add the roasted squash, and return to a simmer, adding more liquid if necessary. Simmer until all the butternut squash is tender. Strain the soup and reserve the cooking liquid. Working in batches, puree the soup in a high-speed blender until very smooth, adding cooking liquid as necessary. Pass through a fine chinois, finish with crème fraîche, salt and pepper to taste. Pour and serve immediately in small glass shooters.
Chef Olivier shares culinary secrets with Mindy Kobrin
Wonder how the culinary world’s best pair wines and cheese and make sensational comfort food look extraordinary? You’re in for a treat! The Alsatian Sensation, Chef Olivier Muller, and sommelier, William Douillet, of Daniel Boulud’s db bistro moderne share with me their knowledge and secrets so you, too, can throw an unforgettable fall party.
Red Wine and Cheese Pairings
To get our party started, William suggested starting with three great red wine and cheese pairings. Here’s his user-friendly guide to set the stage and welcome your guests:
A Sheep or Goat Cheese like Ossau-Auraty pairs with a light to full-bodied red. Rioja or Argentinean Malbec is great.
Pair a coated-rind cow’s cheese (like Brie or Camembert) with a light to medium red wine like Pinot Noir.
A Blue cheese (like Roquefort or Gorgonzola) will go perfectly with Cotes du Rhone or Bordeaux. You can even serve it for dessert with a Port or Madeira.
Fall Cheese Tray Display
Fabulous Fall Cheese Tray Display
With our cheeses excellently paired, we then decorated our platter with seasonal produce such as fig leaves, sliced fresh figs, mini-apples, grape bundles and nuts. It’s a fabulously full-proof way to make your cheese tray look fancy and party-ready!
Chic Food
Next, Chef Olivier, chef de cuisine of db bistro moderne and I selected three scrumptious recipes to entertain my friends with an added spoonful of international panache. With ingredient list in hand, we headed to the famed greenmarket, New York’s Union Square Farmer’s Market, to pick the freshest produce available for our food and tray displays. I just love to shop there--fresh veggies and flowers galore and the nicest and hardest-working farmers around!
With grocery bags unloaded, Chef Olivier walked me through the steps on how to make his star-worthy Alsatian Tarte Flambee—a highly-addictive homemade gourmet thin-crust flatbread overflowing with fromage blanc, onions and French bacon. Many people are scared off by the idea of making the flatbread dough. Not to worry, this dish is still wonderful if you buy a frozen flatbread from your local market. Voted best tarte flambee in all the Big Apple---it’s to die for! And it’s my absolute pleasure to bring the recipe straight to you for your next party!
Trendy Platter Ideas
With my taste buds salivating, we moved onto extraordinary ideas for transforming two comfort foods into party foods: fall squash soup and Parmiagianno cheese crisps.
Presenting the Chef’s fall squash soup or any pureed soup you make or buy at Whole Foods (shh, I won’t tell your friends) is as easy as 1-2-3.
Six Steps to Soup Shooter Presentation Perfection
1. Set out six shooter glasses
2. Slice six discs of fresh squash about a quarter-inch thick
3. Decorate the platter--adorn with the squash soup’s aromatic seasonings including cinnamon sticks, star anise, toasted pumpkin seeds
4. Pour the warm squash soup into each shooter glass
5. Place shooter atop squash discs
6. Present to guests and cheers
1. Set out six shooter glasses
2. Slice six discs of fresh squash about a quarter-inch thick
3. Decorate the platter--adorn with the squash soup’s aromatic seasonings including cinnamon sticks, star anise, toasted pumpkin seeds
4. Pour the warm squash soup into each shooter glass
5. Place shooter atop squash discs
6. Present to guests and cheers
The saffron colored soup looked amazing atop the orange squash discs and seasonings---this promises to wow your guests!
Next, a great way to show off a hot appetizer is with a cheese wheel platter.
We wanted to highlight a key ingredient of the Chef’s zesty Parmiagianno Salsify Cheese Crisps.
Chef Olivier suggested utilizing the Parmiagianno cheese as the elegant platter. To accomplish this, just ask your Cheese Man to cut you a 10-inch Parmiagianno wedge including its signature rind. Whip up the fun crisp recipe then follow these easy steps to transform your platter into an unforgettable Puttin’ on the Ritz party hors d’oeuvre:
Four Steps to Parmiagianno Wedge Platter
1. Grate some Parmiagianno cheese
2. Sprinkle grated cheese atop the hollowed out wedge
3. Slice cheese crisps on the diagonal
4. Place crisps atop and add bundles of ingredients at corner
From soup to nuts these star-studded culinary tips can make all your food look great…even if it comes prepared from Whole Foods and not your own kitchen.
With many thanks to Chef Olivier Muller and Sommelier William Douillet, you now have the perfect recipe to throw an unforgettable fall party. For our red wines and cheese pairing plus chic party-food display ideas recap, check my video and visit us on Celebrations.com. I look forward to sharing more tips with you from the best of the best.
STAR CHEF RECIPES
CHEF OLIVIER’S TARTE FLAMBEE FLAMMENKUCHE
For the dough:
2 lbs 2 oz all-purpose flour
½ quart of milk
1 tsp salt
1 tsp grapeseed or canola oil
For the cream:
6 oz double smoked bacon, thinly sliced into matchsticks
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 lb 2 oz fromage blanc
8 oz crème fraîche
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
Freshly ground nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 450° F. If you have a pizza stone, place this on the bottom of the oven, otherwise, a flat sheet tray or baking pan can be substituted. It should be very hot when you put the flambee on it. For the dough – combine the flour, milk, salt, and oil together in a food processor. Pulse until combined into a loose dough. Using a pasta machine, roll out the dough into a long, very thin sheet (setting #1 on most machines). You will need to do this in several batches. With a pizza cutter, cut the dough into ovals approximately 10” long. Layer them between pieces of parchment and refrigerate.
For the cream – combine the fromage blanc, crème fraîche, flour, egg, nutmeg, salt and pepper together and mix until smooth and creamy.
Assemble:
Place the dough on a lightly floured pizza wheel. Spread the cream in a thin layer over the dough, making sure it is evenly distributed. Leave a ¼” border around the edge of the dough. Sprinkle the onions and bacon evenly over the cream. Slide the flambee onto the pizza stone and bake until crispy on the bottom and lightly browned on top. Slice and stamp your passport in Alsace!
CRISPY SALSIFY ROLLS WITH PROSCIUTTO AND PARMESAN
Adapted from Cooking with Daniel Boulud, Random House 1993
5 to 6 salsify roots or asparagus (about ½ pound), ends cut off and roots peeled
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and freshly ground pepper
6 to 8 slices of prosciutto, 8 inches by 3 inches (about ¼ pound)
5 to 6 sheets phyllo dough
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
4 pinches of freshly ground nutmeg
Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Boil the peeled whole roots in a deep pan with 2 quarts water, the lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. When easily pierced with a knife, after approximately 15 to 20 minutes, remove the salsify from the heat, drain, and set aside to cool on a paper towel. Season each salsify with salt and pepper. Use about 1½ slices prosciutto lengthwise to wrap each root (the width of the slices should fit tightly around the cooked salsify). Place a sheet of phyllo dough on the countertop. Brush the sheet with melted butter and sprinkle it with Parmesan, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Place a salsify wrapped in prosciutto along the edge of the shorter length of the dough. Tightly wrap the salsify. Trim off any leftover dough. Repeat with each salsify until they are all wrapped. Brush each roll with butter and sprinkle with or roll them in Parmesan. Place the rolls on a greased baking sheet and bake until golden, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Cut each roll at an angle into 8 pieces. Place them on a Parmiagianno Wedge.
CHEF OLIVIER’S SQUASH SOUP
6 pieces butternut squash, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 pieces Delicata squash, halved and seeded
1 piece Kabocha squash, quartered and seeded
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 leek, white part only, washed very well and thinly sliced
1 stalks celery, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 bouquet garni of thyme, sage, parsley, and bay leaf
Sachet of black peppercorns, coriander seed, clove, and fennel
1 cup butter
¼ gallon Chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
Preheat oven to 325° F. Brush the Delicata and Kabocha squashes with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in oven until very tender, then scoop out the flesh, discarding the skins. Meanwhile, heat a large rondeau and slowly sweat the onion, leek, celery, and garlic in the butter. When the vegetables are tender, add the butternut squash pieces, the sachet and the bouquet garni. **Cover with 3 parts chicken stock and 1 part water and bring to a simmer. Add the roasted squash, and return to a simmer, adding more liquid if necessary. Simmer until all the butternut squash is tender. Strain the soup and reserve the cooking liquid. Working in batches, puree the soup in a high-speed blender until very smooth, adding cooking liquid as necessary. Pass through a fine chinois, finish with crème fraîche, salt and pepper to taste. Pour and serve immediately in small glass shooters.
Flower Delivery
Gourmet Cookies
Gourmet Popcorn
Outdoor Living
Chocolate Gifts
Gourmet Chocolate
Doll Play
Children's Toys
California Wine
Unique Gifts
Household Gifts
Gourmet Food
Gift Baskets
Party Ideas
